Danube Swabians suffered holocaust

In response to Mr. Coppel's letter (May 26), I would like to iterate my history.

I am what is known as a Danube Swabian. The Swabians were a Germanic tribe, which I believe originated from the Alsace Lorraine area, and they began their huge emigration to countries bordering the Danube River (former Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary) in the 1700s.

These hardworking, apolitical farmers cultivated the land along the Danube and turned swampland into rich, fertile farm land, which produced crops that fed most of Europe.

For 200 years my ancestors lived in peaceful harmony (similar to Amish communities).

Then, in the aftermath of World War II, , under the Tito/Partisan regime, the Partisans forcefully entered my family home in the former Yugoslavia and herded my entire family into a death camp, not unlike Auschwitz.

These plunderers also took possession of my family home, sent my teenaged aunt to Siberia, only to die in one of their work camps.

We were Germans, but our fate was not unlike that of the Jews. All the Danube Swabians suffered heinous crimes, and many perished.

The survivors of this holocaust lost everything - their loved ones, their homes and the countries in which they and their ancestors had lived in (and contributed to) for the last 200 years.

So, while my heart bleeds for the atrocities committed against the Jews, I am also embittered about the atrocities committed against the Danube Swabians.

Not all Germans abetted Hitler, and some Germans suffered a plight equal to the Hitler crimes against the Jews.

The only difference is that nobody seems to know what happened to an entire ethnic group called the Danube Swabians.

The history books never even acknowledged this horrific crime against humanity.

Betty Schnobel

Arlington Heights