LUNCH WITH SS STURMGRUPENNFUHRER OTTO SKORZENY

LUNCH WITH SS STURMGRUPENNFUHRER OTTO SKORZENY


I was in Madrid in 1970 on business shooting TV commercials for the Eastman
Kodak Company. This was a sunny lazy Sunday at the Ritz hotel. I was nursing
the last of my excellent room service coffee when the phone rang. "Ola Artur.
Have lunch with us today. OK? Great. Meet you at the Madrid Tennis club at 2
this afternoon. I have some friends I want you to meet. See you later".

I arrived at the Club to see my friends seated and enjoying drinks. As I walked
toward them and my friend Robert rose and said, "Artur. How nice, and here
comes Otto" I turned and behind me was an absolutely huge imposing giant of a
man. Maybe 6'4" 300 pounds. Face scarred and with a beat up look like a fighter
who has had a few too many fights, He thrust out his hand and said "Otto" I
took his hand and he said " Otto Skorzeny". I said, "Arthur Kramer" but I
thought "Nazi son of a bitch" and was sorry I had shaken his hand.

We all sat down. I expected Skorzeny to be course crude and overbearing. In
fact he was extremely polite and soft-spoken. His manner was so courteous and
gentlemanly that I found it very difficult to hate him on a face to face
personal level. The conversation covered the weather, the great food at this
club, what a fine fellow Robert was how did I like Spain? No talk of war at
all. Somehow, here in neutral Spain 25 years after the war it seemed as though
war talk between ex-enemies was neither polite nor called for.

I found out later that Robert had told Otto about my military experiences in
detail. I guess neither one of us cared to dig up the past on this warm sunny
Sunday afternoon. I found out later that Skorzeny got those scars dueling
during his school days in Austria. After the war he was acquitted of all war
crimes and all charges were dropped. During the lunch he spoke to me in
English, to Robert in French and to Robert's wife Rosie in German. He was
impressive, not just on the physical level. But he was man of rather high
intelligence. And he was the man who rescued Mussolini as one of his many
exploits and was generally acknowledged by all sides as the most successful
commando of WW II.
We had finished lunch. We all exchanged good byes, but Skorzeny and I didn't
shake hands. We just nodded cordially at one another. And then we parted.

Otto died in 1975 in Madrid. After I heard of his death I regretted not having
offered him my hand when we parted on that memorable afternoon.


The moral of the story is, if you want to hate a man, don't have lunch with
him.



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Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

The moral of the story is, if you want to hate a man, don't have lunch with
him.

I'm glad I never had lunch with him. Skorzeny, eh? Nope - I'd rather keep the
mental image I have of him as the most cold blooded, calculating soldier and
all around tough guy for the Last Reich. He and Rudel, and few thousand other
deluded fools *loved* AH, but few served him better or more tenaciously. I
doubt if I could have eaten.

Quite interesting observations about him -thanks for posting them.
v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

Donate your memories - write a note on the back and send your old photos to a
reputable museum, don't take them with you when you're gone.

Subject: LUNCH WITH SS STURMGRUPENNFUHRER OTTO SKORZENY
From: nt (Krztalizer)
Date: 2/19/04 8:42 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:


The moral of the story is, if you want to hate a man, don't have lunch with
him.

I'm glad I never had lunch with him. Skorzeny, eh? Nope - I'd rather keep
the
mental image I have of him as the most cold blooded, calculating soldier and
all around tough guy for the Last Reich. He and Rudel, and few thousand
other
deluded fools *loved* AH, but few served him better or more tenaciously. I
doubt if I could have eaten.

Quite interesting observations about him -thanks for posting them.
v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR


You should have been with us. We had rack of Lamb with a 20 year old Marquis
Riscal. Nice afternoon.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

From: (ArtKramr)

LUNCH WITH SS STURMGRUPENNFUHRER OTTO SKORZENY


As a Jew I would not have gone near him. He was instrumental in helping SS war
criminals escape after the war. He may have been intelligent and likable, but
he was antisemitic. I hope his death was slow, lingering and painful.

I am willing to bet he would have been convicted if he were tried in 1946. The
later trials had too many aquittals and light sentences.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

Hannah Arent wrote a book about "the banality of evil," which came out
of her reporting on the Adolf Eichman trial: that is, her astonishment
that the monster in the flesh should prove to be rather like a
doddering retired postal clerk.

There is no reason an evil-doer can't as easily be an intelligent,
charming man.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (requires authentication)

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Subject: LUNCH WITH SS STURMGRUPENNFUHRER OTTO SKORZENY
From: (B2431)
Date: 2/19/04 11:21 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

From: (ArtKramr)

LUNCH WITH SS STURMGRUPENNFUHRER OTTO SKORZENY


As a Jew I would not have gone near him. He was instrumental in helping SS
war
criminals escape after the war. He may have been intelligent and likable, but
he was antisemitic. I hope his death was slow, lingering and painful.

I am willing to bet he would have been convicted if he were tried in 1946.
The
later trials had too many aquittals and light sentences.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired


I understand your point. But I was the guest of a good friend and bad manners
was ou of the question. But I must say that lunch began the healing process
for me. It isn't over yet, but it was the beginning.



Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Subject: LUNCH WITH SS STURMGRUPENNFUHRER OTTO SKORZENY
From: Hobo
Date: 2/19/04 11:14 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

In article ,
(ArtKramr) wrote:

id " Otto Skorzeny".

Skorzeny doesn't sound Germanic to me, though I am not an expert. Is it
a slavic name?


Not all Germans have German sounding names.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

You should have been with us. We had rack of Lamb with a 20 year old Marquis
Riscal. Nice afternoon.

I have a very good friend that flew for the Luftwaffe and 99% of the time, I
can deal with him and has attitudes about those years, but lurking behind the
pleasantness and warm feelings is the knowledge that there is still a small
photo of Hitler hanging on the wall in his den. When it gets to the point that
this fact starts disturbing me again, I gather up the books and flight sims and
head home, and try not to picture my friend as a glazed-eyed participant in a
mass of humanity, cheering their leader onward.

Skorzeny across the table would have really creeped me out! Glad the spread
was nice at least...

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

Donate your memories - write a note on the back and send your old photos to a
reputable museum, don't take them with you when you're gone.

Subject: LUNCH WITH SS STURMGRUPENNFUHRER OTTO SKORZENY
From: nt (Krztalizer)
Date: 2/20/04 10:22 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:


You should have been with us. We had rack of Lamb with a 20 year old Marquis
Riscal. Nice afternoon.

I have a very good friend that flew for the Luftwaffe and 99% of the time, I
can deal with him and has attitudes about those years, but lurking behind the
pleasantness and warm feelings is the knowledge that there is still a small
photo of Hitler hanging on the wall in his den. When it gets to the point
that
this fact starts disturbing me again, I gather up the books and flight sims
and
head home, and try not to picture my friend as a glazed-eyed participant in a
mass of humanity, cheering their leader onward.

Skorzeny across the table would have really creeped me out! Glad the spread
was nice at least...

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

Donate your memories - write a note on the back and send your old photos to a
reputable museum, don't take them with you when you're gone.



I was in Madrid the guest of a French friend and his German wife. Good
manners were required under all conditions.



Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

I was in Madrid the guest of a French friend and his German wife. Good
manners were required under all conditions.


That's right, Kramer would have sipped tea with the Furher himself just to
avoid being impolite.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"