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The 1936 Hiking Disaster that was a Nazi PR Bonanza [1]
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Date: 2022-10-27
A few days ago I came across a story I’d never heard before, and which I daresay few here have. It is a story of stupidity and hubris and stubbornness and death. And as if that weren't bad enough, the politics of the day led to no one at all ever being held to account. One man’s dogged efforts to get justice for his dead son led only to his own death years later in a mental hospital, and the whole story was swept under the rug for 80+ years.
In the spring on 1936 a group of schoolboys, 27 in all ranging in age from 12-17, from the Strand School in Brixton, led by 27-year old teacher Kenneth Keast, went to Germany over the Easter holidays. On the morning of April 17 they embarked on an ambitious hike over the Black Forest mountains from Freiburg, planning on reaching the town of Todtnauburg, which looked like an easy 12 miles on the map that Keast carried. However, the map was lacking detail and did not indicate anything of the terrain they intended to cross. Since it was nominally springtime, and the lilacs were blooming, the boys wore only light summer clothes, and some wore sandals. They carried no water, and only the lightest of snacks. One boy had a rain poncho, which saved his life.
The weather was nasty when they started off that morning — a cold drizzle which soon turned to snow. Keast was undaunted, despite admonitions from locals to give up the idea of a hike, especially since they boys were not dressed for the weather. But at every turn Keast brushed off the warnings of local people, and led the boys deeper into the forest.
The first thing they did was lose the trail, and walk in a miles-long circle around the mountains outside of Freiburg. With the snow falling faster and heavier every minute and the temperature dropping, they soon were wading though snow that was over a foot deep. Still Keast pushed on. They came upon some forestry workers who had called it a day and were heading for home on account of the weather, and who advised the group to abandon their hike and seek shelter at a nearby miners’ hostel. Keast brushed them off. A postman later came across the group, the kids soaked, freezing and miserable, clearly suffering, and begged Keast to turn back, but Keast refused, and said that if they could not get all the way to Todtnauburg, they could at least reach the village of Hofsgrund, This meant going up the Kappel valley and crossing the ridge of Schauinsland, a 4200-foot mountain about halfway through their planned route that they had planned on summiting on their way to Todtnauburg. But because Keast’s map was lacking in terrain detail, he did not know that he was leading the boys up a 70-degree slope to the ridge, but even as the situation came clear, he still refused to turn back.
Their progress was painfully slow. By late afternoon the snow was by now waist-deep on the smaller boys, who were helped along by their older schoolmates. Some were on the verge of collapse by now, and were given pieces of cake, and told to “buck up” and sing happy songs as they struggled up the mountain.
Once they attained the ridge, they were no longer protected by the terrain, and were struck with screaming winds and even heavier snow. If they could have reached the mountain’s summit there was a cable car terminus where they could have sheltered, but the wind drove them east, away from their last hope. Here the group fragmented, with some of the boys collapsing and others forming smaller groups to go in search of shelter or rescue. Night was falling by now, and it was stormier and colder than ever. Then they heard a church bell ringing. Some of the boys headed for that sound.
At about 8pm a couple of the boys, on the verge of collapse, reached a farmhouse on the outskirts of Hofsgrund, and told the horrified occupants, in broken German, that there were injured people on the mountain. An alarm was raised and rescue parties went off into the stormy night, and by 11:30 all of the schoolboys and their teacher had been brought down to the village. Unfortunately, five of the children died from exposure.
And here’s where it gets grotesque.
Kenneth Keast was hailed as a hero. He said that no one could have known that a storm was coming, and it was only through his efforts that they reached safety, and that more had not died. The survivors were not given any opportunity to speak out.
The Nazis were in power at the time, and used the whole disgraceful episode as a PR stunt. Because the British were desperate to avoid war, they went along with the whitewash, agreeing that to pursue the truth would have meant contradicting the Nazis’ story, and you didn’t want to upset the Nazis, of course. So everyone was led to believe the following: Instead of the selfless Hofsgrunders who searched that dark, snowy mountain, it was said that the local Hitler’s Youth groups had done all the rescuing. The five caskets were displayed with the UK and Nazi flags behind them and an “honor guard” of Hitler’s Youth standing watch over their “fallen mountain comrades.” The caskets were draped with Nazi flags as they were sent home. The survivors were sent back to Freiburg and occupied with diversions organized by the Nazis and not even told until days later that their schoolmates had died. A big ugly memorial was built on the mountain, with a Nazi eagle front and center. Keast received mild admonitions about his lack of preparedness, then went back to teaching and no one said a word.
No one, that is, except John Eaton, father of 14-year-old Jack Eaton, who had died on the mountain. He did not believe the official whitewashing reports, and fought for justice for years. He changed his name to Jack to honor his son, and traveled to Freiburg to do his own investigating. But because the British were intent on appeasing Germany, no one would listen to him. He eventually died in a mental hospital, a broken man.
A local Freiburg prosecutor did investigate the incident, and what he learned outraged him. He heard from all of the local people who had told Keast to not attempt the hike, and all those who met the group along the way and desperately tried to get them to turn back. The prosecutor wrote a lengthy, detailed and damning report urging extradition and prosecution of Keast… but it was buried, and after the war broke out, it lay forgotten for 80 years. The furor over the deaths of five schoolboys was lost, a dust speck blown away by the catastrophe of war.
In the early 2000s Bernd Heinmuller, a teacher and historian from Hofsgrund, began researching the incident, and found the original prosecutor’s reports, and delved further into the matter. He wrote a book, the title of which translates into English as “Death on the Schauinsland”, but it appears to only be available in German. Heinmuller has been instrumental in bringing the whole sad story to light.
In 2016 The Guardian published a Long Read about the tragedy: The Fatal Hike that became a Nazi Propaganda Coup. The details are horrifying and heartbreaking.
The YouTube Channel Real Horror has put together a good documentary about the incident and the political machinations in the aftermath.
There are many lessons to be drawn here. Be prepared for hiking and weather conditions. Listen to the locals. DBAD. Challenge authority. To hell with Nazis and their appeasers, past and present. But it’s mostly just sad. A bunch of kids went on a cheerful holiday, trusting their teacher, and instead of an adventure they were led on a death march for no reason, and never received any justice for their suffering.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/27/2131602/-The-1936-Hiking-Disaster-that-was-a-Nazi-PR-Bonanza
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