Joint Rotary Club meeting with the Rotary Club of Wiesbaden and our friend Thilo von Debschitz
Topic: The Ghost Army
Dear friends from the world,
As you know, our Rotary Club Wiesbaden-Kochbrunnen in Germany conducts Zoom meetings in English every four months to keep in touch with our friends abroad (including the members of our new partner club, the Jerusalem Rotary Club).
The next English-speaking meeting will take place on Thursday, February 10, at 7 pm Berlin time. (= 1 pm New York City time)
Being the president of our club, my goal is to outbid our Zoom license and have as much attendees as possible. Last time, we welcomed participants from the Netherlands, Great Britain, Australia, Austria, Israel, Switzerland, the US, and Panama. Since international understanding is a core value of Rotary, I would feel honored if you are among the attendees on that day. And please bring five or more friends – spread the word in your club! All good people are welcome!
This will be the topic of our meeting:
The Ghost Army
For a long time this strange story was completely unknown, but after 40 years the secret documents were released by the US military. They prove the unbelievable but true deceptive manoeuvres of the so-called "Ghost Army" in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany: with inflatable tanks, battle sounds from high-powered loudspeakers and other illusions, a special American unit fooled Hitler's Wehrmacht and pretended to have troop strengths of up to 30,000 men, which in reality did not exist at these locations. Among the soldiers were numerous young creative people, many of whom were recruited from advertising agencies and art schools – among them the fashion designer Bill Blass, the photographer Art Kane, or painter Ellsworth Kelly (winner of the Jawlensky Prize of the city of Wiesbaden). The designers brought their impressions of the mission back home in sketchbooks, on film and in photos. Recently, the US House of Representatives gave final passage to a bill to award the Ghost Army a Congressional Gold Medal.
Rick Beyer, award-winning filmmaker, best-selling author, and long-time history enthusiast, joins us from Chicago and will talk about this special unit in a picturesque presentation.