# August 2026: The drying-up of the Danube River exposes all kinds of unusual artifacts **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 2026, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415 "2026-08-19T02:54:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/1 "2026-08-19T02:54:46Z")
And the latest: A 1940s era motorcycle and two skeletons, most likely of Nazi soldiers. The most likely scenario IMHO: They were on the bike, most likely at night, and they were drunk too and went off the road and into the river, later to be declared MIA or AWOL. It also looks like some people are going to try and restore the bike, which is in surprisingly good condition, and they’re going to see if the soldiers can be fully identified. Yeah, I know they were Nazis, but it’s just the principle of the thing. > **[Danube exposes WWII motorcycle and German soldiers’ remains | Archaeology...](https://archaeologymag.com/2026/08/two-soldiers-wwii-motorcycle-in-danube-budapest/)** > > Low Danube water in Budapest exposed two German soldiers, a WWII motorcycle, intact ID tags, and other wartime remains. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/2 "2026-08-19T03:23:40Z")
Wehrmacht does not equal Nazi any more than the US Army equals Republicans. Two soldiers with mines means they probably weren’t drunk when they went into the river. Hopefully this will provide closure to their families. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/3 "2026-08-19T03:30:15Z")
I’m more concerned why the river is drying up. Actually. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/4 "2026-08-19T03:51:08Z")
A lot of evil shit happened on the banks of the Danube River in Budapest during WWII. In college, I interviewed a man who was a sergeant in the Hungarian army in 1944 when he witnessed thousands of people tied together, shot, and thrown into the river by members of the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party. I guess almost all of the bodies were swept down stream. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/5 "2026-08-19T04:53:06Z")
Drought, and excessive heat in Eastern Europe. 50-odd years ago, we played a very simplified version of “Blue Danube” at an elementary school band concert, and the director introduced it by saying, “Nowadays, it would probably be the Brown Danube.” I’ve actually heard that it was polluted even when the song was written. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/6 "2026-08-19T05:29:09Z")
Much older than that, [a Roman-era bridge (or at least its remains) are exposed in the Danube](https://archaeology.org/news/2026/08/14/drought-exposes-roman-bridge-in-bulgaria/) in Bulgaria. And [Nero’s bridge is exposed](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/18/drought-exposes-remains-of-ancient-roman-bridge-in-the-tiber-river-in-rome) in the Tiber. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/7 "2026-08-19T05:44:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Wehrmacht does not equal Nazi any more than the US Army equals Republicans. Educate yourself > **[Myth of the clean Wehrmacht](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_the_clean_Wehrmacht)** > > The myth of the clean Wehrmacht (German: Mythos der sauberen Wehrmacht) is the negationist notion that Nazi Germany's regular armed forces (the Wehrmacht) were not involved in the Holocaust or other war crimes during World War II. The myth, heavily promoted by West German authors and military personnel after World War II, denies the culpability of the German military command in the planning and perpetration of war crimes. Even where war crimes and the waging of an extermination campaign, parti... ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/8 "2026-08-19T15:44:22Z")
Thanks for beating me to it! Given I suspect an above-baseline number of Avalon Hill fans on the SDMB, I can really recommend Smelser’s 2007 _The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi-Soviet War in American Popular Culture_. That goes into, specifically, how the exigencies of the Cold War led to the rehabilitation of the German Army’s leadership, and how pop culture (especially war games) simultaneously sterilized the army while also lionizing it, fostering today’s culture of [“they’re just normal men. They’re just innocent men” weirdos](https://www.wired.com/story/one-womans-mission-to-rewrite-nazi-history-wikipedia/). Here in Berlin the Spree is not yet shallow enough to reveal anything interesting on my walks, at least, but it has been a very odd summer thus far, so who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/9 "2026-08-19T16:01:48Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve actually heard that it was polluted even when the song was written. Certainly by the time Spike Jones covered it in '45. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y3-f5yBueWk/hqdefault.jpg "1945 Spike Jones - The Blue Danube (Del Porter & Carl Grayson, vocal)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3-f5yBueWk) ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/10 "2026-08-19T16:29:00Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > It also looks like some people are going to try and restore the bike, which is in surprisingly good condition, It would be _waaayyy_ cooler if they can restore the wooly mammoth remains [found](https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/mammoth-remains-revealed-bulgaria-after-danube-water-levels-hit-record-low-2026-07-29/) in Bulgaria a couple of weeks ago Hmmm…paging Dr. **Ian Malcolm** ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/11 "2026-08-19T17:13:18Z")
What I took @silenus to mean (they can, of course, speak for themselves) was that not everyone in the Wehrmacht was automatically an enthusiastic Nazi, and low-level soldiers were likely just being soldiers, at least mostly. Of course there were Nazis in the service, at all levels, but more so at higher levels. It’s not an endorsement of Nazism to try to identify these two soldiers for the benefit of their families’ feelings. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/12 "2026-08-19T17:15:44Z")
I’m not following your logic at all. I’m in favor of trying to identify them just because it’s interesting. That has nothing to do with the part of the post that I copied and the reply to it. Did you read the link? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/13 "2026-08-19T17:19:24Z")
Okay, leave out my last sentence, that should make my point more clear. I was supporting the statement that you were challenging: > [@silenus](#): > > Wehrmacht does not equal Nazi any more than the US Army equals Republicans. eta: although it might have been more accurate to say that “Wehrmacht does not equal Nazi any more than the US Army equals Christian Nationalism.” ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/14 "2026-08-19T17:40:05Z")
Would you do me the courtesy of reading the Wikipedia link? ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/15 "2026-08-19T17:58:02Z")
Please point out the section in that article where it says that all Wehrmacht personnel were Nazis. Or even just where it says all Army personnel were Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/16 "2026-08-19T18:58:27Z")
I never made that claim ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/17 "2026-08-19T19:08:02Z")
And silenus never claimed the Army was completely clean of Nazism. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/18 "2026-08-19T19:08:55Z")
I didn’t claim he did. Did you read the link? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/19 "2026-08-19T19:12:57Z")
never mind, due to hajarios last post ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415/20 "2026-08-19T19:14:12Z")
I’m not sure what you’re arguing against against nearwildhaven: They were definitely Nazis silenus: maybe they weren’t Nazis hajiro: Educate yourself: scadian: Show me that all army personnel were Nazis hajiro: I never made that claim [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2026-the-drying-up-of-the-danube-river-exposes-all-kinds-of-unusual-artifacts/1032415.md?page=2)