European Newsletter

You can always tell when it's summer in England; the rain gets warmer and there are a number of Military Auctions held in which large numbers of Nazi items are put up for sale to the highest bidder. To the onlooker this may appear to be a very fair means of both selling and buying items.

Most Auctions do a postal bidding service and this may be looked upon as first rate idea which gives collects who live too far away to attend in person a chance to acquire items.

From personal experience the author has found this service to be a dangeous and costly experience. Another practice which has crept into auctions of late with regards to Nazi items, is to use as a barometer amidst dealers, the prices which items fetch at current sales.

Let us begin at the point where you have been receiving auction catalogs for a number of months, and at last you have decided to make a number of bids on items you require. First, you might do well to look inside me front cover of your catalog and read the small print on conditions of sale. If you have no guarantee that the item is original and once you have bought it you have no redress if it is not. For better or for worse you are stuck with it. However, you have decided to bid for a Luftwaffe honor goblet. By research in your old catalogs you are aware that a similar goblet sold for $150 a couple of months back and you think that a postal bid of $160 will give you a good chance of acquiring it. You send off your bid and during the period while you are waiting to learn the result, you thumb through the catalog many times and look at the item listed (No. 374 LuftwaffeHonor Goblet). A choice item bearing the German Silver Hallmark with the inscription on the base, FURBESONDERE LEISTUNG IM LUFTKRIEG. It has an Iron Cross and eagles in combat near the rim and also in silver. In due course a letter arrives to say your bid has been successful. send $155 plus $15 for packing, postage and insurance and the item is yours. This you do and item No. 374 arrives. This is a moment in a collectors life when it is advisable for the wife, kids and any domestic pets to get as far away as possible from the collector, for when the package containing $170 worth of goblet is opened it has all the hallmarks, not of German silver, but of a fake. This is a moment which all collectors have in common at some time or another. Anticipation followed by disappointment plus depression leading to murderous rage.

Now let us attempt to trace the history of Item No. 374. It began eighteen months previous when a collector asked a friend who was spending his vacation in Austria to lookout for any Nazi items for his collection His friend, who was a noncollector, spent his vacation having a first rate time and on his last day remembered his promise thinking (must bring him something back). He purchased a W.W.I. goblet for $12. Upon his return he presented his friend with this battered item and a bill for $12... and almost lost $12 and a friend. A month later the friend traded the goblet in for some medals at a loss. The new owner of the goblet had a friend who worked in the jewelry trade and decided to advance the items history to W.W.2. It was beaten out and engraved and the previous engraving was covered with the raised silver plate upon which the eagles were engraved. The work set him back $35 and as he had paid $5 for the medals he traded for it, the goblet now cost him $40. The item was then sold as a "I believe it to be original" type item for $50. to a Nazi items dealer. However the jeweler craftsman that he was, was right proud of his work on the goblet and tended to talk about it until it became common knowledge in the trade and within the collecting fraternity. As a result, the goblet just would not sell. Then it was decided to put it up for auction. But first it was his policy to establish a high price for it. It was put in the auction with a reserve price of $100, and the dealer who owned it also entered a postal bid for it in an assumed name for $150. As always he attended the auction on the day of the sale, and with the help of friends bid the goblet up to just below his postal bid, leaving his assumed name bid to get the top price. The goblet now had an established auction price which appeared in the catalog. A few months were allowed to lapse and the goblet was once again entered in an auction. It was possible for the dealer to learn what the top postal bid was and the goblet was pushed up to just below the highest postal bid in the manner of the previous sale.

This story illustrates the folly of postal bidding and of accepting auction prices as a buying guide. The author has in his possession a pile of junk bought as a result of postal bidding and misleading discriptions in catalogs. My last venture in that respect was a bid for 20 Wermacht helmets described in the catalog, "20 Nazi helmets good condition". I won them, worse luck, even now I still have nightmares when I think of the tea chest full of rusting relics which arrived on my doorstep. Seventeen arrived, 3 got lost in transit. Being a glutton for punishment, I wrote a letter to the auction about the 3 missing helmets, after all they did charge me postage, packing, and insurance. Packing was accounted for by throwing the helmets into a plywood tea crate with an old newspaper acting as a lid. Insurance apparently only covered the items while they were inside the auction rooms. Postage appeared to be the only item that was functional. On the insurance side, I received a hard-luck Jack—type letter. I still have one of these helmets left, so if any reader wants an original Wehrmacht helmet, devoid of metal liner, chinstrap, free of charge, I will sweep the rust into a match box and send it on.

F. Van Eycke, "European Newsletter", DAS HAKENKREUZ, 1969

A Dagger Collector's Nightmare

Recently, on a bright and beautiful Sunday morning I received a call from a Vet who sounded like he had, from his description, a pretty nice SA dagger for sale. After getting directions to his home, I jumped in my car and with high expectations took a run over to see him. We negotiated for a while on what turned out to be a super SA dagger by Emil Voos. We finally agreed on a price and soon I departed with my new dagger in hand. When I got in the car I put the dagger on the seat next to me, as I had done with many other past finds, and thought to myself how great things were going on such a terrific day. Driving along, the thrill of my purchase grew; I couldn't resist picking up my new aquisition to examine it under the bright daylight sun. This however, turned out to be my big mistake of the day.

Suddenly from behind, I heard a siren and noticed a police cruiser in my rear view mirror gaining on me rapidly. I pulled over so he could easily pass, but to my surprise it was "me" he wanted! My first thought was that I must have been speeding, since I was concentrating more on the dagger than my driving. But alas, that was not the case. As the officer approached my car I readied my identification for his inspection. Turning to hand my ID through the window you can't imagine my shock to see not only a very large police officer but one with a very large service revolver pointed directly at me. "Keep your hands where I can see them and step out of the car", he ordered. Given the option that his 38 special offered, I quickly obliged. As I got out, this 6'5" gorilla attired in a blue uniform grabbed me, spun me around and threw me on the hood of my car. While searching me he asked what I was doing with a deadly weapon in the vehichle. For a moment I was dumbfounded; never had I thought of any of my daggers as a deadly weapon. While I stared at my reflection in the hood I tried to explain that I was a dagger collector (being careful not to use the term edged weapons). The more he talked however, the more evident it became to me that he was not vaguely aware of WWII, so the hobby of dagger collecting would surely be alien to him. Having now surrendered all my ID (to include my Sears credit card) to this history illiterate, I still had no success in convincing him of my innocence. Still positioned awkwardly across the hood I grew more apprehensive, worrying if this Gestapo incarnation was going to confiscate my dagger while he waited for the computer at SS HQ on Prinz Albrechtstrasse to clear my name. After thirty minutes of this painful delay a lieutenant finally arrived on this major crime scene, and after hearing the facts (as well as the officer's side of the incident) realized that I wasn't Jack the Ripper nor was I intent on holding up a Seven/Eleven with my massive, razor sharp instrument of terror. Before I was released however, I was instructed to place my dagger in the trunk. I had designs on putting the dagger somewhere else, but conceeded to their wishes and drove off, leaving Helmut and Fritz still puzzled over why my initials didn't match those on my dagger...SA....

Gailen David, "A Dagger Collector's Nightmare", Der Gauleiter, 1985

Forgotten Soldier

In October 1943, 17 year old Hitler Youth member Heinz Nebel was drafted into service with the Reich Arbeits Dienst. He had no idea then, that a year and a half later,he would be lying, severly wounded, in a hospital. In mid-May of 1944, Nebel was released from the Arbeits Dienst with the rank of Arbeitsmann and reported a month later to Wilhelmshaven for Kriegsmarine training. At the same time hundreds of miles away, the 272 Infantry Division was sustaining heavy losses battling the invading Americans and British in Caen, Normandy.

The Allied Invasion of France had begun. Nebel never suspected that his Kriegsmarine training would have anything to do with the 272 Infantry Division.

Between Normandy and the backwards march of the 272 Infantry Division to the Falaise Pocket, the 272 was virtually obliterated. The remaining veterans of the 272 were pulled back to Doberitz at the start of September 1944. Together with the remnants of the 575 Volks Grenadier Division and newly trained draftees, the 272 Volks Grenadier Division was formed officially in October 1944, Berlin Falkensee.

Heinz Nebel's Kriegsmarine career was abruptly ended September 19,1944, and on October 8, 1944, he was officially a Grenadier in the 5th Company of the newly formed ArtilleryRegiment 272, 272 Volks Grenadier Division. He, along with at least 44 of his fellow Kriegsmarine members from 2 Admiral Nordsee Station, Stamm Ersatz Abteilung 2 Marine Ersatz Abteilung, Wilhelshaven, were transferred to the 272 Volks Grenadier Division to fill the ranks. They were shocked to find themselves in infantry and artillery regiments and going to the front. Of them, a handful survived the war and those who did survive were badly wounded.

Nebel said they received only short training with the newly formed Artillery Regiment 272 and were then shipped to the West Front, October 24,1944. The Division was transported from Berlin-Falkensee to the Eifel-Ardennes area. Nebel remembers being transported to a small town, Herhahn in the Eifel. In November 1944, the Division took position along the West Wall, Monschau area. On December 6, 1944, two regiments and artillery counter attacked units of the 28 U.S. Infantry Division during the Battle ofthe Hurtgen Forest. By December 15, they rejoined the Division near Monschau and prepared to attack nearby U.S. units. As the tides of war changed, the 272 V.G.D., along with the 6 SS pander Army were forced to defend against the 78 U.S. Infantry Division in the Battle of the Bulge. Again, they suffered heavy losses and most elements of the 272 V.G.D. were withdrawn to Kesternich, a small town in the Eifel.

They were again attacked January 4and 5, 1945. A heavy battle ensued. The 272 V.G.D. was positioned in a bunker complex along the Siegfried Line near Kesternich. A detailed combat report from that engagement states that an American tank stuck its barrel into the bunkers and blasted away. The Verlustmeldung (casualty reports) describe the men as being badly burned, dismembered and some even as "unidentifiable". Inside a single bunker, Bunker 24, were 20-24 German soldiers, including a lieutenant, badly wounded or killed -all the result of a single U.S. tank's action. Nebel was wounded by shrapnel January 4, 1945, (or thereabouts as he remembers), and on January 5, 1945, the entire 5th Company of Artillery Regiment 272 formed the 5th Company of Feld Ersatz Battalion 272.

On February 5, 1945, the 272 V.G.D.was down to 6000 soldiers in the Eifel. The soldier's cemetery in Gemund contains the remains of 583 men killed in the Eifel, November 1944 to February 1945. At some point, Nebel had been promoted to Gefreiten, thought he did not know when and there was no date of the promotion in his records. They simply listed him as"Gefreiten". Nebel said they threw everything they had at the advancing Americans: all elements of the 272V.G.D. including his Feld Ersatz Battalion and even the Division Kampf Schule attempted to hold back the advancing U.S. forces. Even snipers from the 272 V.G.D. could not halt the U.S. tacks and U.S. infantry's advance. A round had badly mangled his right leg and knee. Nebel was evacuated from schwandnaule in the Eifel to Einruhrand then on to Heilbronn. It was there his right leg was amputated. He lay in the hospital for five weeks. He said, at the time, he was told he had been promoted to Unteroffizier because of his severe wounds, but no records of the promotion exist. He was also told he was being awarded the EKII and the Silver Wound Badge for the same severe wounds, but no paperwork or medals ever came his way.

He was transferred from the hospital at Heilbronn to one in Badmerkenheim, and later to Darmstadt and again to Bergedorf by Hamburg, where he was officially released from the military at just 18 years of age. The war had ended in defeat for Germany by then. He began his journey home to the Russian Zone. He knew what awaited him, but he just wanted to go home. So, in the night, he went secretly over the Russian Zone Border and was shortly thereafter taken into custody by the Russians. However, the Russians kept his discharge papers, so he had no chance to escape from the Russian Sector and no record of his military service. He finally arrived at his home in Zens, a small village with 102 inhabitants, about 30 kilometers south of Magdeburg, where he continues to live today.

Living in East Germany, he received a monthly pension of $200, and additional $25 for being handicapped. He could not prove to the DDR government that he had ever been a soldier; no photos in uniform, no uniform, no papers. When Germany unified in October 1990, he wrote to the Bundes Archives to attempt to obtain his service record, but again with no success. It was as if he had never served in the military, and yet he had given a leg defending Germany.

In September 1991, a moldy suitcase was discovered in a cellar in the little Harz mountain village of Wernigerode, where the remnants of the III. Artillery Regiment 272 had surrendered to the Americans in April 1945. This silicase contained divisional records, over 160 Wehrpasses, Soldbuchs, correspondence, reports - all from various battalions and companies of the 272 V.G.D.

I bought that suitcase. Using addresses from 1944/45, I wrote over 70 letters, to all the soldiers from the 272 V.G.D., that I thought could possibly be alive. I received 13 replies. Nebel's letter was among the replies. With many corrections, it was badly typed on a typewriter he had borrowed from his son who lives in some small village an hour or more away from his father. He wrote that he had never received either a military pension or a militry disability pension because the government had never been able to locate any records of his military service or combat injury. I made copies of his entire file, (Wehrpass, numerous papers, Kriegsstmmroll Buch listing, etc.), got them notarized and sent them to him. Due to his handicap, Nebel is confined to his house, so his wife attempted to submit the copies. They do not own acar, so she made 11 bus trips to various government offices until she finally found the correct office to submit the papers. As of February 1994, Nebel is still waiting to get a reply from the German Government.

In February 1994, I visited Heinz Nebel and his family. I wanted to personally return his Wehrpass and military service records. He still lives in that same village. The roads remain much the same as they were in the war years: all cobblestone and narrow with little maintenance. Nebel's house, on the main street of the village , was his mother's house. At some point it was renovated, but today remains without much modern convenience. A television is his only contact with the outside world. His ill-fitting prosthesis causes his stump to blister, so basically, he is confined to his three and a half room house. The"yard" is filled with livestock. His wife raises rabbits (76 hutches), chickens, dogs and at one time ponies, all to survive. Before the wall came down, their little side livestock business did well, as Frau Nebel said, locals came to them for eggs and they sold several rabbits a week for roughly $5 each. Now, most locals choose to shop at newly built supermarkets.

He has no telephone, so it's not possible to simply phone and check on the status of the paperwork. As stated before, he has no auto, so he cannot easily visit government offices to make inquiries. When I left Nebel's home,tears welled up in his eyes as hec lutched the papers. He is left to survive on $200 a month in a country where soldiers cannot be proud of their service. Heinz Nebel, with his remaining two teeth and ill-fitting prosthesis,s its in his chair and hopes for a better future.

Emilie CaldwellStewart is a dealer and collector of German Third Reich documents and paper items. She is well known throughout the hobby and is always willing to share her knowledge with other collectors.

Emilie Caldwell Stewart, Forgotten Soldier", Der Gauleiter, 1994