My father was born in 1983 and served in W

Before I was born

My father was born in 1893 and served in W.W.I and W.W.II. He was wounded several times and received the Iron Cross in W.W.I. He came home to his beloved Silesia after W.W.I ended and became a teacher in Kattowitz. Polish insurgents rioted in an attempt to wrest Upper Silesia away from Germany. In a battle around the Annaberg the Poles were soundly defeated and in a plebiscite the people voted overwhelmingly to remain German. This was not enough, however. The allies gave Upper Silesia to Poland. Since Silesia had never belonged to Poland and the Weimar Republic was unable to reverse this outcome, father became embittered and joined the Nazi party early on. His own apartment had been thrashed by Polish rabble and he had lost all his belongings. For a while he had to move back in with his parents.

While my father joined the Nazi party early on, he left early on as well. When the Nazis came to power he was offered the job of an elementary school principal on the condition that he leave the church. He declined. In 1936 he was promoted to Major and that was his rank until the war ended.

I always hated my father's little Hitler mustache. He is wearing his Wehrmacht uniform. But this is my family before I was born. My oldest brother Bernhard is in the back and my younger brother Gunther is in the foreground. Gunther was 11 years old when the war ended and saved my mother's and my life by being able to climb through small basement windows and take the canned foods that were left behind as millions of Germans had to flee to escape the killing or transports to Siberia or concentration camps. Gunther also had to work as slave laborer for the Russians as a grave digger!

My father had saved my oldest brother's life by not permitting him to join the SS during the last war years. Towards the end of the war, SS duty was no longer voluntary but mandatory for graduating students. My father enlisted my brother in the regular Wehrmacht before he graduated. When the SS showed up to get him, he was already away from home. My oldest brother had to fight the Russians in Berlin in the last days of the war. When the city was conquered by the Russsians, they shot everyone belonging to the SS. SS members could be easily identified because they had their blood type tatooed on their arms. A whole generation of 16 and 17 year olds, many of whom had never even held a rifle, were murdered. My fathers is wearing his medals. On his right chest he wears a decoration received from the Ottoman empire while fighting in what was then Palestine during WWI. On his left side is his Iron Cross received during WWI. Underneath is a cheap medal given to the Nazis to everyone who served in WWI and WWII.

My father in his dress uniform. Gunther is in front.

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