94. Inf Div Veteran fellowship disbands end of the Year 2009

[skarsatai]

Hello
I was in contact with the german 94. Infanterie Division Veteran fellowship to retrieve more info for the 194. Artillerie Regiment.
Mr. Wilhelm Prinz told me that the fellowship will disband end of the year .
They have only 70 members (out of 700) of this division left ( they are all in their 80ties...) and cannot go on with their fellowship work due to health reasons, therefore they cannot meet or go on travel anymore (mainfocus was alway Italy for the second built up Divisionmembers ).
So if you are in interest for this Division you should hurry up and contact Mr Prinz directly. You get a fast response ( mail only) from Mr Prinz and alot of material to copy and printouts. They fought in France, all the way trough Russia and fought in the North Pocket of Stalingrad. They were absolutly proud of this very interesting fact, the remaining disbanded forces of the 94. Infanterie Division (276. Regiment and 267. Regiment) together with the Luftwaffe Bataillon Matho did not surrender, they fought til the last Man und bullet.

Contact me via PN and you can have the contact address

greetings Martin

[John W. Howard]

Excellent post!! The sad thing is that there are no members of the younger generation willing to continue the traditions. It is almost as bad here in the States, but there are younger folks getting involved and keeping things alive. I realize things are different in Germany, but I wish for the day when younger Germans come to the realization that a period of history cannot just be negated and everything and everyone to do with it determined as evil and ignored. Best wishes.

[D_Dutch]

Excellent post!! The sad thing is that there are no members of the younger generation willing to continue the traditions. It is almost as bad here in the States, but there are younger folks getting involved and keeping things alive. I realize things are different in Germany, but I wish for the day when younger Germans come to the realization that a period of history cannot just be negated and everything and everyone to do with it determined as evil and ignored. Best wishes.

I'm 17 years old and I would be honoured to continue these German traditions, but it's almost impossible to do so, because I wouldn't have an idea where to start.
The main reason that I started to collect World War Two material is to remember it, so that it will not be forgotten, but most people of my age don't care about the Second World War, as if they don't realize that without the Americans and British and all other allied countries we would still be under Nazi Regime.
Although I'm not German but Dutch, I don't hate the Germans because of the war, it's history, and that should be respected.
There were many soldiers who just fought because they had too, and sure there were "evil" guys, but not all of them, and most younger generations can't figure that out.

[sebastian]

Also i think if i would do so here(belgium) i would be marked as a nazi,it still is like a taboo,if i tell some people i have an interrest and collection of ww2 german stuff they all laugh and just dont understand.But to come to think about i realize that in school when i was younger(32 now) we were almost brainwashed,the teachers all said how evil the germans were,how they plundered and did atrocities,they make no difference between ss an wehrmacht,i live in a village where the fort van breendonk is,and many of the old teachers i had when i was like 8-12 were little kids during the war,or they had heard al the stories about it from uncles and so on,so i think in Belgium it would be impossible to do so for political reasons,it is still a black page for many families,and i understand that in a way,so if someone would do it,it will have to be the family members to honor them.

Cheers

seb

[Alex Dekker]

Yesterday I received a few magazine's I bought at eBay.de. These were published by Zwölfer-Bund, the Kameradschaft of ehemalige Regimenten 12, 467 and 27. In one of them (from 2004) there was memberlist published. Only 50 were left then. Almost 40% were women. Once married to a member of one of the regiments, or sister of a member. The magazines are filled with R.I.P.'s, since most members were in their 80's and died of old age. A pity!!!

By the way, Sebastian and D-Dutch: same here. I was lucky enough to have a grandfather who liked to talk about the war. He never was involved and on the isle of Texel during the war. He knew some Germans and Georgians, that was all. When the uprising began, he was off the isle at that period. He had a few laughs when he told his stories (I must have heard them multiple times a day) which gave me, as a kid, a different view at the war. My grandfather died when I was 18 (I'm 37 now), his stories were way different than I was told in school. My grandfather changed my view at an early age.

[gerhard2]

Hi D Dutch:
Just happened to come across the Feldgrau Forum again and remember all the arguments I had there, especially with Sid and a few others. As I only had my memories I did have a lot of trouble when talking about my experiences for which of course I had no proof. In fact with the conditions from late 1943 on I find it hard to remember details like dates, places, names, even unit designation.
Like you say among us, like in any army there were evil/miserable guys and there were those of us who for some reason, be it patriotic, having no choice or just being gullible. But mostly, especially with a honorable CO we behaved as correctly as possible. Which when surrounded by partisans, especially in Russia who inflict pain and death as gruesome as they could was pretty hard. Unfortunately only the miserable, horrible guy's are remembered. And as propaganda painted us, especially the Waffen SS, much worse then we actually were. For instance there is a write up about my batterie in Hellendoorn where we took care of civillian casualties, kept houses in good repair/condition, handed out glass,food and had reasonable relation with the local people. And then the writer finishes with "the Germans were fanatical SS troops and fear was one of their main tactics for controlling the population. There were many other stories of brutality, destuction and cruelty." That was not the impression I got from the local lady who did my washing and when as the last one to leave some people were waving.
Now in my old age I feel somehow short changed. During the early part of my youth we were expected to defend our fatherland as was our duty and then at the end declared members of a criminal organization and kept behind barbed wire for years.
The old guy looking back from the shaving mirror every morning can't think back on any evil deed he did but by God can he still remember waiting for letters from his family in Dresden which never came, interrogations when taken prisoner at wars end the years mistreated in the POW camp.
Gerhard

[John W. Howard]

Hello Gerhard and Others:
For the record, I think it should be known that Gerhard did indeed show proof of his service to myself and Tom Houlihan in a personal message, not that it was needed for Tom and I, but to try to end speculation by a few members that Gerhard had not served. Glad to hear from you Gerhard; excellent post!! Best wishes.

[haen2]

THANK YOU Gerhard; I could not have said it better myself.
"Been There - Done That"
Even now, more than half a century after having been branded as crinminal by association, and in spite of my later service in the Royal Netherlands Army, the sting of having been "one of them" still lingers.
Looking back, I still maintain that most of us were honourable soldiers who put our best foot forward.
I do remember a Brit, badly wounded, dying with my arm around him, and crying out loud when he passed on ( there was nobody directly around but he, God and me)
We were not enemies at that moment, just two lone souls doing our duties as we saw it.
I remember my C.O. Hptsf.Fritz Ziegler saying: A wounded or dying soldier is no longer the enemy, unless he acts like one. Never forgot that.
H.n.

[haen2]

Afterthought.
To all veterans on this and other forums.
Most veteran organisations suffer the same problem; sooner or later, they die off and "perhaps" their children will carry on for a little.
But without our common experiences, shared good-, and bad moments, rain or shine, it is just not the same; it becomes just a "club".
Oh well: "Sic transit gloria mundi".

The next phase will be the deterioration of reenactment units. Without anybody alive to check on authenticity, pretty soon anything goes.

Old soldiers never die, we just SMELL that way.

HN.

[chambers]

Right before Christmas time last year my grandfather's old chapter of Korean War Veterans disbanded. It was very sad for me because that was the only organization he showed any interest in in the later years of his life.

Gerhard, I'm glad you're back. I missed you I was always and am still interested in what you and the other veterans have to say.

Keep on truckin !

Brooke