Hans Post
Hans Post
This is a highly recommended read.Hans Post,now living in Australia at 77,served in the Waffen SS and was a member of Skorzeny's outfit.
http://www.otfordpress.com.au/online_store/prod3.htm
The ill treatment that the Waffen SS Pows received from the French is also mentioned.
http://www.otfordpress.com.au/online_store/prod3.htm
The ill treatment that the Waffen SS Pows received from the French is also mentioned.
- David C. Clarke
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Hello David....
Seems that he was a Skoreny man... See : http://www.thepaper.org.au/issues/040/0 ... e_out.html
Seems that he was a Skoreny man... See : http://www.thepaper.org.au/issues/040/0 ... e_out.html
- David C. Clarke
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David,David C. Clarke wrote:Hi Moulded, how is this book on the author's combat experiences? What division in the Waffen SS did he serve in? Did he spend much time on the Ostfront? Thanks, David
Post joined Skorzeny's SS Jagerbattalion 502 in June 1944.It was renamed SS Jagdverband Mitte soon after.His first action was in the capture of Horthy,in Budapest,in October 1944.He then fought in the Battle of the Bulge,part of the Skorzeny outfit with US uniforms and jeeps.He was awarded the Iron Cross second class there.In February-April 1945 his unit was moved to the Oder Front(at Schwedt).Post destroyed two Soviet tanks with a Panzerfauste and was awarded the Iron Cross First Class.He says part of the mission there was to capture General Paulus who was conducting propaganda from the vicinity of Bahn.Only recce missions behind Soviet lines was done however.In early April Post contacted hepatitis and was sent to a hospital near the Czech border,only hours before the Soviet offensive started on the Oder. Post later ran into some old friends from the Frundsberg Division and they journeyed into US lines via Czechoslovakia.
- David C. Clarke
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- Ostpreussen
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Hans Post - One Man in His Time - Jagdverband Mitte
My compliments to you all.
I recently discovered your past references to Hans Post and his book. I've attached a more detailed review and further information which may be of interest to you. Hans has futhermore made available to me copies of his ABC radio (Radio National Australia) interviews from 2003, as well as DVD dubs from video of his appearance on ABC TV's Compass documentary, again from 2003.
Hans Post – “One Man in His Time” (406pp with photographs). Otford Press, Sydney 2002.
ISBN 1 876928 35 2.
This is a memoir I was given some years ago by its author, Hans Post, and I recommend it to you as a fascinating piece of oral history.
Hans was born in the village of Oels, near Breslau, in 1926, into a family which had actively supported National Socialism from its outset. “My early life was dominated by my family’s beliefs, by the Party, by the Hitler Youth, by my schooling. The little reading material available served only to reinforce what I was told… My parents always regarded reading as an unproductive entertainment and at my grandparent’s too there was only Das Schwarze Korps (the SS paper) and Lokomotive an der Oder (the local newspaper).”
He describes family life, school, growing up and military service in meticulous detail. As a dedicated member of the Jungfolk, he continuously climbed the leadership ladder. “I quickly realised the advantages of being outstanding, of making the most of my abilities, of being what I call 120 percent.” This dedication would take him further, much further.
Hans went on to volunteer for the Waffen SS, to be a member of Otto Skorzeny’s Jagdverband Mitte and to survive both the war and the POW camp at Thoree-les-Pins. “Thirty-six hundred Waffen SS men had left Germany for the camp… only 1300 survived.”
While his exploits are nothing short of remarkable, it is as much the aftermath of this service which makes for essential reading. I’m reminded here to some extent of Christa Wolf’s “A Model Childhood” – the attempt to make some sense of a life which had been based on a lie, to accommodate seemingly insurmountable personal and moral conflicts in a new world order.
And the reunion with his parents in 1946 only added to this conflict – “[They] made no effort to help me recover from the personal trauma I was suffering…my father never asked me how I got the Iron Cross First Class, or what I had done to deserve it…For my parents, by this time, the war had never happened – they had never supported the Party; their son had never been in the SS.” In the ruins of post-war Germany, denial was a most common attribute, and they would continue to deny to the end.
For Hans and his new wife Lydi, life in the new Germany eventually became untenable. “We made a conscious decision to make the best of whatever was to happen in Australia. If you think of what we had both gone through, what worse could happen to us? [But] we were, and would remain in the eyes of those we would meet, Germans, members of a nation responsible for horrendous deeds.”
Survivors, like Hans, are equally victims, and the ranks of their generation are thinning rapidly. Books such as this – frank testaments, written in English - are uncommon, and worthy of wider consideration. In this regard, Hans has made available to me signed copies (hardback), and you can contact me should you wish further details. He celebrated his 82nd birthday several Wednesdays ago, and while his mind is as agile as ever, the years are beginning to take their toll on his physical well-being.
Cheers,
Greg
I recently discovered your past references to Hans Post and his book. I've attached a more detailed review and further information which may be of interest to you. Hans has futhermore made available to me copies of his ABC radio (Radio National Australia) interviews from 2003, as well as DVD dubs from video of his appearance on ABC TV's Compass documentary, again from 2003.
Hans Post – “One Man in His Time” (406pp with photographs). Otford Press, Sydney 2002.
ISBN 1 876928 35 2.
This is a memoir I was given some years ago by its author, Hans Post, and I recommend it to you as a fascinating piece of oral history.
Hans was born in the village of Oels, near Breslau, in 1926, into a family which had actively supported National Socialism from its outset. “My early life was dominated by my family’s beliefs, by the Party, by the Hitler Youth, by my schooling. The little reading material available served only to reinforce what I was told… My parents always regarded reading as an unproductive entertainment and at my grandparent’s too there was only Das Schwarze Korps (the SS paper) and Lokomotive an der Oder (the local newspaper).”
He describes family life, school, growing up and military service in meticulous detail. As a dedicated member of the Jungfolk, he continuously climbed the leadership ladder. “I quickly realised the advantages of being outstanding, of making the most of my abilities, of being what I call 120 percent.” This dedication would take him further, much further.
Hans went on to volunteer for the Waffen SS, to be a member of Otto Skorzeny’s Jagdverband Mitte and to survive both the war and the POW camp at Thoree-les-Pins. “Thirty-six hundred Waffen SS men had left Germany for the camp… only 1300 survived.”
While his exploits are nothing short of remarkable, it is as much the aftermath of this service which makes for essential reading. I’m reminded here to some extent of Christa Wolf’s “A Model Childhood” – the attempt to make some sense of a life which had been based on a lie, to accommodate seemingly insurmountable personal and moral conflicts in a new world order.
And the reunion with his parents in 1946 only added to this conflict – “[They] made no effort to help me recover from the personal trauma I was suffering…my father never asked me how I got the Iron Cross First Class, or what I had done to deserve it…For my parents, by this time, the war had never happened – they had never supported the Party; their son had never been in the SS.” In the ruins of post-war Germany, denial was a most common attribute, and they would continue to deny to the end.
For Hans and his new wife Lydi, life in the new Germany eventually became untenable. “We made a conscious decision to make the best of whatever was to happen in Australia. If you think of what we had both gone through, what worse could happen to us? [But] we were, and would remain in the eyes of those we would meet, Germans, members of a nation responsible for horrendous deeds.”
Survivors, like Hans, are equally victims, and the ranks of their generation are thinning rapidly. Books such as this – frank testaments, written in English - are uncommon, and worthy of wider consideration. In this regard, Hans has made available to me signed copies (hardback), and you can contact me should you wish further details. He celebrated his 82nd birthday several Wednesdays ago, and while his mind is as agile as ever, the years are beginning to take their toll on his physical well-being.
Cheers,
Greg
Re: Hans Post
Hi,
how much is there about his actions on Oderfront?
how much is there about his actions on Oderfront?
- Ostpreussen
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Re: Hans Post
Hans has given me permission to post images of his Soldbuch and portrait photo from 1944. Attached. Refer to the earlier posts for further background data.