Help Translating Waffen SS Diary

[Hohlladung]

Hi T.D.

Not a song lyric, just a rhyme by the second signatue, Helmut Metzger.

Roughly translated:
"Humour is what the world needs,
it is what keeps us healthy.
That's why we founded the coloured stage,
to let the sun keep on shining."
(Well, it rhymes in German language)
Bunte Bühne= coloured stage

Helmut Metzger (06. July 1917-20.December 1995) was the founder of this Vaudeville theatre. They entertained the POW's and even performed in other POW camps.
Later he became an author and dialect poet:

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Metzger_(Autor)

You find his biopraphy here, but only in German language:
https://pfl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babble ... biographie

He participated in the French campaign 1940 and from 1941-1943 in the Russian campaign, where he was wounded 1943 at River Dnepr.
Also in the Battle of the Bulge and became officer's cadet. He was awarded the Infantry Assault Badge, East Medal, Wounded Badge (black) and both Iron Crosses.

The other signatures I read as:

Heinrich Lembinell and Walter Dostal

Best regards
Armin

[Project154]

Armin,

Wow thank you! Certainly another few characters to research that will keep me busy. Helmut Metzger is interesting because he states in his autobiography:

"When I was a prisoner of war I founded a "Colorful Stage" together with other musically gifted prisoners. Every week we had a new self-staged program for officers in our camp, consisting of conferences, poems, sketches and the like, in which we often fooled the American camp management. Our fellow prisoners were always very grateful for this change, so love to forget the eternal growling stomach in our "Hunger Camp Heilbronn" for a while."

It sounds like he may have founded this "Bunte Bühne" in the camp when he signed the diary, and it appears to be still around to this date!

And I should have been more clear that, there is another page with song lyrics on it, and this is it below:

[history1]

Hello,

The bottom work is connected to the Austrian composer Franz Schubert and his friend Franz von Schober, the 2nd strophe from his poem "An die Musik / To music".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_die_Musik

Above is the very beginning of the song "Im schönsten Wiesengrunde = In the most beautifil lea", written by Wilhelm Ganzhorn in 1853.
https://www.lieder-archiv.de/im_schoens ... 00133.html
There is not much information about this jurist and lyricist on the English Wikipedia side:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Ganzhorn
Wise to change it into the Germen version and use an online translator for the text when you want to learn more about him.

Signed by the camp quardet on Aug. 8th [19]45
The signatures I read as
Lorenz Schlerf
Ernst Karmacher

L. Schlerf was later the director of a chorus from the FAG Kugelfischer company and mentioned in this Opel - newsletter on p. 10:
https://opelpost.com/wp-content/uploads ... _4_Mai.pdf
There are also photos but I can´t make out which person he is.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAG_Kugelfischer

Cheers

[Project154]

Hi Roman,

Thank you very much for the information. I have been working 12 hour shifts so it is hard to find the time to get on here sometimes, but I appreciate your help so much

Interesting on YouTube, the top search result for "Im schönsten Wiesengrunde" seems to be a Russian singing in German a few years after the war.

I have another couple mystery men, the second page has only a signature with no comments or description of who the name is, curious if you're able to tell what the name says? Many, many thanks!

[Hohlladung]

Hi T.D.
The first signature I read as Helmut Tobler.
Hauptmann(Captain)/Engineer in the Luftwaffe
Lived 10 years in Australia and in Camp A13 in the English language circle.

For an engineer his dedication is pretty philosphical. It translates roughly:
„Thoroughly studying of a world language encourages the knowledge about countries, continents and their people and is the first requirement of an understanding cooperation of the great nations seeking for a longing world peace.“

The 2nd signature I read: Hans Zöbarlein

Best regards
Armin

[Ken S.]

Hans Zöberlein, the author "Der Glaube an Deutschland".

Screenshot 2020-10-18 at 7.11.18 PM.png (194.21 KiB) Viewed 1672 times

[Hohlladung]

Hi Ken,
As mentioned before Camp A13 accommodated some "special guests".
The signature has a big similarity and is dated July 1945.
According to informations available online about his biography, he was transferred to internment camp Kornwestheim on 21. August 1945 to investigate his role in the " Murder night of Penzberg 1945".
There is only a distance of approximately 40 km between Heilbronn and Kornwestheim.
I am pretty sure it's him.

Best regards
Armin

[Project154]

Armin and Ken,

Wow! The members on this forum have so much knowledge it continues to blow my mind hah! Thank you so much for identifying these two people.

I honestly had not have heard of Hans Zöberlein in the past. After reading up on him, he certainly sounds like a die hard Nazi, from his very early days in the SA to his Anti-Semitic writings. Golden Party Badge number #869!

I have another entry that is quite longer then most that I have posted on here, if anyone has any free time and wishes to translate some of it, I would be forever grateful. If it is too long to translate it all, that is no problem, if anyone could give me an idea what his name might be and a summary of what he is saying that would be great too Many, many thanks!

T.D.

[Hohlladung]

Hi T.D.

Sorry for the late answer. There is nothing special in this text passage, the red line is not to give up and look forward, very philosophical.

It was written by a First Lieutenant and Luftwaffe pilot,
Squadron Leader of NSG 2 and Technician

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... NSG2-R.htm

I read the signature as: Heinz Werner

Unfortunately I didn't find anything about him online. There is a book about the NSG2:

https://www.amazon.de/Eins%C3%A4tze-Nac ... 3938208678

Maybe he is mentioned there. Another possibility is to start a request here in the Luftwaffe section to ask for more information/photo about him.

Best regards
Armin

[Project154]

Armin,

Absolutely no need to be sorry! I am sure we are all busy with things in life, I appreciate any and all help you have so graciously provided so far

I have been fascinated with all these individuals in the diary, but the one thing that still remains a pretty big mystery to me is: the man who owned and created the journal itself!

All I know so far is that it appears he belonged to the 5th Waffen SS Division Wiking, likely the Germania regiment. I think his name might be Hermann Serge, or some spelling close to that. And we know he was in A13, a part of the camp at Heilbronn after the war.

So I have a bunch of the pages in the diary that he wrote, pages and pages. I am going to upload one of them here, and if anyone could give me an idea of what he is talking about in it? In particular if anyone is able to tell me what it says on the 4 lines that are underlined, I feel this must have been a strong point Hermann was trying to make. I have no idea how he felt at war's end, was he angry, remorseful, sad, sorry, hopeful, etc.

And thank you all again for so much help, truly such amazing people in this forum

T.D.

diary98.jpg (119.4 KiB) Viewed 1460 times

[nichte]

What I read.
I agree with Armin, very philosophical.
Hiltraut
----------------

und ….., besonders die …..
und versteckt arbeitenden, haben im
Endeffekt - wie so verflucht oft schon -
den Ausschlag gegeben!

Wo ist die ….. sittliche Ordnungs-
macht?
Wo die göttliche Gerechtigkeit?
Ich besitze genügend Überzeugungs-
treue, um zu wissen, daß sie exi-
stiert; nicht zuletzt, weil ich sie in
mir ….. fühle. Und die Gegen-
seite des Gedankens: die Ernte ist glei-
che Saat - der Mensch erfährt nichts
anderes, als er verdient!

Es fehlte uns trotz allem geäußerten
Theorismus ein ausschlaggebendes Maße
an seelischer, weltanschaulicher und
charakterlicher Reife und Größe!

Wir verdienten den Sieg und den Osten
nicht - weil sie an ihnen gefrevelt
haben, anstatt nur angesichts seiner
Erwartung, wie einer Art religiösen
Scheu die Verantwortung und Aufgabe
bewußt zu wenden, die er uns auferlegte.
- Während ich schreibe, geht …

[Project154]

Nichte,

Thank you very much for helping me to learn what he had written. Those are the first words I have been able to translate to English that I know he wrote himself.

I have another page, the first one he started to actually write himself in the diary, I know it is a lot of words and not everyone may be able to translate it all, but if anyone could give me an idea of what he is saying, I would be greatly appreciative Thank you soo much.

T.D.

[Hohlladung]

Hi T.D.

Actually again a lot of philosophy. IMO the only interesting information here is, that he was taken POW on 03. May 45 near Holzkirchen southeast of Munich by tank units of the 7.th US Army.

Best regards
Armin

[nichte]

T.D., in case you want to read a bit more details, here are some bits and pieces, not sure if all is transcribed correctly, though.
Hiltraut

Gefangenen-Lager …..
Offiziers-Camp
Sonntag, den 3. Juni 1945

Meine herzlieben Eltern!
Der Tag meiner waffen - und da-
mit kampf- und ruhmlosen Gefangen-
nahme durch Panzertruppen der 7. ameri-
kanischen Armee bei Holzkirchen SO Mün-
chen liegt heute genau vier Wochen zurück.
In der Zeit seither vollzog sich die drama-
tischste Tragödie in meinem bisherigen
Leben überhaupt: der wahre Tempel ei-
ner Weltanschauung, weniger gebaut durch
….., doktrinäre Lehre als organisch
gewachsen unter dem Einfluß elementa-
rer Wesensäußerungen, deren Statur ich
als zutiefst religiös empfand, brach in
Trümmer. In den vergangenen vier Wochen
habe ich mich bemüht, mich mit die-
ser Tatsache abzufinden. Obwohl es mir
teilweise gelang, bin ich noch jetzt nicht
in der Lage, die gesamten Ausmaße dieses
Zusammenbruches und seinen Auswir-
kungen zu erfassen. Die scheinbaren Ein-
drücke, die durch ihre Gewalt ebenfalls ein
Trümmerfeld und einen entsprechenden

[Project154]

Armin and Hiltraut, thank you SO much for your help. It means a great deal. I am now starting to get a better idea of what was going on in the mind of Mr. Hermann when he was first captured. And now I have some dates and locations that I can spend time researching. This is the first time I have been able to read his own words in English so it is very exciting. I am very grateful

I am hopeful that maybe in more of his writings it will mention just what Hermann's role was in the war. I have another page here and if anyone is able to let me know what it says, I will be forever in your debt. I know it is long and if you don't have the time or interest to translate it all I understand. Ever a summary of what it says is better then nothing. You get to learn the mysteries hidden within the diary before I do, but thank you for sharing them with me hah!

T.D.