How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

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panzerhan
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How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#1

Post by panzerhan » 08 Feb 2011, 16:34

Dou you know how many German World War II veterans are alive? Are there any exact numbers?

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Panzerkampfwagen
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#2

Post by Panzerkampfwagen » 09 Feb 2011, 16:25

Veterans, I dont think many would be alive. There might be just a handful of them like Rochus Misch in their old age.


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Inselaffe
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#3

Post by Inselaffe » 10 Feb 2011, 02:11

ksugeeth wrote:I dont think many would be alive
According to http://www.dza.de/en/ (German Institute for Gerontology) there were 4.18 million over the age of 80 living in Germany in 2009. Allowing for the greater longevity of women (some of whom will also be veterans) that still means there must be several tens of thousands of Wehrmacht veterans alive not including those who live outside of Germany. Obviously, the numbers will inevitably decline more steeply now.
ksugeeth wrote:in their old age


Well there won't be any young ones :lol:

Cheers.
"It was like Hungary being between Germany and the Soviet Union. What sort of choice was that? Which language would you like your firing squad to speak?" Tibor Fischer 'Under the Frog'.

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HaEn
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#4

Post by HaEn » 10 Feb 2011, 03:17

Do I count too ??? :milsmile:
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Mangrove
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#5

Post by Mangrove » 10 Feb 2011, 12:18

Inselaffe wrote:According to http://www.dza.de/en/ (German Institute for Gerontology) there were 4.18 million over the age of 80 living in Germany in 2009. Allowing for the greater longevity of women (some of whom will also be veterans) that still means there must be several tens of thousands of Wehrmacht veterans alive not including those who live outside of Germany.
There were some 35 000 veterans living in Finland in December 2009 according to Suomen Sotaveteraaniliitto. At the end of the same year there were 77 317 men and 170 091 women over 80 years of age still living. 35 000 out of 247 000 is some 14%, so using the same percent there would around 600 000 war veterans living in Germany. Of course one has to take account the differences between mobilization between these two countries as early as 1941 Finland had mobilized c. 16% of the whole population.

Sources:
http://www.sotaveteraaniliitto.fi/tieto ... /jasenisto
http://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_vaesto.html

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Snarka
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#6

Post by Snarka » 14 Apr 2011, 02:38

HaEn wrote:Do I count too ??? :milsmile:
HN
For me - sure!
Image

wish you good health!

Haibtlik
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#7

Post by Haibtlik » 07 Aug 2011, 23:41

anyone know if there is some kind of german (austrian) veterans organisation who could help find veterans from a given unit?
...would be so great to find someone who remembered my grandfather (died 1942)

peter2010
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#8

Post by peter2010 » 06 Aug 2012, 03:39

In Armageddon, his book about the last year of the war in Europe, Max Hastings remarked, with more than just a touch of sadness, that the first decade of the 21st century was the last decade when interviews with veterans of WWII could still be usefully done. What's the experience among people on this forum? Are the events now so far in the past that even if we do get the privilege of talking to veterans the stories that they tell us have been covered in so many layers of myths and rationalizations that there's nothing authentic left? Or do some veterans have so clear recollections that we can actually learn new and surprising insights about the past?

nobodyofnote
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#9

Post by nobodyofnote » 06 Aug 2012, 03:56

And there are some veterans who refuse to talk about the past, so they go to the grave with their memories. My grandfather was a veteran of the New Guinea campaign. As a teenager I used to ask him about his war experiences, but he either changed the discussion or got up and walked away. He never attended ANZAC parades or watched it on television. That period in his life was something he would rather forget. From what I gathered from talking with my grandmother after his death, he apparently witnessed many of his mates being killed and a lot of gruesome stuff going on. I would imagine this would apply to veterans on both sides - it's something they don't want to talk about.

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I have questions
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#10

Post by I have questions » 18 Dec 2018, 04:47

I have my own question, does anyone know if Gunter Koschorrek is still alive? Thanks in advance. (PS I'm new here)

Sid Guttridge
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#11

Post by Sid Guttridge » 18 Dec 2018, 12:40

Presumably the pensions organizations know with great accuracy.

Failing that, it should be quite easy to calculate an approximate figure of those likely to still be alive from population statistics and life expectancies.

Cheers,

Sid

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Alexander Nasman
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#12

Post by Alexander Nasman » 18 Dec 2018, 15:50

Well, funnily enough, I passed by the old people's homes at Charlottenburg Station last week. The residents were having an event in the garden, drinking warm mulled wine. I struck up a conversation with a chap who was 80, most of the old folks there could be considered children of veterans. For example, a child born in 1940, is now 78. Interestingly, when the war is discussed nowadays on the radio / TV - subjects are usually the kids of veterans.

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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#13

Post by drak00 » 22 Dec 2018, 10:58

As per (German Institute for Gerontology) there were 4.18 million beyond 80 2009 years old in Germany in 2009. Taking into account the more prominent life span of ladies (some of whom will likewise be veterans) that still means there must be a few a huge number of Wehrmacht veterans alive excluding the individuals who live outside of Germany. Clearly, the numbers will unavoidably decrease all the more steeply now.

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Hoover
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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#14

Post by Hoover » 18 Jan 2019, 09:31

To be honest, I don´t think that there are more than a lower thousand fighting veterans are still living.

The soldiers of the 40´s are in their 90´s now. Look at the KC holders as an example. there are only a small handful living today.
I had contact to about 100 fighting veterans in the 90´s, 25 in 2010, 1 today, and this was a 16 years old boy in 1945. The last veteran I talked to has been Hardegen in Bremen. But he is gone, too.

So I think there are in the lower thousand veterans living who really ought in WW2.

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Re: How Many German Veterans Are Alive?

#15

Post by offizier1916 » 18 Jan 2019, 15:36

not many are left. My grandfather, born in 1923 (Oberleutnant), died in 2011. He was the only one of his veteran-reunion still alive. With 15 I started volountary Service in a retirement home for 2 years (2008-2010). There i met some Wehrmacht and two ss veterans, all born between 1914 and 1926. One was a 1914 born former Major of the Wehrmacht. All are dead now

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