Translation from Sütterlin request.

[Mannheim]

My mother-in-law, Hilde, died three weeks ago at the age of 100. She had an interesting life which I am intending to write up and will share on this forum (eventually). Short version: she lived in Wuppertal where her uncle Werner was shot to death by three members of the local SA shortly after Hitler came to power. It was a long shot but I asked her if she still knew the names of the SA members who had shot him and she said Yes. Consequently, I kept an eye out for the names of these three blokes every time I read something about this period of History (i.e. every day). I had little hope of finding out what had happened to them but amazingly after almost exactly ten years of halfheartedly scanning whatever names appeared on whatever forum I was reading, I did find out the fates of the three culprits and will reveal my discovery when I write the narrative. Hilde's misfortunes did not end there: her brother Max was drafted and disappeared at Stalingrad shortly after 'celebrating' his eighteenth birthday. Hilde was herself drafted and served as an Oberleutnant in a Signals section of the Luftwaffe. My wife is going through her effects and Hilde's brother's diary from 1938 has surfaced. Unfortunately the diary is written in Sütterlin script and Hilde was the only one in the family who could still read it. I couldn't ask her to translate it because the whole memory used to upset her (understandably). I am posting this one page from Max's diary because it has a reference to the SA and might have some bearing on the story if someone can translate it. I'd be very grateful for any help. Incidentally, there is a possibility that the 1938 diary might have been used by Max at some later time (but obviously before 1942).

[GregSingh]

Hi, please place translation requests in the "Translation help" section of the forum, where others will correct / add. Thanks.
I see:

An diesem Abend wurde
mein Onkel Werner
von einem Trupp SA
Männern ermordet.
Hierbei erhielt er
6 Bauch und 4 Oberschenkel
Schüsse

[Mannheim]

Sorry, I didn't realise there was a "Translation Request" section (despite being a member for ten years). I'm off to Specsavers! Thanks for the translation, Greg. It fits perfectly with what I know of the narrative. I'm guessing that - since this entry was made in a 1938 diary and his uncle Werner was shot in 1933- Max has entered this as a kind of "In Memoriam".

[history1]

Agree, with Greg.
BTW, what the source for "Hilde was herself drafted and served as an Oberleutnant in a Signals section of the Luftwaffe. "
AFAIK didn´t Luftwaffenhelferinnen /Air Force aids, hold military ranks.

[Mannheim]

The source was Hilde herself. I have photos of her in uniform. She said that she was Oberleutnant on more than one occasion but she may well have meant Oberfuhrerin, a rank she would not have been happy saying. She was in charge of roughly 200 girls.

[history1]

Thanks for your feedback, Mannheim, Oberführerin is of course possible and as you said what she most likely meant.

[Stephan]

Fantastic person-stories opening up!
I do have a remark. We got to realize Hilde preferred to translate her SS-hilferinnen rank to a more neutral army rank. Its pretty understandable, and in reality, it changes nothing. It just tells the same message: She had command over 200 girls.
Roughly the same as Mary Churchill, Winston Churchills dau? whom was in Flak-troops.

OK, but drafted and become a ranking officer? Unless they were in a very desperate need of officer material, its more probable she volunteered. This would give her better practical chances to come forward and rise in ranks, than being a drafted....

And yeah, this too she probably wouldnt speak much about, by several different reasons. As so she didnt.

[Mannheim]

This was her uniform. I have no idea what rank it represented at the time.

[HPL2008]

I do have a remark. We got to realize Hilde preferred to translate her SS-hilferinnen rank to a more neutral army rank.

Sorry, but there is no SS rank or other SS connection here. (Of course, there was the male SS rank of Oberführer, but that's an entirely different matter.)

This was her uniform. I have no idea what rank it represented at the time.

She's wearing the uniform of a Luftwaffe auxiliary (as you already know, of course). We would have to see her left upper sleeve to tell the exact rank, as that is were the actual rank insignia were worn.

The four-pointed star and collar piping were worn by all Führerinnen [lit. "leader", i.e. officer-equivalent] ranks. These were:

- Führerin [equivalent to Leutnant]
- Oberführerin [equivalent to Oberleutnant]
- Hauptführerin [equivalent to Hauptmann]
- Stabsführerin [equivalent to Major]
- Oberstabsführerin [equivalent to Oberstleutnant