Ever since the beginning of my collection five years ago I focussed very much on one theme:
Documents of the 1st SS-Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" and it's 2nd Divisional Commader Theodor "Teddy" Wisch.
Wisch was born in a village near my hometown of Heide in the northern state of Schleswig Holstein. Unfortuantely I never had the opportunity to meet him in person since when he passed away in 1995 I was still going to school and I had not yet started to be interested very much in the military history of Germany.
During the last 5 years I was fortunate enough to meet and talk to many LAH veterans telling me about "Teddy" including Otto Kumm, Teddy's half-brother Waldemar H. ( ex T-Div. and LAH ) and Ernst Barkmann from "DR" who knows him from the post-war years.
Hearing all the stories about him and his character I realized that "yes", we do come from the same rough climate countryside of Northern Germany and I made it my task to reconstruct his military carrer in the form of his personal and other LAH documents and photos.
Many times during the last years did I want to break out, start collecting medals, badges, etc., but at the end my will to re-group all the lost Wisch documents was stronger and I kept going, leaving out many great and optically more attractive items.
I know my collection is small, but I dedicated all my time and hobby-budget into putting a piece of LAH history back together again.
I wish very much that some day my material or my limited knowledge could contribute to a book about Teddy Wisch or the proud division he led until the summer of 1944 when he was nearly killed by U.S. naval artillery on the invasion front.
At this point I want to thank my friend John M. Donovan very much for contacting me when wanting to part from some of his Wisch documents. They are now part of my grouping and I wish to appeal to everyone outthere wanting to part from some of their Wisch / LAH docs and photos to contact me.
Documents of the 1st SS-Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" and it's 2nd Divisional Commader Theodor "Teddy" Wisch.
Wisch was born in a village near my hometown of Heide in the northern state of Schleswig Holstein. Unfortuantely I never had the opportunity to meet him in person since when he passed away in 1995 I was still going to school and I had not yet started to be interested very much in the military history of Germany.
During the last 5 years I was fortunate enough to meet and talk to many LAH veterans telling me about "Teddy" including Otto Kumm, Teddy's half-brother Waldemar H. ( ex T-Div. and LAH ) and Ernst Barkmann from "DR" who knows him from the post-war years.
Hearing all the stories about him and his character I realized that "yes", we do come from the same rough climate countryside of Northern Germany and I made it my task to reconstruct his military carrer in the form of his personal and other LAH documents and photos.
Many times during the last years did I want to break out, start collecting medals, badges, etc., but at the end my will to re-group all the lost Wisch documents was stronger and I kept going, leaving out many great and optically more attractive items.
I know my collection is small, but I dedicated all my time and hobby-budget into putting a piece of LAH history back together again.
I wish very much that some day my material or my limited knowledge could contribute to a book about Teddy Wisch or the proud division he led until the summer of 1944 when he was nearly killed by U.S. naval artillery on the invasion front.
At this point I want to thank my friend John M. Donovan very much for contacting me when wanting to part from some of his Wisch documents. They are now part of my grouping and I wish to appeal to everyone outthere wanting to part from some of their Wisch / LAH docs and photos to contact me.
John
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