New biography: LSSAH - SS-Brigadeführer and Swords holder Theodor "Teddy" Wisch

[markus]

Could the German speaking gentleman from 'Africa' repeat
his PM to me of last Friday?

I just wanted to answer him, when I realized that his PM
fell victim to my inbox-cleaning-action this weekend.

I am terribly sorry.

Cheers,
Markus

[markus]

A new batch of books arrived today. Feel free to contact me if you like to order a signed copy for your library.

Cheers,
Markus

[MarcRikmenspoel]

I bought a copy, and have now had over a week to examine it. It is a nice book, with my biggest complaint being that it is too short! I would have liked more text and more photos, but that is just being greedy, I suppose (I can imagine Markus' thoughts upon reading this..."Yeah, you try to dig this rare material up!")

The book had some nice anecdotes, such as Hand Bernhard's correction of how Wisch was wounded, and the actual circumstances of that day. I had never heard of Wisch's step-brother, so his accounts were interesting. I had noticed in my study of photographs over the years, that Wisch never seemed to be seen smoking, so his step-brother's mention that Wisch didn't smoke confirmed my guess. Certain other men in the LAH were noted nicotine fiends, such as Jochen Peiper and Sepp Dietrich.

That's a light matter. On a much more serious note, I read with interest that Bernhard actually directed the operations of SS-PAR 1 in the last weeks of the war, after Otto Kumm lost faith in the abilities of Franz Steineck. This is probably related to something that has never really been discussed. That is, the way in which the LAH in the spring of 1945 had disagreements between realists and fanatics.

A somewhat benign example of this is the way Werner Pötschke, after the Südwind Offensive, had his adjutant publicly humiliated by transferring him to serve like an enlisted man in a supply element. Much more tragic was the fate of Heinz von Westernhagen. The "official" story was always that he was relieved from duty due to his old head wound causing trouble, and that he was killed by a stray bomb. In fact, while his wound did bother him, he was also distraught about how his world was collapsing around him, and that the years of effort put forth by himself and his comrades ultimately were meaningless. Something then happened. The men of sSS-Panzer Abteilung 501 believed he shot himself in despair, but his brother, Rolf, thought it entirely possible that Heinz was either murdered, or pressured into the suicide for showing defeatism.

Bernhard replacing Steineck, the case of Pötschke's adjutant, and the death of Heinz von Westernhagen aren't necessarily connected incidents, but they still are suggestions that the LAH had differing factions during the difficult days of 1945.

There's other examples out there, in various books, for those looking to read between the lines. Meanwhile, this new Wisch biography is a useful piece of a large puzzle, filling in gaps left by other works. Anyone who studies the Waffen-SS should have it in their personal library.

[Mark C. Yerger]

Pity others don't do similar books.

To a major degree size is simply what there is available for any text.

I wanted to do Otto Baum's biography and have the image material but surviving documentation of use/interest was insufficient. The same with Hans Kempin.

Instead of doing a single volume in those 2 cases, I wrote "Waffen-SS Commanders" simply for the ability to publish their biographies.

Others, like Hausser, Keppler, etc even worse minimal surviving documentation.

But others at field rank are feasible as I did on Kumm, Weidinger, Krag, as well as Markus' Wisch book. I think it's marvelous and again, wish others would do similar.

And despite rather small word count of text, is harder than nearly all would imagine unless a similar project undertaken.

[markus]

Thanks for your review MarcR.  I appreciate all reviews a lot.  I’m sure the text could have gained some more weight by filling it up with unit history, troop movements, battle descriptions, etc., but as I expressed in my introduction, I did not want to repeat all the other works on the “LAH” again. I have caught myself recently reading the “Kindler” (Munin-Verlag) book recently jumping over the unit history parts, I’ve read so often elsewhere already… I really wanted to only focus on Theo Wisch only for my book, sourcing from the official archive material, my own collection of items and veterans who had closer (!) contact with Wisch. Unfortunately, I’m too young and many of Wisch’s former comrades who had worked with him on a daily basis had already passed. The ones that remain are about 92 years old nowadays! One has to remember, that many vets (still alive) never actually saw a Batallion Regimental or Division commander up close! Time was certainly also a factor with regards to the extend of the book. I’m married to a “Latina” wife, our son was born when I finished the first draft and I have a 24/7 job. Ask Mark Yerger how many times he had to motivate me to keep going and actually finish the book (Poor Mark - laugh)!  Writing a single sentence could take me 2 days, since it includes names, ranks, dates, you want/must double-check to be correct in different references. I’m deeply thankful to my good buddy former HStuf. Hans Bernhard for sharing me all his insides of that day Wisch was wounded. I don’t remember how many times we talked about that August 20, 1944……there was way more we discussed about the LAH in those months, the Division staff, personal views of people like Sepp Dietrich, Wilhelm Mohnke, Jochen Peiper, etc. but then it did not necessarily fit into the Wisch biography. I have taped most of my telcons with Hans and they include still a wealth of infos, but maybe for a different work in the future. Who knows. Btw, the whole “Steineck” topic and how Hans lively recalled Kumm’s views, orders and discussions and angry telcons about Steineck and his inabilities is “wonderfully” real, but did not find a proper place in this work. Also how about the episode when Steineck turned to Hans Bernhard and said: “It’s about my turn to get a German Cross in Gold….!” Or Willy Mohnke turning to Hans, saying: “Bernhard, prepare a recommendation for the Oakleaves to Rudi Sandig!” Only that Hans immediately replied back: “Sandig gets no Oakleaves from me!” (Rudolf Sandig never received the Oakleaves as we well know) There’s one situation I did not put into the book, simply because I had no real proof for it other than post-war rumors circulating. Rumors had no space in my book, so I left it out. The rumor has it, that at some point after Wisch was wounded, he said: “Take anyone, but not Mohnke!” – Hans Bernhard, having evacuated Wisch did not recall Wisch having said this. If true, Wisch made this remark at a later stage…we’ll never know for sure. Btw, I do not think, that Wisch made this comment due to Mohnke’s possible inability of leading the division, it is my personal view that, if this comment was really made, it was rather pointing towards Mohnke’s morphine addiction and the constant pain he was trying to cut with this drug. Photo material-wise, I can say, that I have a lot of more photos and documents of Wisch in my archive, but it was also a question of proportion towards the text part and quality. Many are private shots and lack a certain quality I wished to maintain for this book. Moreover I personally love telegrams, but decided not to include my 10+ telegrams in the book, etc., though certainly very interesting. Well, what can I say, I made the most of the time and material I had at my disposal at the time and my deep wish was to give something back to the interested readers. I hope to have achieved this and preserved history. The book is not mine, but it belongs to the men who told me their stories and to Theodor Wisch. What ever will be earned by the sales of this book will go to charity, as would have been the wish of Theodor Wisch, a very modest, quiet and uncomplicated man according to many I have talked to over the years. It is an honour for me to announce that the HIAG Landesverband Hamburg e.V. just awarded me the Goldene HIAG-Ehrennadel for my efforts writing this biography. (I was just sent a scan of the certificate while writing this post) – My thanks go especially to Mark C. Yerger for supporting me 1000% with this project. I would like to remind everyone that Mark is the ONLY AMERICAN to ever have earned the Goldene HIAG-Ehrennadel awarded to him by senior members of the then Federal HIAG association for his extraordinary efforts in documenting and preserving the history of the Waffen-SS. Markus

[Klaus Richter]

Congratulations Markus on receiving the Goldene HIAG-Ehrennadel!!! That really is quite an honor! And one totally deserved. If possible maybe you can post an image of the certificate!

[markus]

Congratulations Markus on receiving the Goldene HIAG-Ehrennadel!!! That really is quite an honor! And one totally deserved. If possible maybe you can post an image of the certificate!

Sure Klaus, a pleasure. Permit me only to neutralize it a little.
You will surely understand. Mark C. Yerger and my friend Jaime
have a full scan of the original, but I would like to refrain from
posting the complete doc with my name on it in public.

Markus

[Mark C. Yerger]

Markus just asked me to post the below regards the HIAG Ehrennadel in Gold

[markus]

Absolutely stunning document Mark!

You don't know how much I enjoy looking at it over
and over again. A well deserved award !
Today, in 2012, you should receive the diamonds!

Here's my much "poorer" state-level document and the two
needles. One to keep with the document and one for wear
on a suit, etc.

Markus

[markus]

Here part of the letter accompanying the a.m. document and needles.

Needless to say, that I can not share the private contents of the letter sent to me by the first speaker.

Markus

[pasoleati]

I wonder if there is enough documentation to do a full-length biography of e.g. Felix Steiner? I mean in-depth like Carlo D'Este's one on Patton.

[Mark C. Yerger]

I wonder if there is enough documentation to do a full-length biography of e.g. Felix Steiner? I mean in-depth like Carlo D'Este's one on Patton.

Minimal Personalakte like Keppler and Hausser. Impossible in the Wisch text format as only his shortest Vorschlag copies are included included.

All there is, adding and correcting prior ones, is in vol. 7 of my German Cross series. About 3,000 words

[MarcRikmenspoel]

I can assure everyone that Markus and Mark aren't being flippant in their comments. I worked hard on my previous books, but this latest one I'm doing, on Wiking, Nordland, Nederland and the Germanic Legions, needs to be the best yet. I too have a full time job, and yet sometimes it takes days to properly research and write a single photo caption! But years from now, people reading the book will have a better product.

Markus, thanks for some additional behind the scenes moments. My personal belief, and others might disagree, is that these are the greatest strength in what can be offered today, so long after the war. The battle history has indeed mostly been covered already. But these stories are new to most readers, and are valuable contributions to historical study.

[Greg]

Congrats, Markus, on your Goldene HIAG-Ehrennadel!

Best,
Greg

[markus]

I can assure everyone that Markus and Mark aren't being flippant in their comments. I worked hard on my previous books, but this latest one I'm doing, on Wiking, Nordland, Nederland and the Germanic Legions, needs to be the best yet. I too have a full time job, and yet sometimes it takes days to properly research and write a single photo caption! But years from now, people reading the book will have a better product.

Markus, thanks for some additional behind the scenes moments. My personal belief, and others might disagree, is that these are the greatest strength in what can be offered today, so long after the war. The battle history has indeed mostly been covered already. But these stories are new to most readers, and are valuable contributions to historical study.

Marc, thanks for your comment. I completely agree.

Markus