The idiot fringe.....

[Chris Boonzaier]

I live near a town in Bavaria with 50 000 or so people. The local library is rather large so I thought with a bit of luck I may find a regimental history or two.

I went there last week to look up what they had on WW1.... 4 books.....total....

Believe it...or not ... they had sold off stocks of history books a few months ago to raise funds for other things....

Are we the idiot fringe ?

[Don D.]

Chris, since somebody bought the books we must be part of the normal people. The "fringe" are the people that would replace history with Teletubbies, etc...

It was a short-sited decision on thier part but then again, they probably are never held accountable for poor management decisions. Very few literature books (novels, stories and the like) will stand the test of time but history will always be there.

On another note- I just finished reading Ernst Junger's "Storm of Steel." What a great account of how WW1 sucked (but they didn't realize it). I got to the end, went straight back to the beginning and am reading it again.
Don

[Mike Kenny]

.... sold off ...

Well, it could have been worse - they could have burnt them!

Great timing for the news Chris, given that it's Rememberance Day today!!

Regards
Mike K

[Gilles C.]

Chris,

Most regimental histories are written in the old German "gothic" script, which is a problem to new generations (only if they are two lazy to learn it). As usual these books were sold far below the price a collector would pay. So you can ask yourself who really belongs to the idiot fringe.
Regards
Gilles

[Eric Stahlhut]

Well, it's sort of the same on this side of the pond. Not to compare regimental history tomes with newer stuff, but I went to a library sale years ago and got BOTH editions of the Wehrlich books as well as Mericka's classic.....for ten bucks! Last time I checked, these were selling for $75-$100 apiece on the net.

Oh, and I got a Babin catalog for 25 cents as well...............

[Chris Boonzaier]

But the point is... how does a library get by with 4 (four) books on WW1?

Regimental histories aside, there were a lot of regulat WW1 books as well at some stage... now just 4 (four) general histories.

[Eric Stahlhut]

That is kind of wierd. Especially in Germany (one would think). Here in the U.S. one can go confidently into any public library and expect to find a relatively wide selection of books on the subject. They got the AFA over there, too?

[Chris Boonzaier]

That is kind of wierd. Especially in Germany (one would think). Here in the U.S. one can go confidently into any public library and expect to find a relatively wide selection of books on the subject. They got the AFA over there, too?

I think it has to do with how interested the public is in the theme.
Maybe the folks who are interested have the relevant books.

Another point to note is, even amongst collectors REAL interest in the history is not exactly rocking.

[Eric Stahlhut]

Yeah,
I could agree with that. I consider myself to be the typical collector that focuses on the object rather than the "Why's and Whuffo's". I know that eventually I will become disaffected by the whole general item collecting aspect and will begin to sit around in my comfy chair and smoking my pipe while pawing through arcane publications and being quite content gathering knowledge whilst doing so. Right now it seems as if most of my 'hobby' time is spent looking for objects. I think that a collector's life is evolutionary and I look forward to the process; i.e. 'I have a lot to learn and will always look forward to the hobby-in whatever form'.

Maybe then I'll be able to acquire a unique item!

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is what I consider to be a bridge between collecting and history.

Please note, this is all very, very rough work. It is to a large degree whacked out in a palm computer, and posted there without rereading, editing etc.

It is the basis of a book project about Iron Cross documents, but instead of picturing an item with a 3 line blurb telling you what you are looking at (normally the collector can see that for himself) we are trying to add "history" to the item.

http://www.aimoo.com/forum/freeboard.cfm?id=620276

Hopefully when it is finished it will put a bit of life into those crosses that line the drawers can sit there smoke their pipes and read itwith one eye on the pages and one eye on the collection ...

[ynot]

Chris,

I live in Bielefeld and once went to the library to look up some history of the barracks here, both in WWI (just the one barrack building) and WWII (a good half a dozen).

The nice lady there gave me a strange look and said she would go to their archives. She came back 1 hour later with 3 books, all pre-dating 1908. That was all they had.

Tony

[mravery]

Hey Guys,

I hate to say it... but this is the wave of the future....... A friend of mine has spoken with contacts at Haus Dorn and they are in the process of selling most all of Wilhelm's belongings.....Tunics, Helmets Medals etc (which they have slowly sold off for years anyway).... They offered the entire museum to the German Government.... Who declined immediatly....

There just is not enough interest in this stuff to maintain the museums any longer....

Another friend had returned from a 'museum trip' last fall.. and in almost all of the museums he went to in Germany..... he was about the only one there....

So........ I don't see thigs getting any better in the future....

Cheers
Mark