Erich Topp's RK

[Steve Mezey]

deceased

I believe Herr Topp is now deceased. I had read somewhere after the theft had taken place his heart was pretty much broken and being old and in ill health it didn't take long. It is surely a disgusting act that anyone would even have the Balls to do such a thing to a veteran. It just shows which way the world is going! There have been some rather large collections stolen out of Germany that have disappeared without trace?
Steve

[Edgar Estrada]

I believe Herr Topp is now deceased. I had read somewhere after the theft had taken place his heart was pretty much broken and being old and in ill health it didn't take long. It is surely a disgusting act that anyone would even have the Balls to do such a thing to a veteran. It just shows which way the world is going! There have been some rather large collections stolen out of Germany that have disappeared without trace?
Steve

Now I understand why skyp has his collection in a bank. Pity to know that Erick Topp is deceased (someone know when?)

Regards

Edgar

[bratwurstdimsum]

Hmm, I'm not sure hes died yet, I've been doing a recent study on who may be the owner of my '57 RK OL&S and going through the entire list of trager in both the :

1. http://www.das-ritterkreuz.de/index_...earchword=topp
2. http://www.ww2awards.com/person/34531

Both are quite up to date and do not list Topp as dead yet...

[MikeNZ]

As far as I know, he is still alive.. According to this he is..

http://www.u552.de/german/crew/topp01.htm

[bratwurstdimsum]

Just emailed an author friend of Topp's: Theodore Savas, looks like he's hanging on...

Admiral Topp is a good friend of mine....Sadly, Topp is failing. I was with him in December 2003 at his home. His memory is almost gone and he has now left his lovely home in Remagen to move in with his son.

And Edgar, despite what thieves do, I think putting any great war treasure in the bank vault is not on either, unless you buy for investment. 1) you are allowing these people keep you in fear 2) these were high profile awards that should be proudly displayed for all to see, just as proudly as these men once wore them. If you're worried about security, loan them to a museum. That way they are still yours and somebody else worries about security!

[bratwurstdimsum]

Keep it relevant, clean & civil gentlemen

[Dietrich Maerz]

Gentlemen,

please stay civil in wording and also in 'baiting'.

Thanks,

Dietrich

P.S.: Tom, how is your FTIR comming? When can we expect the results?

[tom hansen]

Dietrich-

I should know the results in a few weeks. The test has been paid for and the cross has been returned, so we will know. I assume it will be before Thanksgiving.

[Dietrich Maerz]

Tom,

thanks for the update! No preliminary results, ideas, notions, remarks, finding,...?

Dietrich

[Matt Starr]

k

[Dietrich Maerz]

I had to clean up the thread for obvious reasons.

Dietrich

[Steve Mezey]

terribly sorry

I am terribly sorry gents! I was sure that I had read somewhere about Herr Topps passing. I did not mean to offend anyone especially his family if they have read my post. I am sorry I did not get my facts straight and appologise to anyone that I offended. That was not intended in any way. I will make sure that I have my facts straight when I reply to such posts in the future. I am still of course disgusted in the theft of Mr Topps awards.
Steve

[Sonderkommando]

Wasn't Topp our enemy and didn't he recieve the KC for being so good at destroying and killing innocent people who were fighting to save their countries and their freedom from being taken from them by the Germans? Didn't many innocent people lose their lives to his U-Boat?
Remember, the Germans started the war from the best of my memory, and it cost many, many innocent lives to stop them.
Maybe the person who stole his awards remembers this better than many of you do.
Believe it or not, many people lost relatives and family and friends to an enemy who was intent on destroying whatever it took to rule Europe and maybe the rest of the world.
Maybe it is the people who hero-worship this enemy from our past who have the problem, and not the people who remember the reason for the war.

Anyway, I agree that it was wrong to take Topps personal awards as they had no right to be welcomed into his house and then do such a low-life act.

No need to reply to this as I am in agreeance with with the general feelings of this thread.

Brett

[Darrell]

Maybe the person who stole his awards remembers this better than many of you do.
Brett

Maybe he did ... but more than likely due to greed and $$$ in his eyes than anything.

[bratwurstdimsum]

Very good alternate viewpoints Brett, can't fault what you say at all.

On the other hand, we are in the business of collecting medals, and just about any medal that is awarded for bravery is directly attributed to the recipient blowing up or shooting someone or something. Axis or Allied. The politics of collecting is a whole 'nother thread in my opinion.

BTW the word "innocence", careful about that, if you're resupplying a war effort on one side or another you are far from innocent.

Jeff

Wasn't Topp our enemy and didn't he recieve the KC for being so good at destroying and killing innocent people who were fighting to save their countries and their freedom from being taken from them by the Germans? Didn't many innocent people lose their lives to his U-Boat?
Remember, the Germans started the war from the best of my memory, and it cost many, many innocent lives to stop them.
Maybe the person who stole his awards remembers this better than many of you do.
Believe it or not, many people lost relatives and family and friends to an enemy who was intent on destroying whatever it took to rule Europe and maybe the rest of the world.
Maybe it is the people who hero-worship this enemy from our past who have the problem, and not the people who remember the reason for the war.

Anyway, I agree that it was wrong to take Topps personal awards as they had no right to be welcomed into his house and then do such a low-life act.

No need to reply to this as I am in agreeance with with the general feelings of this thread.

Brett