The fate of the Diamonds.

[Leroy]

De nada.

I do not believe that the set at Uetersen (part of a Marseille display) was actually his. Pieter Verbruggen would know for sure.

[Tony T-S]

What I didn't realize about these sets is how the oaks and swords are mounted together on a rear frame. Very intricate work

[Sepp45]

De nada.

I do not believe that the set at Uetersen (part of a Marseille display) was actually his. Pieter Verbruggen would know for sure.

Sure Pieter knows best!

I also found the same lines on Gordon Williamson's "The Iron Cross: A history 1813-1957".

[Sepp45]

I would happily compensate any local in Dresden who can send me a picture of the Lent Diamonds document.

I have one photo of Lent's diamonds document, but I have no permission to post it on the Internet. I must have the current owner's permission.

I can only say that the cassette is in the hands of a private collector, not a museum.

Regards,
Sepp.

[chen]

Marseille did not have a brother. His younger sister, Inge, with whom he was very close, died only a few months before he did.

Leroy,
Who is this Rudolph fellow?

[Leroy]

Chen - I don't know who "Rudolph" is, but neither the Kurowski nor Tate biographies of Marseille mention him, nor have I seen mention of a brother in other references (other than Angolia), but instead only a younger sister. The father, Siegfried Marseille, who became a General, was killed in 1944 by partisans, and was apparently estranged from his son and did not attend the investiture of either the Oakleaves or Oakleaves and Swords.

Perhaps "Rudolph" is a step brother. Marseille's mother is said to have remarried to a Police official named Reuter, but I don't know whether the father did, or whether either parent had other children. Toliver and Constable (in Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe) say that, as far as they could determine, the Diamonds were never presented to any family member. The Uetersen display did, indeed, include items of Marseille (including, I understand, one of his painted rudders), but the Diamonds (which may even have been a copy) were not really his.

[chen]

Thanks. Interesting.

[Leroy]

Chen - I just read this morning on a site (I'm not familiar with it) called "Armchair General" (http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forum...ad.php?t=11725) a long series of posts concerning the finding of a photo of Marseille in the effects of a POW and the effort to contact Marseille's family to return the photo. It mentions a rather mysterious contact with a fellow named "Rudolf Marseille" who was said the be the brother, but after 20 pages, the story peters out (and the participants in the thread seemed to vanish!). Very strange, with no resolution, leaving me with the impression that something was "fishy". By the way, Marseille's full name has been reported on other sites as "Hans-Joachim Walter Rudolf Siegfried Marseille".

All very strange.

[chen]

Leroy,

[Sepp45]

According to Wiki: "Sometime in the early 1990s, one of Marseille's biographers, Robert Tate, visited the former Marseille-Kaserne base and Museum to see and photograph Marseille's medals. When he arrived, Tate was informed the Knights Cross, Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds belonging to Marseille had already been stolen."

[Sepp45]

Albrecht Brandi!

[chen]

.

[Ludwig]

Albrecht Brandi!

Not the same set!

[FrankS]

Hans Joachim Marseille

These are the medals that were on display in the old Luftwaffen-Museum in the Marseille-Barracks in Appen (a village close to Uetersen) and were attributed to Hans Joachim Marseille.
According to current information the Marseille Diamonds were never presented to Hans Joachim Marseille - he died in Africa - or his family.

I took these photos in 1987. A couple of years later there was a break in at the Museum and many Medals were stolen. Probably this one as well, because at the new Luftwaffen-Museum in Berlin-Gatow there is only Marseille's Me-109 rudder on display (which was also on display in the old museum) but not these medals.

[FrankS]

This is HJM's Me-109 rudder at the old Luftwaffen-Museum. According to the Marseille book by Kurowski (in reality written by collector Walter Wübbe) the rudder is on loan by Hans Joachim Marseille's brother Hans Rudolf.

I don't know if Hans Rudolf Marseille is still alive - last I heard of him was in the 1990ies when I gave his contact information to Rob Tate, when he was working on his Marseille book.