Hi guys,
I've just been pondering what makes a Soldbuch desirable. Is it the story of the man or the fact that the physical Soldbuch was present during historic moments? What if a soldier experienced years of fighting and was then issued a Zeitschrift because his original was in such poor condition: is the Zweitschrift of lesser, equal or greater value? The soldier was still present during major engagements, but the Zweitschrift wasn't.
I ask because a few days ago I was contacted by the family of a veteran with whom I was in contact for over a decade. He died last year and I'd made it known that if they ever wanted to sell his Soldbuch, to please contact me first. One thing to bear in mind is that I'd never seen the Soldbuch... the vet talked about it, but never got around to digging it out of a box filed somewhere in his apartment. His family came across it while clearing his residence and now they have offered it to me. I was fully expecting it to be an original Soldbuch, but turns out it's a Zweitschrift dated 30 March 1945. Not many entries in it, just the basics carried over from his original Soldbuch (personal info, current unit, a summary of wounds, decorations).
Now, I know this veteran's story, he was initially a cavalryman, then commanded a panzer company in 1942, many attacks in Stalingrad and during the encirclement, flown out of the Stalingrad pocket on 22 January 1943, almost certainly on one of the last planes, Italy, Russia 1944, etc, etc. . During our correspondence he provided me with about 50 pages of memories, and boy, he had some cracking good stories. He earned all the usual medals, plus a PAB25.
So, because I know his story, is this Zweitschrift as desirable as an original? If not, is the desirability – and hence value – in the history witnessed by the actual Soldbuch itself?
I'm really interested to hear some opinions about this.
Jason
I've just been pondering what makes a Soldbuch desirable. Is it the story of the man or the fact that the physical Soldbuch was present during historic moments? What if a soldier experienced years of fighting and was then issued a Zeitschrift because his original was in such poor condition: is the Zweitschrift of lesser, equal or greater value? The soldier was still present during major engagements, but the Zweitschrift wasn't.
I ask because a few days ago I was contacted by the family of a veteran with whom I was in contact for over a decade. He died last year and I'd made it known that if they ever wanted to sell his Soldbuch, to please contact me first. One thing to bear in mind is that I'd never seen the Soldbuch... the vet talked about it, but never got around to digging it out of a box filed somewhere in his apartment. His family came across it while clearing his residence and now they have offered it to me. I was fully expecting it to be an original Soldbuch, but turns out it's a Zweitschrift dated 30 March 1945. Not many entries in it, just the basics carried over from his original Soldbuch (personal info, current unit, a summary of wounds, decorations).
Now, I know this veteran's story, he was initially a cavalryman, then commanded a panzer company in 1942, many attacks in Stalingrad and during the encirclement, flown out of the Stalingrad pocket on 22 January 1943, almost certainly on one of the last planes, Italy, Russia 1944, etc, etc. . During our correspondence he provided me with about 50 pages of memories, and boy, he had some cracking good stories. He earned all the usual medals, plus a PAB25.
So, because I know his story, is this Zweitschrift as desirable as an original? If not, is the desirability – and hence value – in the history witnessed by the actual Soldbuch itself?
I'm really interested to hear some opinions about this.
Jason
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