Knights Cross Recipients Who Are Still Living

[don_kihotis7]

I guess so

Does anyone know if i can purchase this book directly from the author Herr Max Zastrow?
http://ritterkreuz.heimat.eu/max/max_info.htm

[Nidhøggr]

it´s sold out...

[don_kihotis7]

it´s sold out...

Pity. Thanks for the information.

[Paul E]

I guess so

Does anyone know if i can purchase this book directly from the author Herr Max Zastrow?
http://ritterkreuz.heimat.eu/max/max_info.htm

Correct i'm afraid the book is now out of print !!

[macmoeller]

Here are a few replies i got recently.
First from Herr Hans Ekkehard Bob

Hello! Have you paid the money for the book by transfer, or have you sent by post?

[don_kihotis7]

Hello! Have you paid the money for the book by transfer, or have you sent by post?

Hallo Freund. I paid through paypal. His daughter Delia gave me the details.

[macmoeller]

Hallo Freund. I paid through paypal. His daughter Delia gave me the details.

Thank You!

[Huntzman]

List Updated on 1st Page

Well, after two and half years and nearly seventy pages later, I have finally caught up on everything.

I was able to go through all the posts and update the list. I have sent it to Simon so that he can update the main list on the first page.

After reading through everything I have a few observations that I wanted to share. These are my opinions and I hope that they are received in the manner I intend.

Updating this list over the last week or so has been one of the hardest things for me to do. Removing the names of so many men that I have had the pleasure of corresponding with has been a very emotional process. No man can stop time, but it does not make the recognition of their passing any less easier. These men were heroes, not because of the medals clipped to their uniform, but because of the way they fought on the field of battle. There is no judging politics, just a somber reflection of the valor in which these men fought.

I composed the first list back in January 2008; it was based entirely on research I had been doing to identify those living recipients of the Knights Cross in order to contact them. It seems amazing to me that it was nearly five years ago. Back then I believe the list was close to about three hundred living recipients. As of the last list the numbers have dwindled to just 122.

The work involved in the first list was pretty intense and involved countless hours spent researching various websites, search engines as well as the input from some very wonderful members of this forum who I am proud to call friends of mine. Thanks for keeping the thread alive during my sabbatical.

This thread has produced over two thousand posts to date and a mind boggling 352,572 page views. As far as page views go I think we are second only to Bill Petz’ “New Photo Pickup” thread and he has three years on us, and we are not even “pinned”!!

I want to thank everyone who has contributed to making this thread last for as long as it has.

Unfortunately over the last 70 pages I have also seen some posts that have not represented this thread in a positive way and I would be remiss if I didn’t address that issue.

Like many, I did not have the luxury of starting this part of the hobby until much later, 2007 to be exact. When I did, there was no list and there was no thread for others to share photos and information. I started the old fashioned way, military websites, Google, telephone books, maps, etc... It was a lot of hard work and the fact that my loving wife indulged me is a testimony to how wonderful she is.

Over time I built a list of well over a hundred addresses. Some good, some bad, basically hit and miss. I posted my list of names here and had the good fortunate of getting help from other members who had the good fortune of being members of the OdR. When they had seen the work that I had put in, they were kind enough to help me along with information and corrections. But I think the main thing was that I was not just asking for something, I was putting the effort in.

If you come in here and only want addresses you are in the wrong place. Those of us who have been fortunate to call many of these men friends are very guarded over their personal information, especially now in their twilight years. It is nothing against anyone else; it’s just the respect we have for them. Each of us can tell you horror stories of collectors targeting these men. None of us want that on our conscious.

I do understand that sometimes the language barriers of a global forum has the possibility of a post seeming very rude, I always try to give the benefit of the doubt to everyone. But, as has been echoed here before, if you have numerous posts and they all say the same thing “I want XXXX address”; don’t expect too many regular contributors to this thread to be willing to help. Likewise, if you are a new member, and only have a couple of posts, go back and look over the 2000+ posts and see how many people joined WAF and their only posts were “give me the address of……..”

To give an example, it would be like a student asking the person who studied for the test in school to give them the answer because they didn’t want to do the work.

Whether you choose to write or not is entirely up to you. I know many who I have written in the past enjoyed the contact. In fact a dear friend once wrote me that he enjoyed the contact very much. He said that he appreciated the recognition, although at the same time it saddened him that it came by way of his former “enemies” and was something that had been denied to him from his own people, the ones he had fought so bravely for.

I just ask that if you choose to write, be aware that these are not the twenty-ish young men who fought on battlefields long surrendered to time. These men are 80 or 90 plus years of age. I personally no longer write except to the ones I have stayed in contact with over the years. If there is a particular photo I want to add to my collection for historical purposes I will research it and purchase it the way I do for any other piece of militaria.

Once again, I thank you for the contributions to this thread and I wish you all happy collecting.

[Paul E]

Nice to have you back Andrew it has always been my pleasure to be able to assist you over the years !!

[Tom B]

The 1960's, 70's, 80's & 90's

Huntzman, I agree with your comments very much. I have been lucky to call many of these men my friends over the last 40 plus years. When I started to write to them they were still young and most were in good health, so I was lucky. I still remember my first letter & photo as a wonderful day ! It is so sad when I see another has passed away, but we cannot stop the reality of time. Thanks for your efforts putting the list together. Tom P.S. that first letter & photo was in 1968.

[Huntzman]

Oberleutnant Fritz Seyffardt

Well, sadly the list is once again outdated. I have just been informed by one of the members here that RKT Oberleutnant Fritz Seyffardt passed away on November 27th, 2012.

Gott Ehre Seinem Andenken

[Hetzenauer]

Oh man, that's really sad...
I only recently read something about him

May he rest in peace.
Gott gebe ihm die letzte Ruhe

[max12ss]

Yes , Hubert Meyer is the highest ranking SS Officer still alive and he is also the last living SS Divisional Commander .
Having met Hubert several times at the 1 SS Panzer Korps Treffens is Austria and Germany over the years I can honestly say he is one of the most helpful persons I have ever met within the SS veterans . I am honoured to call him my friend .

Sad news...
He followed his "Kameraden" one month ago....

[Huntzman]

Sad news...
He followed his "Kameraden" one month ago....

Do you have any more information on when he died ? This is very sad news indeed.

[Tomo]

Keep up the good work!

Dear Huntzman (Andrew),
Thank you for starting this excellent thread - I agree with all you said in your detailed post. I started writing to the German Veterans back in Feb 2005. I was inspired to do so after reading Gordon Williamson’s book "Knights of the Iron Cross". When I first asked for help in getting contacts I was told kindly that the time for doing this had past, that I was too late. I remember this news came as a bombshell to me but I refused to give up and I am so glad I did not. I have made many, many good friends and learnt so much more about the German soldier by hearing their stories firsthand. Hand on heart - they are all true Gentlemen!
I would just like to do some shout-outs for without the help of Phil Carpenter, Carl, Phil E and my dear friend Christian I would have been quite stuck because sometimes "Das Telefonbuch" is just not enough
Keep up the good work Andrew and all forum members!
Thomas
P.S. I wrote to Herr Seyffardt earlier this year. Always happy to help and so too his wife who did most of the letter writing due to her husbands condition. May He Rest in Peace! Horrido!