MAX Show Seminar

[Ron Weinand]

Mark Bando, one of our well known members, will give a presentation that will be of interest to our forum members, so be sure to attend:
'The Mysterious Death & Disappearance of Christian Tychsen'

SS Obersturmbanfuhrer Christian Tychsen was commander of SS Panzer Regiment 2, 'Das Reich' and on 26 July, 1944, he was appointed acting divisional commander of the 2nd SS Panzer Division. Two days later, on 28 July, 1944, as he was returning to his command post in a kubelwagen near Trelly, France, his car was ambushed by a roadblock from the US 2nd Armored Division and Tychsen's body disappeared, along with his rank insignia, decorations, dogtag and Soldbuch. He was buried as a unknown German officer, in a cemetery west of St Lo, France, in Normandy. Tychsen's remains were not identified until 1968.

During research for my 3rd book 'Breakout at Normandy-The 2nd Armored Division in the Land of the Dead', my investigation revealed more details about Tychsen's death. His Knights Cross with Oakleaves surfaced two years after the book was published and will be illustrated and discussed in this presentation.
Chapter 15 of my latest book, co-authored with Mike Beaver 'Insignia & Artifacts of the Waffen SS' is devoted to the complicated story of what happened to Tychsen and his artifacts.
Signed copies of this book will be available for sale, following the presentation

[Ron Weinand]

MAX Seminar

In our other seminar a this year's MAX Show, Doctoral Candidate of the Univ. on Indiana will present a seminar on the early years of veteran acquisitions entitled: "BRINGING THE WAR HOME: WWII SOUVINERS IN CIVILIAN LIFE DURING THE EARLY POSTWAR ERA"
By 1947, the unintended consequences of souvenirs and war trophies
from the Second World War had become such a significant concern for the
federal government that it responded by forming the War Trophy Safety
Committee in the hope that any unauthorized and lethal mementos that
had slipped through the system at the end of the war could finally be
intercepted and neutralized. This required an uneasy and arduous
four-year collaboration between the Treasury Department, the War
Department, and the National Rifle Association. Nevertheless, they
managed to separate many of the dangerous war trophies from the
innocuous ones in the hope that the latter would go back to serving
their original purpose: helping veterans to recall their wartime
experiences and to make them comprehensible for the friends and family
members with whom they were shared.

"This presentation will chronicle the circulation of souvenirs and war
trophies in the first decade of the postwar era and the ways in which
their meanings, both intended and unintended, evolved in American
society as they transitioned with their collectors from combat
situations overseas to peacetime settings back in the United States."