His full biography is in "German Cross in Gold Holders of the SS and Police" volume 2 by Bender Publishing (at the publisher now). I place ads on all sites for document copies and photos to include in the series. Most replies I get however, are from historians. Collectors contribute little to research in general, normally only saying they had/have something after a book is out. Curious why that is, or just collector typical ?
Mark C. Yerger
J believe you are right Mark that some collectors keep their things for them selves.
J also believe that a lot of fakers are watching the details in these documents. J think it would be better to leave out some of the details to avoids these peoples actions.
Stijn, the nicest document collection for one officer I have ever seen, thank you and your friend for sharing it with us. For those of us that collect SS documents it is "To die for". Sonny
first of all let me say, that I'am surprised to see this old tread about Oskar Wolkerstorfers documents again in the discussion. I'am collecting award document since nearly 20 years now, but this group is the best I ever saw. This is the reason that it's still in my collection. To the group itself can be said, that I've also 4 photo albums from Wolkerstorfer. Two of the albums contains his rank insignia (Collar Tab/sleeveband) and describe his training time in Braunschweig (officers candidate scool). The last two album are from his time in Russia and Yugoslawia.
to Mark
I've never saw a question for documents about Wolkerstorfer in this tread otherwise I had support you. If you still need something let me know. On the other hand I'am interested in your knowledge about Wolkerstorfer.
As far as the documents in my books being used by "fakers" , thats out of my interest. I write historical books, NOT militaria books. It would be stupid to exclude proof of awards, dates, who awarded a decoration, etc due to paranoia of a militaria faker. Besides, the average collector has such a low actual knowledge level of the units, personalities, campaigns, battles, many already buy repro items because the only thing they read is militaria publications without any historical information. On the various sites I see piles of documents and other items with wrong units, non-existing units, wrong terms, fake signatures, wrong person at a posting, or wrong ranks at the date given.
Mark, I think your apparent hostility towards collectors is misplaced. I can appreciate your frustration at missing this collection of documents for use in your book, however it is the existence of this collector forum which has now allowed you to even become aware of these documents. The fact that Stijn posted his items is proof that not all collectors fit your stereotyope of the anal retentive hermit. Even if such people do exist, they are not even admired by other collectors.
On the flip side, you must admit that not all historians are so generous with their information either. And not all historians are as free of the ignorance about historical details as you seem to suggest believe that all collectors possess.
Rather than put down the collector, try to see the good they do just by gathering and preserving these artifacts. If not for the collector, many of these historical records might have been lost forever. For example, I have been working for years on a biography based on 200 plus Feldpost letters which were found by a collector in a German trash heap. If not for that collector, valuable insights into the mind of a German officer throughout the war might have been turned into rotting insect food.
Mark, this forum is a big step forward in bringing collectors and historians together, not a place for bemoaning any side's stupidity.
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