Stumbled onto some addreSSes...

[LandZack2013]

Hi forum,

While doing some other research, I found this cool page by accident. It has mailing addresses for many of the German Vets. associations! I think this would be a great resource.

Including many SS panzer divisions!

You have to scroll down a bit in order to get to them, but they are there! There are also a few phone numbers at the bottom. Maybe we all knew about this, but I thought I would share with the SS community.

I do not know how updated these are, so use at ones own risk, but the rewards outweigh the risks! Imagine meeting up with the guy your helmet is named to!



http://www.feldgrau.com/contacts.html

[Ian Hulley]

Are you absolutely sure this is the best way to approach these elderly veterans ? ..... cos with respect I'm not.

Ian.

[BenVK]

I agree, not a good idea.

[Rich Moran]

Specially when one sees this:


17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen
17th SS Armored Infantry Division Veterans Organization<O></O>

Mission:

Contact point for information about members and units of the Waffen-SS 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division during WWII. Be warned, it is said that Günther is not willing to lend any assistance to Americans!

[Military]

"Be warned, it is said that Günther is not willing to lend any assistance to Americans!"

[Mark C. Yerger]

And people wonder why vets don't like intrusive collectors.

[Rich Moran]

who was intrusive in this case Mark?

[Michael Fay]

probably not welcome

I believe you mean well Landzack,
but this is a opening a can of worms. I think we all need to comprehend how collectors/militaria buffs can resemble vultures circling those nearing the end of life. We may look callow and avaricious in our ardour to acquire somthing from them: be it knowledge, or worse, their surviving militaria awards and documents.

Sure, you dont mean to be like that, but what will they(and their families!) percieve from such unwanted advances from strangers?

Still, research is research...so if you go ahead, be extremely respectful . But by the sheer act of accessing the addresses you would, in a way, already be trangressing an implied boundary.

Germans(especially elderly) were raised in a culture that was much more formal than Americans are used to.
-Michael

[LandZack2013]

Gee guys sorry. I did not mean to do this. Please forgive me if I went about this the wrong way. Mods could you please delete this so no one else gets any bad ideas.



Also note, I was just trying to help..

I would never disrespect any of these guys. I am not like that.

Please don't boycott my future threads...

[Rich Moran]

This subject is not verboten, it actually does well to discuss because by doing so one can begin tounderstand better about discussions that are acceptable and those that are not.

After all, the vests are people like everyone else and if you treat others the way you want to be treated than I think common sense tells one what not to do and what to do.

I have talked with many US vets those thta have served in wars from WWI through todays conflicts.

To just walk up to a stanger and ask them for something is callious and I think many know that. But to discuss their life, not only the war but before the war and what those times were like versus what today is all about and then what they went through during their time in service is no sin.

As an example i had aquired an American grouping of Tank Detroyer items and found a contact on the web of the person who is in charge of annual reunions. I claled the number and man ansered the phone and explained it was my father and he has since passed. I explained that I had some images of fellows that possibly he served with and wanted to know if the fmaily as well as himself would be interested in copies.

He declines and said that the time for hom has passed and there is no one interested, it was what pop did and doing the work to bring the guys back together annually was fun for him but also sad because the people he served with are slowly passing.

I left him my number and advised if anyone else in the family was interested let me know. I did not wnat anythign in return, only to try to connect the dots of soemthing of lost time and memories if anyone was itnerested.

it took 3 years to find the guy and then to discover he passed, which amazingly was a few months prior to the call. I did not asked, it was volunteered.

If one approches the vets and their families with sincerity one gets that in return. if you go on the attack and try to get something, well that is pretty damned rude and of course, the phone should be hung up on you or
the door slammed in your face.


Another fellow I met her some years back was a pilot who flew the raid to Ploesti. HE contacted me regardign other business interests and we discussed military service. He said I flew. I asked when and where and he opened up and talked to me about the many missons he flew, many of which he said he felt were suicidal, but still did what he had to do.

The fellow was quite talkitive about all of it and he said no one in his family had interest and that he wa shappy he found someone who he could talk to about what he did.

keep in mind this was Before Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers so for these men and their missions many of these things are kept in a seperate closet in their mind. Some want to talk and others do not, so the key thing is respect.

I think this is a great subject because the rate of death for the WWII vets has accelerated. One fellow in particular who ended up my mom-in-laws companion enlisted at 16, was sunk in the Atlantic by a U boat at 17, servied int he Pacific in WWII unscathed, went to Korea (Navy vet) and talked about the many uses of HE on N. korean commies an dhten talked about Viet Nam because he served in all of those conflicts. He went on to be a trainer in between these conflicts as he was a chiefs gunners mate .

He was overjoyed with the fact that someone would listen to his exploits, actually write then fdown for history and I gratefully accepted his riker case mount with his many medals in it. That still hangs in my display room todasy.

Chief Gunners mate Sloan passed in Feb this year after spending 520 days int he hjospital from a number of heart attacks, and I spent many days visiting him.

So if you get the chance, befriend a vet and comfort them as best you can in old age and remember ask for nothing.

[sgstandard]

Veterans

LandZack - You didn't do anything wrong - you are just exhuberant. If you run into any of these SS veterans, they WILL often open up somewhat once they realize you are merely interested, NOT someone out to persecute them. I was an optician, and one of our patients had served in the Waffen-SS. I knew he served in the German military. When I asked him what unit he was in, he was very reluctant, but eventually volunteered that his commander was Joachim Peiper. When he saw that I was obviously impressed, then he was very straightforward in the conversation, and quite proud of his service. He was quite a burly man, with hands the size of small hams, and was a butcher before the war. Contacting veterans at their home, unsolicited, would be an invasion of privacy though.

[AFF96]

Great thread...thanks Landzack......

[LandZack2013]

Thanks for the reassurance. As I said, I have great respect for these guys.

I really, really, really do NOT want to become LandZack the vet hater/con man...

This is wrong, I agree. When I posted this, it was most certainly not as a resource to get "cool nazi stuff" for nothing. If anything, it was an avenue to just get more information... Here in US we have tons of vets services, I help with them, play bugle, and talk to vets. I just like to talk to them. I would NEVER ASK for there stuff, even in a very round about way. I just appreciate them for their service.

[Rich Moran]

My apology for spelling guys. I spend some crazy hours working and take breaks from work by visiting here and responding. Some nights it is quite difficult to proof read as on those long nights I am writing specs for projects and other things to keep the business going.

Old age is great for some wines but for humans, well it can be downright difficult!