Request for help: Material needed for Book on Sepp Dietrich

[markus]

Dear fellow WAF members,<O</O
<O</O
Motivated by a dear friend of mine who served in the Leibstandarte during the war and who liked my previous work done on Swords holder Theodor “Teddy” Wisch, I have decided to take it upon myself to write another book on another LAH personality:

SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Diamonds holder

JOSEF "SEPP" DIETRICH

<O</O
As with my previous work on Wisch, this book will again be heavily illustrated with wartime and post-war photos, including some never before seen material including personal Dietrich memorabilia.<O</O
<O</O
During the past two years I have already been able to secure some never before seen photographic material from the Dietrich estate/family and some rare uniform items for my collection. Veteran accounts will again be included in the book and my main aim will be to try and show especially the human side of Dietrich. I can assure everyone already now, that some never before published details and anecdotes will form an important part of this new book.<O</O
<O</O
Now my request to you WAF members:
<O</O
If you have good quality photos of Sepp Dietrich, especially from the pre-and late-war period (Oberst-Gruppenführer!), and/or some of his personal memorabilia, I would be thrilled to include these pieces in a worthy context in this work with full credits granted to the owners.
<O</O
Schiffer Publishing already assured their interest in the project and I am very positive that with your additional help we can get this milestone book off the ground.
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In case of further questions or doubts, please do not hesitate to contact me via a PM.<O</O
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Thank you in advance and regards,<O</O

Markus
<O</O

[WEISNER]

Best of luck Markus!

Kev

[dcdefend]

Dietrich Book

Markus,

I purchased your book on Teddy Wisch and have enjoyed it. I am glad to see you are doing one on Sepp Dietrich. My hope is that you can get his family to cooperate and allow information & photos about his post-war life to be included. A section on his funeral would be of great interest. Keep up the good work.

John

[N.C. Wyeth]

Brave new World . . .

My hope is that you can get his family to cooperate and allow information & photos about his post-war life to be included.

Yes, I agree - more of the post-war material would be a real treat.

There is much information already produced on the war-time experiences for most of our favorite personalities . . . but it seems there is a great lack of available information for the post-war undertakings of many individuals. This alone, for almost any of the great personalities, I think would produce a fascinating reading experience.

Great work on your previous project, Markus - I enjoyed it much. Will be looking forward to this one as well . . . if I had any material worthy of your endeavour, I would certainly be happy to contribute. And hopefully, this time around, you'll be equally successful at producing a digital version of the work as well - even if I'm the only guy that seems to want one.

[Spanish Freiwillige]

My dear friend I´m sure you will not let us down with this project!!! Cant wait...

[baldy1939]

Good luck with this new project Markus

[markus]

Thanks.

Dear members,

Thank you very much for your encouraging comments and also your suggestions.

It is interesting for me to read that there is also great interest in the postwar lives of these personalities. In the past this is something I thought would not be of much interest to many readers. This is also why I did not include too much of Wisch's postwar life in my book. Neither did I include many post-war pictures of Wisch, while I have about 50 in my archive. Nevertheless, the question of privacy also arises sometimes and it did certainly in the case of Wisch and it will certainly be an issue with Dietrich as well. There, in my personal opinion, respect for these persons' private lives enters and not everything has to be for the open public. This concerns family life, relationships, other human problems, etc.

I myself have a great interest in postwar lives. Also because for the past 15 years I was allowed to participate in them, attending HIAG meetings, personal visits at the veterans' homes, etc. So one many times learns more about comradeship in these sometimes difficult postwar lives, feeling of regret, pride, conflict, etc. A lot of emotions, like two years ago when a well known officer of the LAH cried in front of me during a meeting. These moments and their connection with history are gripping for me. I could go on for hours....

I hope I can live up to the expectations of all readers.

It will definitely be a difficult task and a lot of work again, besides having a 24/7 business to run and a young family to care for, but with a little help from everyone I'm sure to get this book off the ground. The potential I see is huge and the base material already at hand here is very good.

Thanks to everyone who has contacted me already and have sent photo scans of some really neat and unusual pictures!

Markus

[Max Wünsche]

Best of luck for this new project Markus, will be a definite purchase for me!

[Etienne B.]

I will look around for you

Looking forward to your second book

Etienne

[markus]

Thanks everyone for your encouraging words.

This will be a huge undertaking. Please do not expect it to be finished in a couple of months time though!

But do send material in at anytime, also award documents signed by Dietrich. Everything helps.

I'm especially looking for colour photographs of Dietrich's funeral.


Thanks.
Markus


ps.: N.C. Wyeth: I hope I can accomodate you this time with the e-version....

[markus]

Gents-

I thought I'd share this:

On Friday I gave my friend Franz S. (Florian Geyer & GvB) a call to see how he was doing after a tough throat surgery. Eventually I only talked to his wife and since Franz couldn't talk yet, he listened to me via the phone's speaker system.

After I had talked about family, work and vacation plans, I interrupted the telcon and said literally:

"...and hey, Franz! ..Two years after finishing the "Wisch" book, I just started working on a book on "SEPP DIETRICH"!"

Immediately I heard a slow and heavy, pronounced, applause coming from the back of his living room...

Then I went on with some more details about the book and again....hands clapping...!


I realized I was on the right track and that this book must definitely be written...!


Markus

[markus]

Progress

Just held another phone interview today in the morning.

I will get some new letters Dietrich sent out of Landsberg to a friend and comrade, which will be very much of interest for the book.

I already got a nice letter Dietrich sent to Panzermeyer in early 1942 recently which will also give some inside into Dietrich's thinking about the war at the time.

A rare and nice COLOUR post war photo of Dietrich also came in from an old comrade for Christmas.

Last, not least, believe it or not, I still got some new info today during the phone interview about the infamous "A.H. Cufftitle Order" of early 1945"...


IMPORTANT:
I'm still looking for rare and high quality photos of Dietrich from before the war or late 1944, early 1945.

[Tony T-S]

This is a book I'd really love to read, keep at it and thanks for recording the history so its not lost.

[markus]

Does anyone have a scanable/printable copy of this photograph, willing to share it for my new book?

Full credits will be granted directly beneath the photo and in the acknowledgements section of the book.

Thanks in advance!

Markus

[Sjking]

.

Markus,
I wish you the very best in your latest undertaking , the amount of effort and great original material will be a fascinating read and I can't wait.
Cheers mate
Simon