102-jähriger Kriegsveteran erzählt vom 2. Weltkrieg

102-jähriger Kriegsveteran erzählt vom 2. Weltkrieg

Still 102 years old. That means, on April 22, 1945, you were shot down exactly where we are sitting now : That’s how it is. That’s how it is, yes. Where two of your comrades died next to you: Suddenly a terrible bang. The shot came from down here. It was an IS-2. The biggest Russian tank. The loader was named Bayer. The radio operator’s name was Gerhard Fischer. His head was ripped off and, he told me, his head flew into the loader’s lap. If we had gotten a little further: I’d estimate 10-15 cm. Then I would have been here with the dead too. It is always in vain what people give their lives for in such cases. Death. Grief. Children. Grandchildren. All of that: that becomes clear in retrospect for the living. The dead can no longer say it. That is why we are here to remember that what happened was true. And what remains today of the remembering: That is only a tiny bit of truth. The rest is already forgetting. And that is what makes me so sad inside. That is one reason to tell everyone. As strongly as you can. Do it! Where we stand, we can act. We can only tell others by speaking to them: This is the truth. And not forgetting. Thinking: Remembering the people is true. But forgetting the crime is not. And I am a campaigner everywhere for the fact that war is wrong! The worst thing there is is when one person takes another’s life. Then he is a murderer. And the politician who decides that a war is being waged: Then he allows 1000s or 10,000s of people to become murderers. In truth, he is the murderer. And they are then forced by law, through conscription or whatever, to become soldiers again. I don’t know where justice is still there and where injustice begins , and vice versa. Do you know? Have you ever wondered what the very last contemporary witnesses from the time of the Second World War can tell us? Today I have the great honor of interviewing a 102-year-old contemporary witness who is telling us here at this very spot where he was shot down in a tank 80 years ago . And this 102-year-old contemporary witness is telling us his story of how he had to experience the Second World War and his wisdom about what we can do today to ensure that this time of the past is not repeated. A big thank you goes not only to the 102-year-old himself but also to the Kerschenbauer family who made this meeting possible and to be able to conduct this interview here in this place . Also to your long-time friend and acquaintance , Univ. Prof. Claudius Tanski, who drove this long way of over 1000 kilometers with you to be able to do the interview here in this place on May 7th, 2025. A big thank you! Without your help none of this would have been possible. My name is Daniel Pleunik and I am a qualified health and nursing professional. And you’ll receive precisely this valuable eyewitness account today. May I ask how young you are? Yes, of course. I’m 102 years old now and hope to turn 103 in a few months . Whether, that is not in my hands. Just as little as my welcome. So I came into the feast of seeing the light of day on August 21, 1922. In the house of my parents , who had already lost a child after being reunited after the First World War . Mother an orphan. Father half an orphan. However, they both came from wealthy families , with my mother being more senior. My father, actually, only later on, not so much. But they were in a well-protected landscape: low mountain ranges like here. The Siegerland. And I remember from my earliest childhood being laid in the small bed in front of my parents’ beds and I saw the clouds covering the four-poster bed being closed in the afternoon and I could only see hazily. And I protested against it. Back then I screamed. I didn’t want to go to sleep. I wanted the light. So the search for light , later embodied in other beautiful things, was a goal for me and a motivation to search for. So. That was my earliest childhood. And now I do n’t want to dwell on that any longer. Because the difficult times of the 1920s began . The inflation took its terrible course. My parents became poor in the eight years that followed, so that in 1932 I couldn’t go to grammar school. My father could no longer afford it. There were three of us brothers in total. But that was compensated for by my good elementary school education. I graduated with a good report card in 1936. I wasn’t yet 14 at the time. I didn’t turn 14 until August. This also meant that I was offered opportunities to take the one-year voluntary examination (“intermediate school leaving certificate”) through other routes and to start at the academy: engineering, water management, cultural engineering, agricultural engineering , and civil engineering. Perhaps, now we’re already in 1936 or 1937: How did you experience that back then? In January 1933 , when Hitler came to power in Germany: How did you experience that? Yes, that’s a thing: The question is very good. My parents’ home was apolitical. It was practically taboo for anyone to talk about politics. Not because, at least for me, politics was n’t consciously seen as a question mark for the people back then. But because it was a topic that didn’t belong in a Christian home, where the children were raised. So we were guided in other directions. Those that began in church, in Sunday school . In singing songs. In the love of music . That is now synonymous with light. That corresponded to my optimistic search not for darkness, but for brightness. That was even my topic for street lighting later on . That was my research topic. But that’s just a side note. There came a time when I had already completed two semesters when I asked myself: I was 19 years old: “Why are you studying? You’ll have to become a soldier after all.” In the meantime, the war had started. And you were cramming here every night. We had to work a lot. A lot. There weren’t any devices that do that today. It was work. But the question marks we had to put were: “How sensible is that? It would be better if we looked for a suitable gap in the Wehrmacht where we were more likely to get away. For us, that was piloting. Aviation. We could land anywhere. Emergency landing or somewhere else. And then we would have been out of action if we got away safely. But that was the choice. But that didn’t become reality. The news came that all the young people wanted to join the Luftwaffe. So I volunteered. Then you could also choose your branch of service. And so many of us went to Erfurt to the Panzerwaffe. To the Panzerei, we said. Comrades and friends of mine from other schools were already there. And that’s how I did it: I signed up for the Panzerwaffe. But we all had to complete a period of labor service beforehand. It only took three months. And that was in the Rhön region at the time. And a moor was being drained. And I had just finished that with my studies . I knew more about it than the work leaders who were in charge there. A department like that that worked there: there were 200 people, after all. Or 250. I don’t know exactly. So quite a lot. And I was courted. I arrived: after 8 or 9 days, I was already an assistant instructor. I was the room elder— I already had something to say. At the time, I asked myself: “Why? Maybe I can laugh well. Or why?” I didn’t know. Yes, but time passed. But with a good assessment based on that. Then I came to Erfurt. And there I was immediately booked as an officer candidate because I was a student. My ID card showed that. And so I ended up in a unit that was the 1st replacement for the already decimated 1st Panzer Regiment, the 1st Panzer Division , which was then advancing on Leningrad . 1941: Yes, Operation Barbarossa. And then we were stopped. Everything went in freight cars: from Weimar. And there was straw in the freight cars. And we lay on the straw. In the middle was a small cannon oven for 30 people. And bread was put on it and toasted. It was like cake. A field kitchen was attached somewhere and gave us hot soup. The train had to stop. There were no paths to the toilets either . They were somewhere on the railway embankment. That’s how we got to Latvia. To the border of Estonia. And there the people were celebrating Thanksgiving, so to speak. And they had set up a stage near the station: with garlands and dancing and joy. And we joined them. And for the people we were the liberators. That had previously been territory occupied by Stalin’s troops . And the people didn’t have a good opinion of communism and Stalin. We were the liberators. Really. The Red Army also retreated unexpectedly quickly. We had relatively few losses. At the beginning: yes, at the beginning, of course. And then there was a stop. Because the task of spearheading this German wave of attacks was my regiment. For Krasnoye Selo. They were pulled away. And what then happened in Leningrad, the 1st Panzer Division had nothing to do with it. We couldn’t have done it. We were the approved spearhead and were diverted to Moscow. Back again from Vitebsk via Smolensk and then towards Rzhev. This is Moscow. And there Rzhev. There is Sytsevka. And on the railway line is Pogoreloe Gorodishche . And up until then, just before Klin, my comrades had come from above and had the Russians just before Moscow. They could already see the power plants in Moscow. But here we arrived at night on trucks with petrol drums on them that were so cold that if you touched them , your skin would burn like being burned by a fire or a steel furnace. It was the same there. We had to fear these “cold burns” of course. I got away with it. Others may have had the opportunity or found themselves sent home early because of their experiences. We had no winter clothing. Once again the German high command tries everything in its power to break through to Moscow, but in vain the German soldiers lack winter equipment and are fighting in their summer uniforms while temperatures sink to -20 degrees Celsius By winter Moscow should have been conquered long ago and the German troops should have moved into permanent quarters instead they are without any protection from the elements many Austrians also suffer this fate A rapid retreat to fortified quarters would still be possible but Hitler orders the front to be held at all costs Motorised supplies soon come to a standstill Horse-drawn sleighs only just make it through Only a few films were taken at the time and very few have survived but even these few give an idea of the hardships the soldiers were exposed to back then It was so cold. We didn’t quite get to -50 degrees Celsius. But -48 I think. Or -45. It was very cold. And we received mail for Christmas for the first time , after we had already been in Russia for 3 months. And the mail came with little chain packages. They were small packages all tied together with a rope. Because they were sometimes stolen on the way. To make theft more difficult, they sent them as chain packages. There was a bar of soap inside. Cigarettes inside. All little things that soldiers no longer had . They had been used up long ago. And now this: I have to tell you that too: And it was so bad. We were allowed to be outside in the cold for 20 minutes : Then we had to come back inside. For the next 20 minutes we had to be relieved… And then there was Christmas dinner. And we had a man called Walter Hartlich. He was a driver. And he folded the grated biscuits on a tray. In the Russian ovens. They slept on top: they were made of brick. And like a baker does for the ovens, the boards were pushed in with the dough rolls on them. Now he rubbed the tray with something. I don’t know what he put in it. But the fire didn’t really like it . So he shot a shot of diesel oil in it. From a bottle. And the flame returned, and Walter: He couldn’t react quickly enough ; his whole face was black. And his eyebrows were burned off, too. But thank God, nothing more happened to him than that he had to wait until his hair grew back to its beautiful shape. And I recited the Christmas Gospel. By heart. As far as I knew. I still knew a lot of it. And then we got mail for the first time. What a joy. And then someone from Cologne picked up the guitar : And he sang wonderfully: “When I think of my homeland and the cathedral stands before me, I want to head straight home, I want to go to Cologne by foot.” That was our longing. And later we learned another song there from one of our officers: he was one of the lead singers. And he taught us the song: Show me the way to go home I am tired and I want to go to bed. I had a little drink about an hour ago And it’s gone straight to my head Wherever I go on land or sea or form I am always singing the song. Show me the way to go home. I only heard about it later. But that was just nagging. If one of the Nazis had heard that , they would have ended up in prison and perhaps been shot immediately. But here we arrived in the village and had to lie down. We slept on a tarpaulin and a blanket: everyone had one. And a coat. So we put the blanket on the bottom and covered ourselves with the coat. And the backpack served as a pillow. And then they said: “The Russians are here! Up! Quickly! We have to get up again!” And before we had fallen asleep , we were back out of the houses. Because the Russians were at the other end of the village. Not far away. And on this runway, something quite unusual happened to me: Because: It was a light blizzard. I forgot to mention that. A light blizzard. Snowflakes were blowing from the side. And we were on the runway: That is, the ground was already frozen solid, where many vehicles had already driven, so a layer of snow didn’t matter. People came towards me , and I called out to them: You don’t need to go any further! The Russians are already in town!” And someone recognized something in my voice . I don’t know: Anyway, we’re getting closer. He’s doing his headscarf: It was a large embroidered sock for the thigh of a powerful person. It fit just right to protect his ears. He had pushed it up: He looks at me: “Jochen!” He says to me: Does he call me by my first name, “Gerhard!” He was my childhood friend! We met on the runway in the dark during a snowstorm. I don’t know where the light came from. I don’t remember that anymore. Yes… But he came home early. He was the only son of a factory owner , and of course they all produced some kind of war-critical goods. And that’s why he was released early and later became a significant inventor. He invented the tilt-and-turn fitting for windows and doors. And it was patented worldwide . And he inherited his small company from his father : 180-200 employees: He increased it to 2500. The company was called “Siegenia.” Then came the first deployment: You wanted to ask something else: No, but at that point you were 19 years old. 19 years old. The first deployment: Yes, that was something… You’re assigned to a tank crew. And now you’re suddenly a loader. And of course, there are people who scare you, and others who don’t. The opposite. But there are conversations where one or the other goes beyond the boundaries of what one should or could say. And someone once said to me: “You’ll see. Your ass will freeze on ice.” It was a saying. Synonym. No meaning. But it shows that this is the greatest fear a person can experience. Because of the circumstances he finds himself in. But he paid for it later. So the first mission was like this: The hatches are sealed. We have to encircle the Russians from Reshev, so in a high arc . Over Vitebsk. The Russian had: Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov: The Russian general can also be called something else. Because we didn’t know anything specific. No name. No targets. We just had to obey and perform the function assigned to him in the tank : Based on the position he had to take in the tank. He couldn’t leave it either. He had no choice. So, and then the journey began. And I remember: Sometimes it “rang” with infantry shells. That didn’t bother us. But: when it did, we feared that a larger shot would come immediately. Two centimeters could have penetrated the side. But we had reinforcements from the front: it was maybe only 3.5 centimeters or 4 centimeters: I don’t remember. We put tracks in front. Sprocket wheels. Spare tracks. There were brackets. That way, you could stop the shells hitting from the front. They would then explode there, or later, weakened, on the tank wall. But as I said: That didn’t happen to us. It did happen to others. But that happened sometimes, sometimes. In the end, we had the right consideration from the general— I don’t remember who it was— he said: “We’ll also catch those who want to catch us.” And that’s how we took millions of prisoners (Vyazma Pocket 1941). You were in the Battle of Rzhev: 100,000 Germans fell there. Almost 1,000,000 Soviets in the “meat grinder of Rzhev.” (1942/43) I can’t say anything about that because I wasn’t there. We were deployed below, via Vyazma and Bryansk, now heading towards Moscow. And later, that only happened up above in Rzhev. But I can describe what happened to us in Rzhev like this: (1941) We arrived there in the evening and wanted to dig ourselves into the ground on the heights behind Rzhev . Into the ridge. Into the upper layer of the mountain. And we had to do it by hand. Because the houses: There were only three houses up there. And then I went to one of the houses and wanted to see if there was room for us. Then I opened the door: There was a shout from inside: “Close the door!” From the word “closed door” I heard: That was a Siegerländer. From my homeland. I’m closing the door. They were all covered in sackcloth and straw in front of them to keep out the cold. Then he came walking underneath. Then I shouted, “Riewekooche!” That was our password. And when we said Riewekooche: Then we knew: The other one comes from Siegerland. So, from my homeland. And no one else could say that either. As a Siegerlander, you could hear that it was a stranger shouting that. “What?!” Then he came down the steps. There were several steps. He came down so he wouldn’t bump into the soldiers lying there, sleeping. He took the lighter and said: “Jochen!” Really. Really true. I said: “Klaus!” That was my pediatrician’s son. Klaus (…) Who knew me well, of course. And one more thing: When we had just been soldiers for a month, before that, in the barracks: There were two obituaries in the newspaper: I was doing room duty. In the evening, you have to report. “Room xyz. Soldiers so-and-so much salary and (…) and so on.” Then someone from the next door called. The non-commissioned officer on duty was there: “Jochen, come quickly, you’ve been killed!” And I went there , and there was actually something in a Siegen newspaper: I believe it was a copy specially made for the front : And there were two obituaries: Joachim Schmidt and his father, Albrecht Schmidt , and the three brothers: There were two more brothers, I think. The youngest came later. And: And Klaus (…) with the equally large notice underneath. We were both actually already reported killed in action in the newspaper. I went to the commander the next morning and wanted to go home on special leave. He said, “Come in.” He then continued, “You can’t even say hi yet. I can’t let you go home yet. We’ll call your father.” He called my father: In my presence, he told him, “I’m fine. This is a bad joke and it’s being investigated.” But you can’t research it. That has to be done by people who can. He released me, but in a nice way. And the man’s name was (…) Later, after the war, we met in Erfurt. In the city halls. Then I said: “Yes, (…) you are the captain or major (…) who led the reserve division in Erfurt at the time .” “Yes, sir!” Then I said: “Then you still owe me something. You didn’t let me go home even though I had already fallen.” “Don’t be silly!” “Major! This is how it was.” “Yes, that’s right. I still remember that well. You have an order. I will carry it out immediately.” He slammed it down. He saluted me. “Bring me the non-commissioned officer or sergeant Stippel immediately!” He was a Knight’s Cross recipient. The first one. So he fetched him: “Order carried out.” That was the story back then. And another story was that we all had special rations in the tank . Namely, there were five boxes of Coca-Cola for each of us. And also a pastry: little cookies you could eat, and saliva was enough to soften them. You didn’t need any water. This was in case an order came from above or, more recently, from the tank commander in the event of a besiegement , that one could feed oneself for 5 days. Yes, but: I had finished the hole we slept in. There were five men in two 2.30m and 2.50m bunks. And the man was my new sergeant, a commander: a commander from the Air Force. And he behaved very strangely towards me. The boss said to me: Our big boss: “How are you satisfied with your new commander ?” “Well, this and that happened to me: This man was supposed to help with the digging.” There were only five of us: And he acted as if only the other four were doing it. But as a commander, he didn’t need that at all. We had agreed on it beforehand. So I said: “I think he needs to take a commander’s course.” He came from the Air Force. Then he sent him to the commander’s course. And immediately that day, he held a roll call for special rations. Each commander and I had to stand in front of the tank with the crew, and there were 25 Coca-Cola cans for each tank. They had to be lined up and the report made . Actual: Target: 25/25. And for me it was 25/23. Two boxes were missing. “What’s going on?” I replied: “Captain! Yesterday or the day before yesterday, I was handed special tank rations, along with a report. The commander has been assigned to a training course , and today two boxes are missing. Now there are only 23 left. I can’t say more.” He turns around and says to (…): “Immediately send a messenger to Vyazma!” 80-100 km away. The messenger had to leave immediately , and before the train even got there, he was at the station with the military police. The train came and stopped. The man came out of the train. “Open your satchel!” There were two bottles of Coca-Cola inside. He was no longer a sergeant major or anything like that. And he was court-martialed. And I never heard from him again. That was it. So we had problems with each other too. And camaraderie forbade such things. You are: Perhaps briefly about the tank: You were trained as a driver and radio operator. No: As a driver, radio operator , loader and gunner. But you were not specifically trained as a commander. You acquired that over time based on experience and security, I would say with the qualification to be a commander. You were allowed/had to be as much as the tank required in its mission. You had to obey everything strictly. There was no argument. You also don’t give orders inside the tank in a battle that has any goal other than survival . That’s obvious. And that’s why our regulations are only limited or problematic outside of combat. And then people with their personal competence or position of respect before the others were such that they recognized that he was a superior. That was also the role he had to play. That’s how we all are, human beings in the roles we live in. There’s an episode where you once said there were 9 German tanks and 11 Russian ones: Yes, that can tell you: That was in the middle of the time That was 1942: And it was like this: We were waiting for us with 9 tanks and the Russians with 11 tanks. And we were waiting for them. And in between there was a ridge. We were here and the Russians were there. The Russians could be seen from 600-800m away. A forest in the back: .And they were staggered there too. But we only had observers: Sometimes the gunners too: (Me) We watched it from an unobserved position. But we didn’t dare drive off. Because the moment we’re over the hill, our silhouettes make us the best target for a long time , but we can’t hit them if they’re moving, the tanks. They can shoot too. But they usually miss because the gun then makes such an excursion. And at great distances, that makes a big difference back there. Yes, and we waited and waited. It was nerve-wracking, I must say. And then, after the third day, they said: “We’ll attack tomorrow! But the artillery is firing fog at us. A wall of fog. They’re firing so much fog that our ridges are completely covered in fog. And then we drive into the fog , and coming out of the fog, we can see them even better than they can see us. And then , in a very short time, we actually shot down all 11 tanks. And they couldn’t see any of us. And I shot down 3 of them on my first mission as a gunner . I couldn’t comprehend it at all. At 600 meters, I hit. One shot. That was an incredible feat for the eyes. Also the judgment. Of course, I had already learned how to level. How to see distances during my studies. We had to map. And that’s why we had to operate a leveling instrument or a theodolite. Like the captains on ships. You had to be able to do that beforehand. That may have contributed to it. But it was our salvation. Now, you don’t think that the people have died there, that I now have to mourn. But that is, unfortunately, the terrible thing about war… It’s everyday business… That means: The other one isn’t allowed to survive, because if he survives , I’ll have died first. The terrible consequence is: You’ll only be here tomorrow with your own life if you’re in a position to have killed the other one. When it’s only a matter of two. And if chance wills it, if chance is involved , it naturally depends on how the individuals had their experience in the individual branches of the military : a submarine, for example, a torpedo, and so on. But I don’t want to go into that in detail now. Because there are two more interesting chapters to come. We became the first unit ever to be called up for reorganization. On New Year’s Eve 1942, the war in Russia ended for us. On New Year’s Day 1943 , the train to the West was in Vyazma . And we were deloused there in the large saunas using very strong methods: heat, etc. That was the prerequisite for us to even be allowed to cross borders. And then On the trip to France, we witnessed how the buildings became increasingly more beautiful . The gardens became more beautiful in Poland. In Germany. And in Antwerp, there was the first cyanide delousing. A second, more intensive delousing. And now we were taken to Paris for three days under the command of a lieutenant or an officer in groups of 30 people . And we spent the evenings in restaurants and nightclubs that had a high culture in Paris. The Casino de Paris: It was a huge cinema. From France we were then sent to Greece. And do you know why? Because Stalin was afraid that after the reorganization in France, we would recapture Stalingrad again, freshly armed , rested and trained . Stalingrad had fallen at the beginning of 1943. Then Stalin asked Churchill to send a secret message to the military via the secret service , according to which, from a reliable source but top secret, the British were planning another invasion of Greece after losing North Africa . And that’s why the 1st Panzer Division was to go to Greece and not Russia, so that we wouldn’t be available for deployment at Stalingrad . We only found that out later. You can read about it in the literature, I don’t know which one. But that’s how it was. So that was the mistake and a great stroke of luck for us. Because we were now doing a follow-up course in Greece . It was a wonderful landscape. It was the Greeks, too, who we learned from our higher educational institutions, from Greek history to Roman history for Europe: They were admired, great artists, as we all know. That’s why Greece and the Greeks have a good reputation among us today as restaurateurs in Germany . But only so much about that. What follows from this is, in any case: I did a second course. I passed the second course again. Two of 60 of us were now the designated candidates for the Weapons School (Nazi elite school). And now comes another really interesting story: It just occurred to me. At the end of the course, I was also tasked with organizing the final evening in an olive grove. 60 people were sitting there in a semicircle. And I had gotten a guitar from the Greeks again and was going to sing along with it. Part of that time is already being used for that. And the rest of the time I had given a lecture on the topic: “The German Officer: The Role Model for Soldiers.” Or something like that. Anyway: The high standards. I wanted to talk about that. And I was with this ideal image. We’d heard before how we should be. It was also easy for me to repeat, so I wasn’t nervous. I could really talk. Even though I was always afraid of it. And then two people sat down with my instructor. They spoke to him without any reason to say to me: “Excuse me. We have something to discuss.” They just spoke. And I was on my last sentences. And then I dared to say: “And a German officer doesn’t speak to other people when someone is giving a speech on official orders.” Icy silence. And a cutting word: “Schmidt! Line up!” The two were from the Waffen-SS, from the Waffen-SS secret service. From the Gestapo! And they had been sent. Because they had read who was supposed to go to weapons school. During Hitler’s assassination attempt later on July 20, 1944, it was the nobleman, Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, who carried out the attack and realized for Hitler what they had feared and claimed: nobility versus National Socialism. But the nobleman who now nominated “Schmidt” as the new officer: He must have a special way. He must also be an enemy of the Nazis. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been nominated. And that was probably the reason why they reacted that way. So I heard about that later. So I was dismissed before my candidacy. That afternoon/evening: Without knowing the sequence at the time: someone else came. That was on Sunday. It had ended on Friday. On Saturday there was a screening at the cinema in Nafplio. A small port town in the Peloponnese. We were there. I went to the cinema with our comrades on the company truck. Without a clue. I came back and now I was the criminal. They claimed I knew I was assigned to the alarm platoon , yet I still went to the cinema on the train. That was a lie. It was simply made up. I had to report to the chief on Monday morning . He was only the deputy. The real company commander was getting married in Berlin. And this deputy said, “I’m punishing you with three days of business arrest because you left the alarm platoon despite being forbidden to do so .” I said, “Lieutenant! I won’t accept that punishment. I wasn’t assigned to the alarm platoon. Nobody told me that.” “I’m punishing you with three days of business arrest.” “Lieutenant! I won’t accept that punishment.” I knew that was possible from our training. Anyway, I was released , and that evening I was supposed to report to the station. Before that, I was the guard on duty. And now I was supposed to become the prisoner myself for three days that evening. And that evening the order came: “The regiment/division is being relocated to Russia.” And now the decision had been made in Thessaloniki: The final farewell performance: And I was no longer named, but Lieutenant Spiritus. So Spiritus and the other one— I don’t remember his name now— who was sent to the weapons school in my place . I came to the Ukraine (1943/44) . I was given a motorcycle. I didn’t fit into a tank crew at that time. And through that I experienced some interesting and “nice” things , as well as some dangerous things… In Cherkassy you were: Yes, in the pocket. He was in the Ukraine, yes, surrounded by the Soviets. And what does he remember from that? What do you remember about it? For example, with your motorcycle: Yes, I can say that. I wasn’t in a tank at the time because I was now in a motorcycle unit. Because I had been released from the Panzerkampfstaffel for training through the course. That’s why I was put in this motorcycle unit. I remember my motorcycle ran even though everything was broken. And I had to rebuild the clutch and the footplates . The bike was practically a pile of junk. But: I emerged from the pocket. I had been taken prisoner and had to raise my hands. Our tank was parked at the intersection. We prisoners had to get it out of the water. We had to break them out of the line with crowbars . And on this occasion, there was a grenade attack. And we all had to lie down on the ground as soon as the explosion happened. Every soldier does that. Both the guards and us. And then I thought: “Man, if they shoot again…” Those were the Germans who were now firing at the Russian-occupied intersection . “Then you run! Whether you get hit or not.” And that was a decision: I said to God: “You are here now: You decide whether I live.” And the second shot really came: I don’t know what happened next. I don’t know. But then I ran away. It was an avenue lined with trees. And the houses stood on the right , and on the left was a food depot. It had been cleared. That’s why I had packed coffee and cigarettes with me. That was very important for later. And then I started running: sometimes like this. Sometimes like that. And then straight ahead again. And sometimes like that. So, they couldn’t target me. And so I was able to run into the forest. They didn’t hit me. I was now in the cauldron. And then I came to my motorcycle: It was there in a shed. And my coffee was in there, and the cigarettes. But at the beginning, he told me that his motorcycle was practically a pile of scrap. Everything was broken. He had to convert the throttle to the left-hand side. The engine drive was almost destroyed. But he could drive. From Ukraine, you then escaped from the cauldron: The only one: No. No, no. It was like this: Part of the cauldron was open again. And we were able to get out on the motorcycle. And up at the reception point: There was a captain: He welcomed me full of joy and praised me for getting the motorcycle there through the black mud . Up until then, I was the only one who had managed it. And then he said: “You have one wish.” So I said, “I want to go back to the 7th Company.” That was my old company. I’d always gone somewhere else for training . He said, “No, you only want to go to Erfurt.” ” No, I want to go to the 7th Company.” “But it’s in Erfurt.” I said, “That’s what I told you.” And then he gave me marching orders to Erfurt. Unbelievable. And then this captain researched whether I’d served those three days in prison. And then he researched again. But then this other story came up: I just knew it. Hungary? Székesfehérvár? Debrecen? And here I told where Captain Elias was killed, whom we discovered later. And then we also had the wonderful experience in Polgárdi with this tank attack. The entire army was held up. The Russians. That would have stopped us: The German troops in the Puszta: They wouldn’t have been able to get home. Because Lake Balaton: they would have sealed it off. That was the objective. And that evening, my comrade from Marburg and I made a stick 1.42m high with a notch in it. That was the turret ring of the T-34. We knew that height. And if you hit it there, the T-34 was vulnerable. Like all of them. That’s why we shot down so many. Because we knew where they were vulnerable. Like Siegfried: the linden leaf on his shoulder. That evening, a comrade of his went out with a lighter to find that spot (1.42m) so they could adjust the cannon for the next morning. The next morning, the Russians came over the hill, and with the first shot, Jochen destroyed the tank. That saved the German infantry. And that was where? That was in Hungary. Where exactly was that? Polgárdi. And that was early in the morning. 4:00 a.m. In the dark. And then we came to Úrkút. There’s a story there too: Our antenna was damaged and had to be repaired in Hajmáskér. And on the way to Polgárdi, there was this tank attack. Then I was given the task of fetching cables in Germany. It’s really unbelievable. They sent him all over Germany to find cables. At that time in February 1945, the shortage of materials was so great that it took him a few days to find them. He went to Silesia: Breslau: And then to Magdeburg: And then to: First I was in a factory in Silesia. Then to Dresden. And the next night Dresden was destroyed. One night before the bombing of Dresden. One night before the bombing of where? Dresden. February 13-15, 1945. The day before, I was still in Dresden. And the next day I was in Magdeburg and heard what happened yesterday. Escaped by a day… But there was no cable in Magdeburg either. They sent me on to the Bosch company in Stuttgart. There I finally got the cable and used it to get to Vienna. And in Vienna I wanted to visit someone who had briefly been in my tank. And this man was a Thai. (…) That was his name. He had come to us in Paris. He studied at the Sorbonne. And after our invasion of France: The Thais were friends with us. But then this man fell in love with a princess from Thailand. And he was forbidden to have this company . And then they told me at the embassy in Vienna: “He took his own life.” He didn’t want to live anymore. But I returned to the soldiers’ hostel where I was staying overnight to continue my journey the next day. There was a private there. He had a Knight’s Cross. I said: “What did you do to earn a Knight’s Cross?” “I sank a ship.” “What?” “A ship.” “What’s that?” “It’s a ship. A convoy.” “How do you do that alone?” “Yes, with a blast boat. That’s a great thing. We did a training course: driving a motorboat: 6 weeks. And then you are taken out to sea with the mother ship and in the evening a hatch at the back: They open it: And then you are lowered into the small inflatable boat. It inflates itself. And the inflatable boat has a ton of explosives. And then you drive this explosive boat toward the convoy, which you then see in the distance: You have to aim a little: And if the torpedo hits, then the ship sinks.” The next day I drove back to Hajmáskér and thought to myself: “You won’t end up in Russian captivity. Or you’ll die. Or you’ll drown. Or you’ll get away. All of that is better than being back in a tank.” I had already been shot down six times. No. No, not then. I don’t remember exactly. “Now I’m in trouble.” I was really scared: “Now I’m going to be shot down.” And after that I was shot down three more times. But our Colonel Philipp: He took my explosive boat request and said: “Have you ever heard of radar?” “No. What is that?” “They see you via a radio signal. Before you’ve even seen the ships, they see you. And then the torpedo is already with you , and you’re probably already in heaven . You can’t get there. I don’t approve of that. You’re staying with us tanks.” And then I was in Rönök afterward . And that was an attack in the morning: That was just a reconnaissance. The general (…) even drove alongside, and I called out to him from the hatch: “General! You absolutely have to get into an armored vehicle now. It’s too dangerous!” “No. I’d rather stay here and have the sky above me.” They didn’t see anything in the tank: They didn’t see anything in the tank: They didn’t see anything in the tank: No, that was during the approach: During the reconnaissance. There were three tanks. They were supposed to reconnaissance. And he accompanied us for a bit. And during the approach, I told him that. And then, of course, we closed the gap. The commander wasn’t me. He was a sergeant major. A very good man, still. And we rode in a Panther. And this Panther: It had a different commander’s hatch than the Panzer IV. The Panzer IV opens up: The two hatches opened up in half circles: The commanders stood inside during the parade. You could always see them. With the Panther, that wasn’t possible. The hatch was just a cover with an external bearing in a bolt. And when it was opened: It was always up. And with the Panther, it was up too. The tank had to look out the top first: It wasn’t a battle. It was a reconnaissance. And suddenly an explosion. And I still don’t know exactly what happened: But the tank tipped over! There must have been two mines one behind the other. On the road in Rönök. And we were lying on our backs. But a bit crooked. So crooked that we could all get out of the commander’s hatch . I was able to pull my comrades out. Our commander at the time: He got all the shrapnel in his head. He was taken away immediately. So he got away. I visited him later. And the rest of us: I was given command. So we got out of there. No, I wasn’t a tank commander yet. We came out, and now the two were left: I was given command of the two. And then I was in a barn south of the road in Rönök that leads to Fürstenfeld. There was a farm. And there was a barn. And there I saw a telescope. With it, you could see particularly far. That’s how I saw the Russians eating. And now they were coming in a skirmish line toward our neighboring area. Then I sent one of my men to the captain: the commander of this troop: and told him: “The Russians are attacking Güssing.” Then he told me: “They have them under control. I shouldn’t worry.” I went down to my tank. Then the other men came: They gave me hot food: Cold provisions: And above all, ammunition. Large ammunition. Ours had been shorter so far. These were loaded: I sat in the hatch. One handed me the grenade with the casing from the wagon. And I put it in, and another put it in the pockets where they were hanging. And then we were attacked, and I was hit in the back. I thought I was wounded. But I wasn’t. I called it off and drove to the end of the village. And the captain was probably the same one there: And he said, “I should launch a counterattack.” I said, “We mustn’t. The general ordered: No counterattack.” There were the houses: They had their gables facing the street. I could have shot one of them down from my bedroom with an anti-tank grenade. No one could have done anything about it. But the captain forced me and wanted to shoot me in the back! Or even shoot the tank. He threatened me. So , whether I wanted to or not, I drove back to the village with my crew . I thought, “There can’t be any danger from behind now.” The other tank: It was behind me before, too. It was behind me now. But we were further ahead. And then we saw an anti-tank gun up ahead on the main road . It was about to point a gun at us. And I could have them shot down quickly. That didn’t happen. And then a German soldier comes and brings me a Russian prisoner to the tank and shouts: “What should I do with that man?” I say: What should you do with that man? Take him to the back. I can’t give you any orders.” And then he left again. And I went back into the tank. Because if I get hit up there, the whole crew is screwed. So back into the tank. And then the guy outside yelled: “Back down or I’ll destroy the tank!” That’s what I understood. Then he must have prepared a grenade and thrown it into the engine compartment. Where the two fans are. We used to take gasoline drums there, too. The grate was broken. And he was able to throw this grenade— they were egg-shaped hand grenades— in there . And it started to burn. I noticed it. Black smoke kept coming out. And I had to drive the tank backward. We were in the direction of the combat attack: But the man had to drive there. I had to: I was still able to turn around. I had to steer it forward so that the one behind me was on my right: difficult. But we’ll get past. And at the end, about the buildings there: from the farmhouses: that’s when the fire started: it came from the engine compartment through the metal sheets. They had clamps. And they might have been a bit loose. In any case, the first flames reached us in the fighting compartment. And then I gave the command : “Disembark!” Disembark means: get out of the tank as quickly as possible. “We only have 15 seconds left! Then the tank will explode!” And I got caught on my throat microphone. And that’s why I have cervical spine syndrome. I have 30% severe damage. And the others got out too. We were there safely. The tank turret weighed 7.5 tons: it flew somewhere else. And not down on us. And then we: Of the previous crew, three men were left. And me. And there were four of the other tank. And then there were seven or eight of us: I don’t remember exactly. And then we set off on a march with a horse-drawn cart. Because we were exhausted, too. And then our driver found a Fiat Topolino by the road . It was the smallest Italian vehicle , or ever was, on the German/European market. And there were syringes inside from a doctor. He took them out. And then we drove down the mountains with seven men in the Fiat , inside and outside . The driver could start it. And when it went back up, we all got off again, and he alone went up. We waited again at the top. And that’s how we got to Pöllau. Then we came to the general there in Pöllau. I reported it to him. And he, too, said: I’m surprised myself now. Because I told it in one piece: He also had schnapps brought in. (…) was his adjutant. “Major (…) get some! The men have smoky throats!” And then I got two shots of schnapps. And the others each got one. “Tell Philipp: Colonel Philipp: He later became a major general in the Bundeswehr. Tell him: “Schmidt shouldn’t be deployed. Not for three weeks. At least not.” And then I was sent to Birkfeld because there was probably a need . There I became the commander myself. And then I went with the other Panzer 2 or 3: No, 3. Then we went to I don’t know exactly how many were behind me. But I was at the front. And then it all happened here at Sommersgut. Here where we are now. So: Could you tell us briefly again what happened here on April 22, 1945 ? In the place where we are now. We are here in Wenigzell now. What happened in Wenigzell on April 22, 1945? April 22, 1945: Yes, it was like this: We came from Birkfeld , drove through a farm. From Bruck an der Mur. On the ridge. On the “road” there in the forest: There wasn’t a road. And from there we drove over here to this: There’s also a big display board showing the way down to Wenigzell. And we got there. We had a problem beforehand. Below you could see the Russian horse-drawn carts on the north side. I fired at them too. And also at the trees: Because some of the Russians were hanging in the trees . And from there: That’s what we were told to throw grenades down. They then fall into the tanks and blow them up. But that wasn’t the case with us. And then I was the first of the tanks to get to the top of the meadow: And now we had to drive down the meadow: And there were several of us, 3-5 tanks: And there we were in great danger that if the tracks had driven down a bit at an angle and not rolled in the same direction because the tracks have a middle section which is steered in the grooves of the double wheels : If they jump out of there, the tank is doomed. It lies still. The people jump out. Are shot down in the process. Or a short time later the tank. But that didn’t happen to us. And then we got down to the museum. Here. A ladder cart got in our way. And on the ladder cart: I had to get out because I wanted to push the ladder cart away. And then I found a cigar box on the ladder cart: With gold rings and with severed fingers. The Russians had left that behind. Up there it was burning: the church. But I couldn’t see anything else. Then we passed the church below Prettenhofer and came here. Here. But on the way here: There were bullet casings lying on the side of the road. The bullet was gone. So the Russians had already shot at us 8-9 times . Once up at the crossroads where we used to be. Where you can see the shot inside: Yes, exactly. The shot must have come: One way or the other. I can’t say. When the bullet came: 1100 m/s (3960 km/h) was the speed for such bullets. Then the thing would have tipped over. If it had been massive. It overturned the tank. So, as I said: That’s the reason you can see it clearly. That was the first shot: That was the first shot aimed at you: Yes. Yes, yes. Maybe he had already fired up there. What we didn’t notice. You can only notice it when it rings a bell here. Or here. But it wasn’t here either. But after that: There was a bulge in the street: The cartridge cases were lying there: The cartridge cases are the charge for the propellant. They were empty now when they were fired. He fired 9, I guess. They were lying on the edge. I recognized that and saw, “That can only be a tank.” Because it was able to shoot us down so quickly from there: Only then later down there : That couldn’t have been a large gun. It would have been a lot of work to reposition it down there. But the tank was, of course, a mobile cannon. A very light one. The engine was designed for that. And this has become the symbol of Wenigzell. If you look it up on the internet today: Wenigzell: You’ll find it there as the symbol of Wenigzell. Because it’s unique in the world. There’s nothing else like it. So: Now we’re really going to the place where you were actually shot down. And do you remember 10 years ago Oh yes… A tractor just like that came up And I simply stopped it I said: “Here, Schmidt!” And then he said: “Yes, I know that. I know my grandfather’s story.” That was unbelievable… Yes, the height too: And it must go down a bit. A bit. On the left: Or now it is on the right by the trees: There were the trees to the left of the road. Where the cross: There is also a cross at Sommersgut. And here we were still searching: Maybe there was still a forest here back then. Could be. And now on the left is this row of trees: And here it goes down a bit And here we later carried the wounded man up later. This was the dressing station. That’s where they took the pressure off me. And from these bushes/trees there: Now that must be near where the entrance to Sommersgut goes in. And there is the cross right there: Now be careful! Slowly! Slowly! It’s here. Now go in here. That’s the cross, isn’t it? Is it there or here? Or do they have the cross? Then the building there could have been gone. And here is the cross. That’s what Sepp said, Jochen: That the tank was standing where the building was. Yes. Something like that in the middle, exactly: That means, on April 22, 1945, you were shot down exactly at the spot where we are sitting now : That’s right. That’s right, yes. Where two of your comrades died next to you: Suddenly a terrible bang. The shot came from down here. It was an IS-2. The biggest Russian tank. The loader was called Bayer. The radio operator’s name was Gerhard Fischer. His head was ripped off and, he told me, his head flew into the loader’s lap. And he died up here. He got out of the tank: It was burning. And we called out to him: Us: My gunner and I. He was sitting further back on the left. And I was sitting up here. And the loader (†) here, the driver there. The radio operator (†) there. And then we assigned him: And he let himself fall out. His lower leg was hanging by the tendons. That too was hit. Flesh too. I don’t remember. Then we transported the loader up there to the dressing station. I mentioned that briefly when we were driving down. And if we had gotten a little further with the tank : I estimate 10-15cm. Then I would have been here with the dead too. Look, there are forget-me-not flowers . There they are. I would have been just a few centimeters closer: Then I would be lying here too. Thanks to the grace of God, I got my way back to life. For I was here with the two of them on the way to death. And they found it. And I didn’t. That’s why we can be here today after so many years, 80 years together, in which we experienced or re-enacted a part of what I experienced back then and in the time since, through every repeated/impossible reunion with you, with you here in dear Wenigzell. And here , 10 years ago, the mayor gave me the chronicle of Wenigzell. It reads: Claudius will read it out and a poem of mine that I wrote back then: Here! And that is my confession to this terrible question: War or peace? Or where is the world leading? Dear Claudius: Will you read that to us sometime: I will read that to you. I stayed at home to celebrate my birthday; after 70 years I was drawn out again. That was 10 years ago now. To do justice to the reverent remembrance of those who rest far from home ; those who died next to me, very young and healthy, to lamentingly ask about the meaning and reason. There in the war cemetery in Wenigzell we quietly and unceremoniously remembered Gerd Fischer and Bayer from the 616th Panzer. Two impeccably loyal comrades and soldiers from my crew, whom I commanded two weeks before the end of the war in Styria. Nothing other than madness and greed for power has always brought such disaster to peoples. Faith, honor , decency , morals were abused , regardless of whether one pays for it with one’s life. Endless suffering, misery, displacement and hardship are still the seeds of war and the deaths of millions. It is always in vain what people have given their lives for in such cases. To act in good faith for a good cause , for justice, on orders and commands. And then it turns out for those who survive that what they did in this spirit has protected them from the terrible consequences, even a lifelong penance in the form of injuries, loss of limbs and abilities. Death. Grief. Children. Grandchildren. All of that: that becomes clear in retrospect to the living. The dead can no longer say it. That is why we are here to remember that what happened was the truth. And what is left of the remembering today: that is only a tiny bit of truth. The rest is already forgotten. And that is what makes me so sad inside. And at the same time grateful for myself personally that I was able to lead a long, successful life up to now. With your help and with your compassion. Thanks to all of you. To all of you. And I wish this place, Wenigzell in beautiful Styria and its beautiful country , to which we are also bound as brothers, regardless of whether we are two states. In America, there are also many states and they form one America. And we in Europe are also citizens of the world and belong together and depend on each other. And not on people and humans wanting to separate us and even kill others. Please: This is a reason to tell everyone. As strongly as you can. Do it! In our place, where we stand, we can act. Only by speaking with others can we tell them: This is the truth. And not forgetting. Thinking: Remembering the people, yes. But forgetting the crime, not. And then the day came when it was announced: “An end to the war has been agreed. Whoever crosses the demarcation line between the Russians here today, May 8th, at 12:00 noon and the Americans on the other side of the Mur in Bruck an der Mur across the bridge: He is with the American and the others stay here. And the Russians: You know what’s happening there.” And then I jumped onto the truck running boards. When they drove: And when they had to stop again: Many of them all drove to that point. And they also wanted to cross the bridge. How many of them got across, of course, I don’t know. But I was there at 11:30 a.m. I know that. And only by doing this: jumping down; driving on; and so on. And I only had a small bag with very few things. And on the other side, there was relief. Then we came to Bischofshofen. And there was the election: We were five tank men. One of them was (…) my dear friend from (…) And we were because those who came from Italy: the so-called “Kesselring Army” had surrendered. And the surrenderees: They were not taken into captivity under martial law , but only into internment. And then it was decided what would happen to them. We were then, after the internment of About 4 or 6 weeks: I don’t know exactly. In Heufeld near Bad Aibling. We were relocated together in an area with a river, the Mangfall, where we could also wash. Otherwise, we lived in the barns. And I was there because I was with the commander: He was from Passau with the police. He: He had asked: “Who of you can speak English?” No one volunteered. And he had the Iron Cross 1st Class: And so did I. So I thought: “I guess I’ll have to help him.” I said: “I can speak a little.” “Teach me!” I did. And so I was often alone: While the others were swimming in the Mangfall as a group : After English class, I went alone, naked, like the rest of us. And then two shots rang out in the water from the other side. And then a soldier emerged from the bushes. An American in full camouflage. And he said: “Come here!” Up the other side of the embankment. “On your knees! Pray your last prayer! I send you to hell now! Damn German! Oh, I was in dire need. “What are you going to do now?” Tell me: you can’t find a solution in a nightmare. A nightmare always ends horribly. That’s why they’re called that. And it occurred to me to say: “What would your mother say about this? When you have to realize that you became a murderer? What you want to do is murder!” And I also said: “Do you know what it means also in your country?” (He wanted to avenge his fallen brother) Then he said: “Maybe you are right. Come up!” You can see the submachine gun he had pointed at me. He was in uniform. And I was naked. I stood up: Then he said: “You have a black mark under your arm.” When I had to put my hands up: “No, where is the mark?” “You have operated!” “You have operated on it.” He meant the SS blood group tattoo. No, I didn’t have one. If I had been an SS man, I would have had them. Then he would have shot me immediately. That’s how it all happened. I just want to say something briefly: I was discharged in Kirchsee. By an American officer who asked me: “What’s my hometown like?” ” Oh,” I said: “Very destroyed. 96% of the upper town is ruined.” Then he said: “And you also want to study?” “Yes, of course. But probably architecture now. And no more civil engineering, etc., water management… ” “Yes,” he said: “I think that would be better.” He said it very nicely. “But why do you want to go to Erfurt? And not to Siegen?” “Because my only possession there is an accordion. 80 basses.” I once traded it for a camera in Pressburg/Bratislava. There was a family there: The boy wanted a camera. And I said: “I don’t have anything else.” “What would you like for that? I have an accordion.” And then we did the barter deal there . After the war, I played on it for the first time. Yes, and so on: Then my studies began later. I worked with the architect: the first one, even interned. And worked on the reconstruction of the destroyed upper town. On the assessment of the damage that had been caused. Based on the floor plans, you could extrapolate using cubic meters and gross volume. I did well, too. Somehow. Yes, and then the studies began. The oldest was 32. He had been a major. And the youngest was 18. And we had to attend a course together and take a new exam. And then we were admitted to continue our studies , repeating the last semesters , so it was basically a repetition of the knowledge we already had when we became soldiers. And then I was able to do pretty well on my exams in 1945. And after that, there were no jobs for a while. All the good jobs were taken. The budgets hadn’t been funded yet. There was no new money yet. The currency reform only came afterwards. And then I got an offer from Oberhausen. I introduced myself. I was hired. And then someone said: He used to be a sergeant in the department where I later worked as a road planner. He said: “There’s a girl upstairs. She suits you. That would be a woman for you.” I said: “Ernst.” But we’re on first-name terms. Are you crazy? You can’t foist a woman on me here.” “Yes, look first.” I married that woman. I got engaged on New Year’s Eve 1948 , and a year and a half later, on May 20, 1950, we were married. And after a year and a few months, our first son came. Then two years later, my daughter. And then three years later, the third child. And again after that: So, 1952, 1953, 1955. The next one came in 1959. The last one came in 1962. And he was here with me the first time: When we were going to visit Hungary, we stopped here. And I asked: “Has a German tank been shot down here?” There were people standing in the street. That was old Mr. Kerschenbauer: His wife: And there was a married couple: They came from Vienna. His name was (…) He was a Bild journalist. He always came here for vacation: It was the second Easter holiday. And when he heard Kerschenbauer say: “Yes, that was here. And that’s why we have the crucifix. Those people are dead.” “No,” I said: “I was the commander.” They turned ashen-faced. You see: That’s how the war even gave rise to friendships in retrospect . And we realized what could be truer than the untruth that had been propagated to us. And I am a proponent everywhere of the idea that war is wrong! The worst thing there is , really, is when one person takes another’s life. Then he is a murderer. And the politician who decides that a war is being waged: Then he allows 1000s or 10,000s of people to become murderers. In truth, he is the murderer. And they are then forced by law, through conscription or whatever, to become soldiers again. I don’t know where right is still found and where injustice begins , and vice versa. Do you know? We live in a world that has become chaotic, with instruments created by the human mind with which it is itself creating a grave that could potentially end humanity on a crumb of earth. Compared to the vastness of space, the Earth cannot even be seen. It is so small. And yet they can still destroy the Earth. With their nuclear weapons and who knows what else they have… If only one of them has a brain failure. Good heavens… But I ask often, and I pray every day , and hope that we are spared. And the generation after us too. But is it utopia? Or isn’t it also something that we can do if we believe it. I believe this: that I have experienced help in my life in unspeakably unbelievable ways , that I am here today. I can still play the piano, I can still think, I can still write poems, I can still learn them by heart, now at almost 103. And dear people who think that you are no longer capable of doing anything: I have another idea: Go to the hospitals and ask about the people: The lonely ones. Those who don’t get any visitors. And listen to their life stories. And console them with the fact that they can finally talk about themselves. Like I spoke here today. For you. Maybe someone will… Thank you for sharing this in such detail. This is especially relevant today: 80 years later: Today is May 7, 2025 , when we are recording this. You drove 1,000 kilometers from your homeland here as part of “80 Years of the End of World War II.” To the place where we are sitting now. Where you were shot down more than 80 years ago, so that you could tell your story. Not just to us now, but also in the town , so that these people: And now we too can hear your story, so that this time will not be repeated! Yes. Yes! Let us all share this message wherever it seems appropriate ! We are not attacking anyone. We are actually making reality what we are here for on earth. We are not just here for ourselves. But fundamentally for one another! And when everyone thinks like that: Just imagine: Are others there for me too! That is… But the effect is much more beautiful. Much more important and gives confidence to people who, in terms of their talents and mentality, may not be able to do anything about them but may still get a boost in a direction that shows that life is possible even under difficult conditions. And I am part of the witness to that. I starved myself. And now I was starving myself again, down to 63 kg. And then I was supposed to build up to size. That is what happened. And today I am proof of that, aren’t you? Have you actually done anything specific to make you almost 103? People see you now with your physical and mental fitness. You do an hour of morning exercise every day, if I am correctly informed. Yes, not quite so much. But every morning! And whenever I’ve done that, I’ve found my stride again. When I wake up in the morning , I sometimes think, “Oh, if only you could stay in bed a little longer…” But then I have some new task. Or the nursing staff comes and has to bandage me. And then they don’t come: Or they come later: Or sometimes they even come earlier. But then I think, “You can’t keep them waiting.” Then at some point I gave them a key. That’s how they get into the apartment , and sometimes they wake me up, too. So, what I’m trying to say is: You can get a lot of help in such cases . And the saying “What goes around comes around ” also applies here . If I meet someone with a grumpy face , or even ignore them and don’t pay any attention to them, then I can’t expect them to notice me. But if I’ve helped them, or tried to help when they were in trouble, then they’ll be grateful to me. And so we can help each other live with our disabilities, some of which have become greater and more difficult over the years: Can we live even when we are as old as I am? What advice would you give the viewers? Yes, that is what I would like to say: The advice would be , firstly, to do what makes life easier not only for ourselves but also for those we live with . Because everyone has problems and needs help. That is the first thing. secondly, to refrain from fulfilling wishes that are harmful to others. And thirdly, to pass on hope and to take in the small joy that a daisy brings. If we had binoculars or a magnifying glass, we could turn them this way or that way . Then the same object would become small or large. It is up to us to hold the binoculars this way or that way . And to organize our actions accordingly. I once said in a poem: “This flower: You will then become the flower as beautiful as an orchid can be seen. But the violet that blooms in secret: You don’t perceive it. You would have to bend down. You would have to give up your pride to be able to see it. In truth, the blossom could even be more beautiful than that of the withered orchid. And you don’t see it. Man, that’s arrogance. And refrain from doing that.” I wrote that to a golfer at an exhibition opening in Düsseldorf. He really enjoyed it. So, admitting weaknesses, too. And that applies to the advice: Help the weak to become stronger. And help the strong to give up themselves without losing themselves . Then the world would be more favorable and better for us. And what do you wish for the future? That having to go, which is inevitable, won’t be an agonizing journey for me, but perhaps a falling asleep. And then I will enter into eternity. How many to whom the promise has been made according to our creed: For God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son , that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. I believe it. You have your favorite poem to end with: “A Temporary Life.” Can you share it again at the end? Do you have it memorized? Yes. Would you like to tell us briefly? Yes, please. A temporary life. The time given to us is not an eternity. Human life is a life only for a limited time. It must be carefully considered and wisely divided; so that alongside work there remains enough free time. Time for oneself; time for inspiration. Time for a questioning child; time for the needs of others who are helpless and without advice. In all things, man can only be the standard as part of God’s creation; this alone is the maxim. Happiness does not come by itself. It also does not depend on money. If we give happiness to others, our world will be happy. The time given to us is not an eternity. It is human life; a life only for a limited time.

102-jähriger Kriegsveteran erzählt vom 2. Weltkrieg. Dieser 102-Jährige, bald 103-Jährge, der 1922 geboren wurde, berichtet uns heute an dem Ort, an dem er vor 80 Jahren am 22. April 1945 im Panzer abgeschossen wurde, seine Zeitzeugengeschichte.

Ich hatte die große Ehre diesen 102-Jährigen zu interviewen und seine Lebensgeschichte und Lebensweisheiten aus seinem 102-jährigem Leben festzuhalten. Für dieses Interview ist der 102-jährige Kriegsveteran über 1000km mit seinem Freund & Bekannten Herrn Univ. Prof. Claudius Tanski nach Wenigzell gefahren, um an diesem Ort das 80-jährige Ende des 2. Weltkrieges erleben zu können.

Am 7. Mai 2025 erzählte uns der 102-jährige Kriegsveteran folgendes:

Wie er 102 Jahre wurde
Wie er den 2. Weltkrieg miterleben musste
Was wir tun können, dass sich diese Zeit nicht wiederholt

Dieser 102-Jährige ist ein mahnendes Beispiel dafür, dass Krieg zu nichts führt und Frieden die einzige Lösung ist. Daher war es mir eine große Ehre, diesen 102-jährigen Kriegsveteran im Rahmen meines Friedensprojektes “Lebensweisheiten von 100-Jährigen” zu interviewen.
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100-jährige Zeitzeugen erzählen vom 2. Weltkrieg

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Lebensweisheiten von 100-Jährigen.

Ich – Daniel Pleunik, diplomierter Gesundheits- und Krankenpfleger – hatte bereits die Ehre 35 Hundertjährige Menschen zu interviewen und ihre wertvolle Lebensgeschichte & Lebensweisheiten festzuhalten. (Stand 20.05.2025)

Diese Interviews mit 100-jährigen Zeitzeugen mache ich neben meiner Anstellung als Krankenpfleger aus 3 Gründen:
1) Um meinen Beitrag für den Frieden auf der Welt beizusteuern
2) Um dafür zu sorgen, dass sich die Geschichte von damals nicht wiederholt
3) Um jungen Menschen anhand der Erzählungen von Zeitzeugen zu ermutigen, menschlich, respektvoll & wachsam zu sein.

„Wenn du den Weg vor dir wissen möchtest, frag jene, die zurückkommen.“ – chinesisches Sprichwort.

Wenn du mein Friedensprojekt “Lebensgeschichten & Lebensweisheiten von 100-jährigen Menschen” wertvoll findest, abonniere gerne meinen Kanal. Ich verspreche dir mit deiner Zeit und deinem Vertrauen wertschätzend umzugehen.

00:00:00 Vorschau
00:04:12 Kindheit & Machtübernahme 1933
00:09:40 Einberufung & Ostfront 1941/42
00:37:45 Frankreich & Griechenland 1943
00:45:59 Ukraine 1943/44
00:50:45 Ungarn & Deutschland 1944/45
01:06:52 22. April 1945
01:22:40 Kriegsende & Kriegsgefangenschaft
01:27:01 Heimkehr & Neuanfang
01:31:30 Reflexion Krieg/Frieden & Lebensweisheiten