One of the most fascinating aspects of travelling and living abroad is meeting new and interesting people. Throughout my travels, I have met so many different people of various backgrounds, all of whom have helped me see the world from a different point of view.
One person who I met along the way, was my landlord during my time in Mallorca. Mr. Guenther was a German man in his mid 70's from Hanover, Germany. He was a retired Civil Engineer who had invested in several rental properties on the island. He was was a very traditional German who had grown up with the typical strict German values of hard work, honesty and integrity during some of the toughest times in Germany's history.
It was one afternoon that Herr Guenther had scheduled a time to come by the apartment to do some kitchen repairs. He had arrived at 2 p.m. right on the dot as he had promised. I learned from my time living in Germany that punctuality is a notable trait of the Germans, as is attention to detail and one hundred percent accuracy. I always enjoyed times when he would stop by, since he reminded me a lot of my own grandfather who had immigrated to the U.S. prior to World War II. Herr Guenther always enjoyed talking with Eva and I, and we could tell he enjoyed our company as well.
I have always been interested in World War II history and knowing that Herr Guenther was of the war time generation, I was dying to ask him questions about what he did during this time, but was afraid to ask. It was one of those things you are never sure how to approach, with it being such a dark subject that many would like to forget.
I had bought a sword a few weeks prior to Herr Guenther's visit at a flea market in Santa Maria in the central part of the island. I bought it from a German that who said it was found buried in a vegtable garden in Berlin. It was rusted and worn from over 50 years of constant rain and cold German weather. I would spend hours trying all kinds of chemicals to remove the rust and restore it back to it's original gleam.
It was this afternoon that that Herr Guenther was to stop by for some kitchen repairs in the apartment. I was excited to take out to show Herr Guenther my find at the flea market to break the ice and see if he would open up and talk a little about his war time experience. I mentioned that I had recently bought an old German sword and asked Herr Guenther if he would be interested in taking a look to see if he could tell me anything about it. I could tell that he was quite eager and was anxious to see my newly purchased treasure.
I hurridly went to grab the sword out of the back closet. As I came back into the living room with the sword in hand, I could see Herr Guenther's face light up like a little kid on Christmas day. I handed him the sword and he said it was a German officer's sword. He went on to say that it was part of the German formal dress uniform during the Second World War. With the sword in his hand, he made a few sweeps and jabs, as if he were fighting an invisible foe. It looked like something out of a Zoro movie you would see on t.v.
Since we were on the topic of the war, I decided to ask what he did during the war years. I had always wanted to ask and figured this was a good time. He looked at me with a proud look and said he was in the Waffen SS, which was the Nazi elite fighting and most feared unit during the German's reign of terror throughout the war. I could sense his feeling of pride in his response, so I continued to probe and find out what role he had during this time period.
He went on to tell me that he was part of Operation Barbarosa, which was the infamous attack on Stalingrad in 1941. He and over 90,000 of the Waffen SS were under orders to bombard the strategic city of Russia into submission. They had made their push to take the city during the summer months expecting a quick and fierce overthrow of the city. Taking Stalingrad would of been devastating for the morale of the Russian people and lead to an inevitable defeat. To their surprise, they would end up fighting long into the winter months, cut off from re-inforcements from Germany and still equipped with summer uniforms. They had not anticipated fighting during the harsh winter months and the level of resistance they encountered. The Germans suffered heavy losses, many of his fellow soldiers who weren't killed in battle would end up freezing to death from the bitter cold.
I had seen many documentaries on this topic over the years, but in front of me was someone who had experienced what I had only read about first hand.
I will never forget asking the question of whether he thought the Germans were going to win the war and take over the world. He stopped for a moment, and looked at me with an ice cold glare in his eyes that sent a chill down my spine. He paused and said, 'there was no doubt in my mind that nobody could stop us...we were going to take over the world.' It was as if for a moment it was Nazi Germany in 1940 all over again there in my apartment. I could see the intense look in his eyes, formulated from the years of Nazi propaganda, leading them to believe they were superhuman...an unstopable machine.
It was in Stalingrad where the momentum of the German war machine was stopped it it's tracks. The 90,000 man army was soon surrounded by 1 million Russian troops. The Germans had no where to run and were under strict orders from Hitler to fight to the end. The Germans were physically and emotionially defeated at this point, and were left with no alternative but to surrender.
Herr Guenther went on to tell the story of how his fellow soldiers had shamefully surrendered. He was taken by the Russians to a prisoner of war camp for a short period of time somewhere in Siberia. He was later involved in a prisoner of war exchange with the United States. He was then sent to an American prisoner of war camp in what is now the Czech Republic for the remainder of the war. He said this move was what saved his life. Many of his fellow soldiers in the Russian camps died from the harsh conditions they endured in the Russian prisoner of war camps.
Mr. Guenther spoke freely about his role during the war with still a sense of pride on one hand, yet traces of shame that they were defeated. It was an eery feeling to speak with someone from the other side that took part in such a horrible period of our history.
Over the next few years, I would ask questions about post war Germany and what it was like re-building their country during the post war years. I learned a great deal speaking with Herr Guenther, who was a living part of history.
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