Mormons in Nazi Germany: History and Memory: Mormon Soldier at the Battle of Stalingrad

Mormons in Nazi Germany: History and Memory

This site solicits input from Latter-Day Saints who lived under Hitler's regime and from their relatives who may possess diaries, letters, or other memorabilia. I'm interested in how Mormons lived during that period, how they remember it today, and what stories they tell their children and grandchildren. I also want to hear from LDS missionaries who labored in Germany during the pre-war Third Reich and from their relatives and acquaintances.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Mormon Soldier at the Battle of Stalingrad

Next week I leave for Salt Lake City again, this time to interview a German army veteran who fought to relive General Paulus' Sixth Army at the Battle of Stalingrad. According to his correspondence, his mother gave him a miniature New Testament and Book of Mormon to carry close to his heart for protection.

This elderly gentleman is one of several I have discovered through networking the large LDS immigrant commuity that came from Germany after the war. One introduces me to another, and the result is new primary sources untaped by other historians who have researched this subject.

Obviously, time is critical. Some 5,000 World War II veterans die every day, and already this situation means that I'm relegated to interviewing their sons and daughters on many occasions. However, next week will provide an opportunity that the march of time has not obliterated.

1 Comments:

Hellmut said...: Thanks a lot for sharing your research. Did you ever hear about Brother Moskwa by any chance?
He was a very committed Mormon in the Mainz branch, which was later rolled into the Wiesbaden ward. Every missionary who has served in Mainz remembers him. I know that Elder Dellenbach knew Moskwa.
Anyways, he was a translator in World War II and got captured by the Red Army. He told me that he carried a Bible and a Book of Mormon. The Soviets took the Bible but let him keep the Book of Mormon since they did not know what it was.
Moskwa is long dead but supposedly his daughter, Sister Marx, is still alive in Mainz. One of his grand daughters lives in the Salt Lake area. Her husband is a gardener at Temple Square. I forgot their name though.

Another veteran is Brother Pent from the Saarbrücken ward. He was a signal soldier (Nachrichten Abteilung). He related to me that his division was recruited from Polish Germans, many of whom could not properly write German. Therefore the Nachrichten Abteilung consisted of Germans from the realm (Reichsdeutsche).
His division was also with Hoth trying to break out the 6th Army in Stalingrad. When they had to retreat, they were surrounded but the Red Army was not strong enough to pin the division.
As a consequence, the cable troops had to rewire the division every day on the move. My understanding was that Pent was in the headquarters vehicle, which operated with omnidirectional radios, of course. Any cables would just be dropped off.
Pent also told me that his division participated in the failed counteroffensive at the Plattensee in Hungary. He related that two SS divisions could not follow up on initial successes of his own division.

Another World War II veteran who was already Mormon is Bishop Franz from Saarbrücken. He was an infantry soldier. While his Mormon mother did her best to constrain him, he was very gung-ho. If he had not been so small, he would have joined the Waffen SS.
Franz is the most honest World War II survivor I know. I admits that he purposefully ignored the mistreatment of the Jews in Saarbrücken. He says that in hindsight, he should have concluded that the Nazis were evil because they rounded up the Jewish population in plain sight and paraded them around the city.
Franz was ultimately captured after suffering brain and other injuries from a hand grenade assault. He was the only survivor in the room. A Soviet nurse operated and saved him. At a later time, Soviet surgeons had a difficult time believing Franz's report about the nurse performing brain surgery.
It is true though. Franz lost an eye. His scars on his back are deep enough for a finger to fit.
He married a very nice woman, had four children, I believe, and paid off his mortgage in time for retirement from the postal service.
That's quite an achievement, especially, if you keep in mind that his brain injury had permanently compromised his memory.

Brother Roeder is another WW II veteran in Saarbrücken. I am not sure though if he was already a Mormon at the time. My impression was that he joined later but I might be wrong about that. He served with Grossdeutschland, the army's guard of Adolf Hitler.; 6:42 PM

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About Me

Name: Dave Nelson

Location: College Station, Texas, United States

I'm an older, nontraditional doctoral candidate at Texas A&M University. My other passion is flying the Boeing 777 for a well-known airline. I am pursuing a Ph.D. in history to qualify for a second career and because I enjoy researching challenging historical topics in depth and presenting my findings to interested readers. In this and other endeavors I enjoy the unflagging support of my wonderful wife, Ruth, and my precocious five-year-old, Megan, pictured above, and two fantastic children from Ruthie's previous marriage, Brittany and Kyle.