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End of the Second World War: the city archive searches for and speaks to contemporary witnesses

2021-04-29T01:15:58.503Z


Last year, the end of the Second World War was celebrated for the 75th time. The city archive takes this as an opportunity to interview people who experienced the end of the war and the years of reconstruction. Your subjective view should make the city's history tangible.


Last year, the end of the Second World War was celebrated for the 75th time.

The city archive takes this as an opportunity to interview people who experienced the end of the war and the years of reconstruction.

Your subjective view should make the city's history tangible.

Miesbach -

There is the story of a 96-year-old Miesbach woman. As a young administrative employee, she experienced how "Gaullist troops" penetrated the Miesbach town hall in May 1945, rummaged through cupboards and desks and took away everything that seemed valuable to them. An American soldier accompanied the then 20-year-old after work from the town hall to Schützenstrasse, where she lived - it was so dangerous in the turmoil of that time on Miesbach's streets. “So far there has only been one very dry source for this event,” says city archivist Barbara Wank. "Now I also have an oral one."

The story of the elderly Miesbacher is one of four contemporary witness reports that Wank and the journalist Verena Wolf have recorded so far.

In autumn 2020 they began to interview people who had experienced the "zero hour" in Miesbach and the post-war period themselves.

The occasion was the 75th anniversary of the end of the war last year, which, due to the corona, could only be remembered to a limited extent.

The search for contemporary witnesses and their questioning were also delayed by the lockdown.

End of the Second World War: contemporary witnesses speak to the city archives about the reconstruction

The aim of the project is to add a dimension to the often brittle historical sources that is immediate, emotionally impressive and lively. “One of the people we spoke to said, for example: 'We were so hungry!' Hearing this has a much stronger effect than reading abstractly about the starvation winter, ”explains Wank.

Of course, the contemporary witness reports must then be examined critically.

But last but not least, with a view to the age of the interlocutor, the focus is initially on collecting their memories.

Wank and Wolf take a photo of the contemporary witnesses and make sound recordings.

You then type this in.

“We don't yet know how, in what context and for whom we will make the reports accessible,” says Wank.

“We want to push ahead with the survey now.” Because the idea for the project is not new - there were attempts years ago.

However, the numerous anniversaries of the past decade - 100 years of the closure of the mining industry in 2011, 900 years of Miesbach's first mention in 2014 and the city anniversary in 2018 - claimed the strength of the city archive.

Miesbacher Stadtarchiv collects eyewitness reports on the 75th anniversary of the end of the war

Wank found the people she was talking to primarily through asking around, including at the women's association and at her workplace: "When a stone starts rolling, you find out bit by bit who is still alive." In the course of the discussions, the first issues emerged, who the folklorist wants to pursue. Craftsmen, for example. At that time there were professions like the file cutter that no longer exist today. In addition, everyday school life in the post-war period. "We know that some students were exhausted at the start of the lesson because they lived in Wies and had to walk to school."

She is also interested in places that have disappeared, such as Neumühle an der Mangfall, which were gradually razed to the ground to ensure the drinking water supply for Munich.

“The paper mill was dismantled in the 1930s, the rest was removed in the 1960s.

Today there is forest. "

+

The surgeon Dr.

Gustav Zeitler headed the Miesbach Hospital from 1946 to 1974.

© Miesbach City Archives

75 years at the end of the war: City Archives are looking for acquaintances of Dr.

Gustav Zeitler

Another aspect is medical care in the post-war period. “How did you get access to medicines, for example?” There are hospital files, but they cannot replace personal memories. In this context, Wank is looking for people who can help the former chief physician of the Miesbach hospital, Dr. Gustav Zeitler, knew. “We cannot question him because he is no longer alive. So I hope that someone who knew him will get in touch. ”The surgeon, born in Regensburg in 1914, was chief physician at the Miesbach hospital from 1946 to 1974. He completed his specialist training at the Third Order in Munich. During the war he also operated in a field hospital in Silesia.

Not only Wank is interested in his biography - Zeitler's niece Johanna Woltmann, who now lives in the Dachau district, would like to find out more about the person who died in 1989 - and works with the city archives.

“He was a formative figure, operated on the goiter of many Miesbachers,” says Woltmann.

Her uncle was "a playboy and actor type".

He was also involved in the resistance against the Nazis, was the Schliersee undercover agent for the Munich group of the Bavarian Freedom Campaign.

Married but without children of his own, there are no relatives who could tell about him.

Contemporary witnesses wanted

Anyone who knew Gustav Zeitler can contact the city archive on 08025/283 42 or Zeitler's niece Johanna Woltmann on 08136/80 83 22.

by Bettina Stuhlweissenburg

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-04-29

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