Luftwaffe Fallschirmjager - My Biological Grandfather

[bryang]

My Mom was German, and her biological father was killed in action on the Eastern Front in 1943.  His name was  Alfonse Skorski, of East Prussia.

The only items remaining from him are three photographs - one of them a nice original 8x10 portrait in my office. 

I had been thrown off by the photo of him at sea, wearing what appear to be navy whites.  Another forum member pointed out that he was holding a Luftwaffe cap in his hand, and that he was wearing Luftwaffe rank on the white uniform.  Its my understanding that Luftwaffe members occasionally served aboard naval craft for specific operations, such as directing German aircraft.

Prior to his death he had become a member of the Fallschirmjagers.  His portrait shows him wearing a Luftwaffe longevity ribbon, a marksmanship cord and Hitler Youth pin, but no Fallschirmjager badge.  He may have earned it after the photo was taken or possibly didn't get it at all before being shipped out to fight.  Its my understanding that at some point the services simply needed bodies to send off to fight.

 

A couple months before his death he wrote a letter home.  My Mom had been living with us, until she died three years ago.  While sorting through her things I found the letter.  My German was rusty, and some parts of the letter were extremely difficult to read because of the very tight cursive script he used.  What I was able to read was very heart-breaking.

Alfonse wrote of how hard life was in "the East," and that he and his comrades had pretty much accepted the fact that they would all be dead soon.

 

Here is a rough translation of his letter:

 

                                                                                                         In the East (Russian Front), on 27 July 1943

My dear,

As I have so often, I also have today to think about our situation here in the East (Russian Front).  Like everyone else, it is also clear to me that a man is very small in the hands of God.  One comes to Him, and then the dead man, who has already accumulated many sins throughout life, is no longer a stranger, but our constant companion. 

While everyone believes, and hopes for a good and happily kept home, one often finds his grave far from it.  Despite this, everyone appreciates his duty.  We know exactly why we are here, and it is ultimately for you.

The failures and the struggles here are difficult, one can only remember the man who he once was.  He would be the design of warriors of nature and something ________ around me, which is exactly the same today.  But we would prefer to endure this war with our own bodies.

 

As I said, everyone must grow up with this sad soldier.  So do I.

 

In one of my letters I already wrote that I would like to give everything to spare the two boys any part in the war in East. 

 

If it is my fate now that I am to join the great army of those who are no longer among us today, then it will have been the culmination of my profession, which I gladly and voluntarily took.

 

It was not for me to return to my home and to see you again, my dear ones.  I do not know what death will hold for me, but you should know that I am proud of our dear Fatherland (nation).  You should not be sad, as it was a sacrifice for our Fatherland.

 

My thoughts have always been with you, in happy times.  How often I have thought of you and through all the years I've lived in my parent’s house.  I felt the love and care with which you, my dear parents, tried to give us through our difficult childhoods.  Despite everything, and frequency, you have raised us to have been proud of our parents.

 

Especially I think of you, my dear mother.  I thank you especially for all the good things you have done for me.  Although I caused you much concern and a lot of pain, you always looked after me.  Many tears you cried because of me, and your thoughts were in fear over me in many sleepless nights.  Is there some way I could thank you?  I do not know, and therefore, my dear mother, consider my death as an atonement for all that I have inflicted on you.  Mother, you must promise me not to be sad and not to cry. 

 

You, my dear siblings, be more than ever good and faithful children to our parents.  The time passes so quickly, and perhaps you may soon find yourself under difficult conditions in which you yourselves find hard to bear. Go openly everywhere and live straight lives as do your fellow man. 

So now as you to live well, dear mother, father, Grete, Wanda, Ulla, Hans, Paul and Georg. 

 

Do not forget my little Erika, be good to her and take care of her.  I am with you in spirit. 

 

Farewell, until our joyous reunion in the afterlife, dearest mother, as you so often told me in childhood.

 

Keep loving me, and do not forget your own.

 

Alfonse

 

A very somber letter.  His "little Erika" was my Mom, who was three years old when her father was killed.

 

I enlisted in the Army Reserve when I was a 17-year old high school junior, and did my basic training on my summer break.  Right out of high school I trained as a Radio Operator and then went straight through Airborne School at Ft Benning, GA.  My Mom had sent one of my portraits to my Oma in Germany.  Oma called my Mom to ask where she had found the color photo of her father.  My Mom had to tell her that the photo was of her grandson (me)!  The family insist that I looked like my biological grandfather.

 

 

Here are photos of Alfonse Skorski, his goodbye letter home, and the death notification his family received.  The final photo is a side-by-side comparison between him and me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[iron bender]

To know your fate must be difficult to put in writing to your own loved ones. That has to be the saddest letter I've read. You're a twin to your grandfather. He's absolutely proud of you following in his footsteps with obviously the best outcome. Thanks for sharing such amazing family history. My family is also from eastern Prussia, Posen area to be exact. They left over several generations after fighting with Russians non stop. I wonder about the fate of those who went through the final war. My grandmother told me it was during WW1 they were told to quit speaking German. You really gotta feel for those families stuck between a rock and a hard place in those days

[bryang]

When I was in my early 20's my Mom and I sat up late one night talking, and she told me of the wartime experiences she could remember.  When they made it to Germany they were bombed day and night, and she recalls her aunt begging for their lives when Soviet soldiers came through the area they were in.

 

Near the end of the war her mother (my Oma) remarried the man I would grow up and know as my Opa.  There was an airraid and so the wedding party had to shelter in the basement of the building they were in.  Oma had made some potato pancakes, and so my Mom had snuck upstairs to swipe a few.  When she looked up in the sky she saw what she had thought were lots of balloons - turns out they were actually falling bombs.  Opa ran up to get her and bring her down to shelter.  My Mom smiled and told me it was the first time she got spanked by her new father!

[Proud Kraut]

A great tribute to your Opa, thank you for sharing these pictures and the letter with your family history. And yes, you and Opa are twins.