Memories of one of the last living SS officers (with signature)

[Adrian99]

Hello from Germany. My name is Adrian Matthes, I am 23 years old and a student. In my spare time I visit the last living German veterans and document their experiences. In the last few years this has resulted in 8 books and I have built up a small book mail order business. Most of my elderly friends have unfortunately passed away in the meantime, but one of them is still alive, the former SS Untersturmführer Gerhard Femppel. Since we have repeatedly received inquiries from other countries, I have had the book about his life story professionally translated into English. He will gladly sign his life story for anyone who is interested.

It is important for us to create an objective view from the perspective of a former Waffen-SS soldier. Thanks to the project, Mr. Femppel was able to make contact with American veterans and a first meeting was made possible.

I am also glad about interesting from this forum. Here is a description of the book:

At 96 years of age, Dr. Gerhard Femppel has agreed to talk about his period of service as an SS officer, more than 76 years ago. His memories have been recorded on 180 pages and thus preserved for future generations.
Gerhard Femppel, born in Stuttgart in 1925, came from a modest background. From an early age, he was in pursuit of a career and, based on his achievements, was accepted at a NAPOLA-school. He voluntarily reported to the Waffen-SS at the age of 16 and was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer in record time. From December 1944, he was appointed platoon leader in the armoured division ‘Das Reich’ and later deployed as company commander. As a pioneer, he fought together with the SS regiments ‘Der Führer’ and ‘Deutschland’ on the Eastern and Western front. He experienced the battlegrounds of the last years of war against the enemy, firstly in the Ardennes Offensive, later in Hungary and finally in the battle for Vienna. During his time of service, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class, the Close Combat Clasp, the ‘Tank Buster’ sleeve stripe and the General Assault Badge.

With this book, we hope to provide insight into an elite troop that is the subject of controversial discussion to this day. Who were the men of the Waffen-SS? This will be answered in detail on the basis of an individual’s case in this book. The war diary has been preserved to this day as an exceptional piece of history in which he wrote down his thoughts about the war. In addition to this, Gerhard Femppel, who is still able to remember the events 76 years after the end of the war, has managed to relay his war stories. We have recorded very personal experiences to give an understanding of what happened from a SS soldier’s point of view for the next generations. Dr. Femppel’s personal papers and photographs until the last days of the war are presented in a comprehensive picture section.

This book will be shipped from Germany, so delivery may take a few weeks!

https://karstwehr-versand.de/produkt/my-times-as-an-untersturmfuehrer-in-the-waffen-ss-pioneers-dr-gerhard-femppel-adrian-matthes/

 

Greetings,

Adrian Matthes 

[Gunner87]

3 minutes ago, Adrian99 said:

Hello from Germany. My name is Adrian Matthes, I am 23 years old and a student. In my spare time I visit the last living German veterans and document their experiences. In the last few years this has resulted in 8 books and I have built up a small book mail order business. Most of my elderly friends have unfortunately passed away in the meantime, but one of them is still alive, the former SS Untersturmführer Gerhard Femppel. Since we have repeatedly received inquiries from other countries, I have had the book about his life story professionally translated into English. He will gladly sign his life story for anyone who is interested.

It is important for us to create an objective view from the perspective of a former Waffen-SS soldier. Thanks to the project, Mr. Femppel was able to make contact with American veterans and a first meeting was made possible.

I am also glad about interesting from this forum. Here is a description of the book:

At 96 years of age, Dr. Gerhard Femppel has agreed to talk about his period of service as an SS officer, more than 76 years ago. His memories have been recorded on 180 pages and thus preserved for future generations.
Gerhard Femppel, born in Stuttgart in 1925, came from a modest background. From an early age, he was in pursuit of a career and, based on his achievements, was accepted at a NAPOLA-school. He voluntarily reported to the Waffen-SS at the age of 16 and was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer in record time. From December 1944, he was appointed platoon leader in the armoured division ‘Das Reich’ and later deployed as company commander. As a pioneer, he fought together with the SS regiments ‘Der Führer’ and ‘Deutschland’ on the Eastern and Western front. He experienced the battlegrounds of the last years of war against the enemy, firstly in the Ardennes Offensive, later in Hungary and finally in the battle for Vienna. During his time of service, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class, the Close Combat Clasp, the ‘Tank Buster’ sleeve stripe and the General Assault Badge.

With this book, we hope to provide insight into an elite troop that is the subject of controversial discussion to this day. Who were the men of the Waffen-SS? This will be answered in detail on the basis of an individual’s case in this book. The war diary has been preserved to this day as an exceptional piece of history in which he wrote down his thoughts about the war. In addition to this, Gerhard Femppel, who is still able to remember the events 76 years after the end of the war, has managed to relay his war stories. We have recorded very personal experiences to give an understanding of what happened from a SS soldier’s point of view for the next generations. Dr. Femppel’s personal papers and photographs until the last days of the war are presented in a comprehensive picture section.

This book will be shipped from Germany, so delivery may take a few weeks!

https://karstwehr-versand.de/produkt/my-times-as-an-untersturmfuehrer-in-the-waffen-ss-pioneers-dr-gerhard-femppel-adrian-matthes/

 

Greetings,

Adrian Matthes 

 

Hi Adrian.

 

Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing the information about your book. Please do post information about your other publications when you get time, I'm sure our members will be very interested. 

 

Kind regards 

 

Gunner...

[Gear Fanatic]

Wow, very cool! I would definitely like to here more about your other books, they look great for almost 100 years old!

I will be sure to look more into this.

 

Gear Fanatic

[Rakkasan187]

Adrian,

 

Welcome to the Forum and Thank you for telling the stories of our former adversaries now allies. It has always intrigued me to hear the stories of the Soldiers of the Wehrmacht, SS and Hitler Youth.  

 

Leigh 

[Preppy Picker]

Welcome aboard. How did you get interested in writing this book?

[Adrian99]

@Preppy PickerI met a former tank driver from my neighborhood when I was young and became good friends with him. His stories aroused my interest in searching for other veterans and documenting their experiences.

[Preppy Picker]

14 minutes ago, Adrian99 said:

@Preppy PickerI met a former tank driver from my neighborhood when I was young and became good friends with him. His stories aroused my interest in searching for other veterans and documenting their experiences.

Glad you got interested. Did you ever meet any 12th SS veterans who served in Normandy?

[Adrian99]

Yes I met one! There is a Flak soldier from this Division who is still alive.

[Preppy Picker]

5 hours ago, Adrian99 said:

Yes I met one! There is a Flak soldier from this Division who is still alive.

I would certainly like to know something about them.

[Adrian99]

Most of this books about their lifes are only in German

[Gunner87]

Should any of our members be interested in the complete collection of Adrian's books I have attached his other publications. These six are in German language only at present. 

 

Gunner...