14. Juni 1945
Windau
| GEO INFO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ventspils und vermutliche Lage des Lagers | 
| |||
••• S. 286 •••14 June 45. Arrival in the officers' camp Ventspils.[1] Rotten earthen huts. Just under one metre deep with sloping board roof.[2] We are gradually upgrading them. The administration passes from the Red Army to the NKVD (Ministry of Interior).[3]
There is a Catholic and a Protestant clergyman among us who take turns to hold services every Sunday. Receive the holy sacraments. On Sundays we still wear all our war decorations. Latvian women bring us bread.[4] The Russian sentry hands it to us over the fence. Other guards, on the other hand, bring the Latvians to the guard when they only want to talk to us through the fence.
We march in groups to bathe in the Venta, swim across to the other bank without the guard stirring.[5] On one of these paths a woman meets us and gives us a bag of strawberries she had just bought on the market. The population shows great sympathy for us.[6] The Latvians still hope for English intervention to liberate them.
A short dysentery epidemic is nipped in the bud. But at least we finally get the often and urgently requested toilet paper, namely a whole library of religious books. Probably they were simply requisitioned from a pastor. First we pick out the best ones to read.
We form working groups to combat boredom.[7] I give a lecture on the formation of rock and soil layers.[8] We also engage in a lively barter trade with the details from other Windau camps working outside. We officers do not work, according to the Geneva Convention. I trade myself a complete equipment again with the help of my cigarette ration, because I don't smoke.
I show the number "BP 383"[9] on the back of my jacket.
The Russian guards are very reluctant to go into the forest with the timber details. They fear the Latvian partisans hiding in the woods.
In the evenings we often sit together in a large circle and sing "Home, your stars".[10]
Der russische Lagerkommandant, ein Leutnant, ist sehr freundlich und lässt uns viel Bewegungsfreiheit im Lager.[11]
In Windau ist noch ein zweites Lager mit unseren Leuten belegt. Der Kontakt wird durch Kassiber und Besuche aufrechterhalten, die uns gelegentlich gestattet werden. Dort ist auch mein letzter Bataillonsführer Dietsch untergebracht. Einen kurzen Ärger bekam ich mit ihm, als er durch eine krumme Machenschaft sich in den Besitz meiner Uhr bringen wollte. Wurde aber schnell und gütlich beigelegt. Der russische Major beanstandete hier die Bilder nackter Mädchen, die sich die Offiziere aus dem Simplicissimus an die Wand geheftet haben.
|
Editorial 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Epilog Anhang |
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December Eine Art Bilanz Gedankensplitter und Betrachtungen Personen Orte Abkürzungen Stichwort-Index Organigramme Literatur Galerie:Fotos,Karten,Dokumente |
|
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Erfahrungen i.d.Gefangenschaft Bemerkungen z.russ.Mentalität Träume i.d.Gefangenschaft Personen-Index Namen,Anschriften Personal I.R.477 1940–44 Übersichtskarte (Orte,Wege) Orts-Index Vormarsch-Weg Codenamen der Operationen im Sommer 1942 Mil.Rangordnung 257.Inf.Div. MG-Komp.eines Inf.Batl. Kgf.-Lagerorganisation Kriegstagebücher Allgemeines Zu einzelnen Zeitabschnitten Linkliste Rotkreuzkarte Originalmanuskript Briefe von Kompanie-Angehörigen |
- ↑ Bogg (p. 22) arrived on 15th.
- ↑ acc. Bogg (S. 22) "Earth bunker camp. Ten wooden huts, half buried in the earth"
- ↑ Bogg (p. 26) mentions a registration of prisoners by the NKVD.
- ↑ acc. to Bogg (p. 23) also cake
- ↑ similarly Bogg (p. 24)
- ↑ Bogg (p. 23) found the words "Milais bralins" - dear brothers - on the wrapping paper of the above-mentioned cake.
- ↑ cf. Bogg p. 23
- ↑ The author was a geography teacher in his civilian profession (see also footnote to this photo).
- ↑ like this in the original. What looks like a "B" is a Cyrillic "W": ВП, военнопленный, [və(ɪ̯)ɪnːɐˈplʲenːɨɪ̯], prisoner of war.
- ↑ Bogg (p. 25) also mentions this song, which was popular at the time; text (excerpt as in the diary p. 359, transl.: ed.):
Heimat, deine Sterne – sie strahlen mir auch am fernen Ort Homeland, your stars - they shine for me even in the far-off place Was sie sagen, deute ich ja so gerne – als der Liebe zärtliches Losungswort. What they say I so willingly interpret - as love's tender watchword. Tausend Sterne stehen in weiter Runde – von der Liebsten freundlich mir zugesandt A thousand stars are standing in a wide circle - kindly sent to me by my beloved In der Ferne träum’ ich vom Heimatland In the distance I dream of the homeland - ↑ Bogg (S. 23) beschreibt ihn als „etwa 24, hager, aschblond, 1,70 m, Karelier“