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Boris · 02-15-07, 07:12 AM

Cool story!

I guess I'll tell you about my Grandfather (father's side). He's still alive, 87 I think, and he only told me his stories a couple of years ago.

Picture:

He (Peter Kessler) was born in Volga Germany, a German Colony within Russia, on the banks of the Volga river, that was created by the German Tsarina Catherine the Great, back in the later 1700s.
Before the war, he worked for Aeroflot at his local airfield as an engine mechanic, where it was customary for mechanics to take the planes for test flights. He said it was fairly boring, since time was mostly spent waiting for the mail plane. He spent most of his in the movie theatre in town, an old woman would come running and get him when he was needed.
When the war broke out, all the men had to go and fight. Being Volga German, they refused his application for pilot, and he was drafted into the regular Red Army as a soldier. His uncle was a high ranking General, but he had the bad luck of being executed due to Stalin's paranoia.
The Civilian Volga German population was driven to the gulags in Siberia or Kazachstan.
My Grandfather went to fight on the front. As a russian soldier you were the lowest of the low. The officers treated them like dirt and there was a very clear segregation of the ranks. Often the soldiers would go without food because the officers had first pick. The conditions were appaling, the hospitals didn't have enough room, public buildings were used, often the injured were laid out on the floor to die.

Now, I can't remeber where or when, but at some point his unit was encircled and captured by the Germans. He, and any other Volga Germans defected there and then. The Germans weren't surprised, they'd already picked up numerous other Germans.
He was processed, and was first scheduled to join the Luftwaffe, but was ordered to stay on the eastern front instead. Because of his fluent Russian he was made section leader of about 10 native Russian defectors, and an Austrian signaller. Wearing russian uniforms, they had to make patrols behind enemy lines gathering intelligence. This was not without it's dangers of course. They talked and joked with the Russian soldiers as if they were their own, often gathering intelligence in this way. Complications often arose when crossing the battle lines, first shoot-outs with the KGB border guards, and then friendly fire from the Germans.
He told me of one incident where one of his men was blown up by a mine right next to him. His scouts and then himself had walked over the very same spot, only to have the guy behind him blow up.
At one point he was injured by grenade shrapnel in his back during a skirmish. He was operated on and sent back to Germany, where his wounds got infected. He was operated on again to remove the remaining shrapnel. He got a couple of months leave to recover, but he ran out of food vouchers in something like 2 weeks. He went to his CO and requested to go back to the front. His CO laughed and told him he must be crazy, and sent him to a foster family in the Austrian Alps for the rest of his leave. On the train there he somehow managed to start flirting with three girls independantly, all of whom found out in the end and got himself more than a slap in the face.
I need to get him to tell me his story in detail again. He met my Grandmother near the front I believe, who was a Russian forced labour worker under the Germans. During the closing stages of the War, it was imperative for all the Germans to head west as quickly as possible. No one wanted to have the war end by being captured by the Russians, so everyone high-tailed it to the Americans instead.

Many were not so lucky. My Grandfather on my mothers side was an artilleryman, who was captured by the Russians, and was lucky to have survived to be released a human skeleton in 1949.

Well, my Russian Grandfather made it to the opposite front, and managed to be captured by the Americans. After being processed fairly quickly, they (with my grandmother) went to luxembourg as refugees and lived with a local family. Two of my Aunts were born during this time. Finally they decided to leave Europe to begin a new life. Since they missed the ship to America and didn't feel like waiting another week, they decided on South America instead. They had initially decided on Brazil, but my Grandfather had made friends on the ship who were going to Argentina. When they arrived in Buenos Aires, their papers didn't check out, because they should have gotten off in Brazil. As a result they were denied the aid that all the other regugees were getting (I think my Grnadmother hasn't forgiven him till this day). They started in relative poverty, and had to build up thier lives from scratch, starting with a house built by my Grandfather's bare hands. My father was born in Argentina during this time, along with a handful more aunts and an uncle. The family moved to Germany in the mid/late 60s I think.

02-15-07, 07:12 AM	#10
Boris Sea Lord Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Hamburg, Germany Posts: 1,691 Downloads: 41 Uploads: 0	Cool story! I guess I'll tell you about my Grandfather (father's side). He's still alive, 87 I think, and he only told me his stories a couple of years ago. Picture: He (Peter Kessler) was born in Volga Germany, a German Colony within Russia, on the banks of the Volga river, that was created by the German Tsarina Catherine the Great, back in the later 1700s. Before the war, he worked for Aeroflot at his local airfield as an engine mechanic, where it was customary for mechanics to take the planes for test flights. He said it was fairly boring, since time was mostly spent waiting for the mail plane. He spent most of his in the movie theatre in town, an old woman would come running and get him when he was needed. When the war broke out, all the men had to go and fight. Being Volga German, they refused his application for pilot, and he was drafted into the regular Red Army as a soldier. His uncle was a high ranking General, but he had the bad luck of being executed due to Stalin's paranoia. The Civilian Volga German population was driven to the gulags in Siberia or Kazachstan. My Grandfather went to fight on the front. As a russian soldier you were the lowest of the low. The officers treated them like dirt and there was a very clear segregation of the ranks. Often the soldiers would go without food because the officers had first pick. The conditions were appaling, the hospitals didn't have enough room, public buildings were used, often the injured were laid out on the floor to die. Now, I can't remeber where or when, but at some point his unit was encircled and captured by the Germans. He, and any other Volga Germans defected there and then. The Germans weren't surprised, they'd already picked up numerous other Germans. He was processed, and was first scheduled to join the Luftwaffe, but was ordered to stay on the eastern front instead. Because of his fluent Russian he was made section leader of about 10 native Russian defectors, and an Austrian signaller. Wearing russian uniforms, they had to make patrols behind enemy lines gathering intelligence. This was not without it's dangers of course. They talked and joked with the Russian soldiers as if they were their own, often gathering intelligence in this way. Complications often arose when crossing the battle lines, first shoot-outs with the KGB border guards, and then friendly fire from the Germans. He told me of one incident where one of his men was blown up by a mine right next to him. His scouts and then himself had walked over the very same spot, only to have the guy behind him blow up. At one point he was injured by grenade shrapnel in his back during a skirmish. He was operated on and sent back to Germany, where his wounds got infected. He was operated on again to remove the remaining shrapnel. He got a couple of months leave to recover, but he ran out of food vouchers in something like 2 weeks. He went to his CO and requested to go back to the front. His CO laughed and told him he must be crazy, and sent him to a foster family in the Austrian Alps for the rest of his leave. On the train there he somehow managed to start flirting with three girls independantly, all of whom found out in the end and got himself more than a slap in the face. I need to get him to tell me his story in detail again. He met my Grandmother near the front I believe, who was a Russian forced labour worker under the Germans. During the closing stages of the War, it was imperative for all the Germans to head west as quickly as possible. No one wanted to have the war end by being captured by the Russians, so everyone high-tailed it to the Americans instead. Many were not so lucky. My Grandfather on my mothers side was an artilleryman, who was captured by the Russians, and was lucky to have survived to be released a human skeleton in 1949. Well, my Russian Grandfather made it to the opposite front, and managed to be captured by the Americans. After being processed fairly quickly, they (with my grandmother) went to luxembourg as refugees and lived with a local family. Two of my Aunts were born during this time. Finally they decided to leave Europe to begin a new life. Since they missed the ship to America and didn't feel like waiting another week, they decided on South America instead. They had initially decided on Brazil, but my Grandfather had made friends on the ship who were going to Argentina. When they arrived in Buenos Aires, their papers didn't check out, because they should have gotten off in Brazil. As a result they were denied the aid that all the other regugees were getting (I think my Grnadmother hasn't forgiven him till this day). They started in relative poverty, and had to build up thier lives from scratch, starting with a house built by my Grandfather's bare hands. My father was born in Argentina during this time, along with a handful more aunts and an uncle. The family moved to Germany in the mid/late 60s I think.