Published in a German newspaper!

Earlier this month I was surprised by an email from my friend in Germany. He informed me that a piece of my writing was published in a German newspaper! Unexpected, the news put a smile on my face all-day at work. It was all because of a obscure historic artifact that I found at an estate sale. Good thing that I bought the item, and my wallet was only a tad less heavier.

A souvenir brought back from the war

In early 2021, I came across a peculiar souvenir from the Second World War: a sign taken off a hospital in Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig, Germany. An American soldier ‘liberated’ the item in May 1945 and brought it home, where it remained in his family for nearly seventy-six years. The family then had an estate sale where I purchased the sign. Who would have guessed the international interest that would surround it!

Researching the sign, I discovered a Facebook group for the residents of Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig. I joined the group and posted a request for any information about the sign. One kind individual forwarded my email to the village historian, Klaus Voelker. As a longtime resident, since the 1960s, Klaus interviewed many locals about their wartime experiences. He informed me that the local school building was converted into a hospital in early 1945. Not only that, his friend Andreas Möhring wrote a book about the area’s wartime history.

Reading Andreas’ book was no easy task. I learned some German in college, but all I retained was a few simple phrases and how to count to ten. Thank goodness then for Google Translate! By downloading the app onto my iPhone, for free, I was able to translate the text from German to English using my camera. Of course some words and phrases did not translate well. Still, most of the text made sense.

The tragic events that took place in Schmiedefeld in Spring 1945 struck a chord with me. Children conscripted for military service, and the needless destruction of human lives and homes. I wanted to share the history of my hospital sign, but also felt it was necessary to tell the story of one small German village at the end of the war. What better way to do so than to craft a story on my blog.

Click here to read about the wartime history of Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig and the sign that I found.

Although taking longer than expected to finish, about half a year, a real labor of love, I am happy that Schmiedefeld’s history is now told in English. Little did I know that my work would also reach a German audience.

My writing shared in the German language

Either my friends Klaus or Andreas, maybe both, they have yet to tell me, contacted a newspaper in their state of Thuringia to share my article. A journalist then translated my work into German, in a twist of irony, and incorporated additional statements from Klaus. Her own article appeared on 4 March 2022. In it there is one light-hearted error that I must address.

In the German article, I am described as a university student researching his bachelor’s thesis. There was some miscommunication between my friends and I. My undergraduate days are long gone, or so do the years 2013 to 2018 appear to me. After receiving my degree in History I went on to pursue a master’s in Conflict Archaeology and Heritage. For my masters thesis I did research a German related topic: prisoner of war (PoW) camps in the Chicago area, from 1943 to 1946. During the war, over 400,000 German PoWs arrived to the United States. I always imagined this research would find popularity in Germany before all else. Funny how things work out!