Herbert Walther (writer)
Herbert Walther (born April 23, 1922 in Oberlahnstein ; † February 25, 2003 in Lahnstein ) was a German non-fiction author , historian and painter .
biography
Georg Herbert Walther was born in Oberlahnstein in 1922 as the son of the Landesbank clerk Heinrich Walther and his wife Maria , b. Klippel , born. He also had a twin sister and an older brother. Until the outbreak of World War II, he attended high school in Oberlahnstein (now Marion Dönhoff school ) and closed the school after the war began with the Notabitur from.
Immediately after graduating from high school, he entered the SS Junk School in Braunschweig . After that he was a member of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler with the rank of SS-Untersturmführer (lieutenant), temporarily in the staff of Sepp Dietrich . With the establishment of the 12th SS Panzer Division made up of members of the Hitler Youth , he was one of the experienced officers who were supposed to train and lead the unprepared Hitler Youth. As part of the Battle of the Bulge , he was badly wounded and taken prisoner by the Americans.
After returning from captivity, Herbert Walther took on various occupations and worked as a freelance painter and graphic artist. He also studied history on the side. From 1952 he worked in the Federal Archives in Koblenz , where he was responsible in particular for the identification, evaluation and archiving of image material from the time of National Socialist rule.
He was involved in various "alumni" associations and cultivated the acquaintance of personalities from the Third Reich such as Sepp Dietrich, Kurt Meyer , Otto Skorzeny , Felix Steiner and Albert Speer , through which he received a lot of information "first hand" for his publications. On the other hand, he also kept close ties to veterans' associations in Great Britain and France and thus contributed to the reconciliation of the former war opponents.
Herbert Walther wrote his books in German and English, and they appeared in several editions. It is noteworthy that they were in some cases more successful in Great Britain and the USA than in Germany. Although (or precisely because) the photo comments occasionally lack the distance to the events, they are valuable, authentic testimonies of the time and are highly reliable.
Herbert Walther was interviewed as a competent contemporary witness in ZDF documentaries by Guido Knopp .
He died on February 25, 2003 after a long illness in his house in Lahnstein and is buried anonymously in the cemetery in Dachsenhausen .
Fonts
- In German language
- Herbert Walther: The Waffen SS. Ahnert-Verlag Echzell-Bisses 1971, new edition of Verlag Podzun-Pallas, Friedberg 1997, ISBN 3-7909-0260-8 .
- Herbert Walther: The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. Verlag Podzun-Pallas, Friedberg 1997, new edition Edition Dörfler in Nebel-Verlag 2001, ISBN 3-89555-045-0 .
- Herbert Walther: The 12th SS Panzer Division Hitler Youth. Verlag Podzun-Pallas, Friedberg 1997, new edition Edition Dörfler in Nebel-Verlag 2001, ISBN 3-89555-046-9 .
- In English
- Herbert Walther: Hitler. Publisher CT Bison Books, London / United Kingdom 1978.
- Herbert Walther: The Fuhrer, The Life and Times of Adolf Hitler. Publisher CT Bison Books, London / United Kingdom 1979.
- Herbert Walther: The Waffen-SS, A Pictorial Documentation. Schiffer Publishing, West Chester / United Kingdom 1990, ISBN 0-88740-204-6 .
- Herbert Walther: The 1st SS Armored Division, A Documentation in Words and Pictures. Schiffer Publishing, West Chester / United Kingdom 1989, ISBN 0-88740-165-1 .
- Herbert Walther: The 12th SS Armored Division. Verlag Schiffer Publishing, West Chester / United Kingdom 1989, ISBN 0-88740-166-X .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Walther, Herbert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Walther, Georg Herbert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German non-fiction author, historian and painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 23, 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oberlahnstein |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 25, 2003 |
| Place of death | Lahnstein |