# Germany's 'last' WWI veteran dies



## syscom3 (Jan 26, 2008)

The man believed to have been Germany's last World War I veteran has died peacefully at the age of 107.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Germany's 'last' WWI veteran dies

Erich Kaestner, who at 18 was sent to the Western Front but served only four months in the army, died in a Cologne nursing home, his son said.

The death on Sunday of Louis de Cazenave, France's second-last World War I veteran, made global headlines.

But in a country that keeps no record of its veterans, Kaestner's death on 1 January went largely unnoticed.

"That is the way history has developed," said Peter Kaestner, the soldier's son. "In Germany, in this respect, things are kept quiet - they're not a big deal."

Erich Kaestner was unrelated to the writer and poet of the same name.

End of an era

Reports in Die Welt daily and Der Spiegel magazine identified Kaestner as Germany's last World War I veteran, but verification of the claim was difficult as the country keeps no record of its war veterans.


The German public was within a hair's breadth of never learning of the end of an era
Der Spiegel

In a country where the shame of the Nazi genocide and memories of two world war defeats still cast long shadows, both publications focused more on the German national psyche than the death itself.

"The German public was within a hair's breadth of never learning of the end of an era," wrote Der Spiegel, until someone updated his death notice on the internet encyclopaedia site, Wikipedia.

In its obituary for Kaestner, Die Welt noted: "The losers hide themselves in a state of self-pity and self denial that they happily try to mitigate by forgetting."

Officer, judge, husband

Born in 1900, Kaestner had joined the army when he left school in 1918.

He rejoined the military as a Luftwaffe first lieutenant in 1939, where he served mainly as a ground support officer in France.

After the war, he became a judge in Hanover, where his work earned him Lower Saxony's Merit Cross.

His 75-year marriage was recognised by Germany's president in 2003 shortly before his wife, Maria, died aged 102.


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## FLYBOYJ (Jan 26, 2008)




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## Thorlifter (Jan 26, 2008)

Whether he was or wasn't.....


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jan 26, 2008)

A shame that veterans are not recorded in this country....


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## Njaco (Jan 26, 2008)




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## joy17782 (Jan 26, 2008)

anybody who serves his country is a damn hero weather you wash pots or shot a weapon, and all ww1 vets get a big thumbs up from me , when i was a kid i remember my grandpa bownes he was a ww1 vet he was in the 42nd rainbow div , good guy , drank alot , but can you blame him i sure as the hell cant , heres too all vets


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jan 27, 2008)

The Rainbow Division replaced my unit in Iraq so we could go home.


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## joy17782 (Jan 27, 2008)

yeah there still a national gaurd div i think or army reserve, they sure got a proud history , i got my grandpas m-1903 springfield , shot true too this date, good weapon in its day , i think the rainbow div is from about 4 different states , mostly new england states , you know lobsterheads , lol ,how long was you in iraq , and how many tours did you do , my best goes out for you and thanks for serveing


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## Konigstiger205 (Jan 27, 2008)

Its quit strange that men that where in the most danger of dying in the war both WWI and WWII lived so long....most pilot aces or submarine aces lived very long lives and these days people die at an age of 60...anyway


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## joy17782 (Jan 27, 2008)

my dads dad war a ww2 vet he was a combat engr and was drafted in 42 , but he had 2 kids and was 31 years old when he was drafted , why , well i think it was his heavy equipment exsperance but i always remember him being old he died 2 weeks before my dad , my dad was a nam vet , both of them died in 96


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jan 27, 2008)

joy17782 said:


> ,how long was you in iraq , and how many tours did you do , my best goes out for you and thanks for serveing



14 months and 1 tour. I got out after that.

Lets not hijack this thread off topic though.


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## syscom3 (Jan 27, 2008)

I wonder how many WW1 veterans remain in the UK. I cant seem to find a reliable figure.

One thing I still cannot fathom, is Germany's lack of records for their veterans. Considering their legendary attention to details, I cannot fathom their lack of oversite.


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## magnocain (Jan 27, 2008)




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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jan 27, 2008)

syscom3 said:


> One thing I still cannot fathom, is Germany's lack of records for their veterans. Considering their legendary attention to details, I cannot fathom their lack of oversite.



Its not a lack of oversite. If the Germans did keep track of such things the rest of the world would scream because they were honoring "Evil"!


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## wilbur1 (Jan 27, 2008)




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## Konigstiger205 (Jan 28, 2008)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> Its not a lack of oversite. If the Germans did keep track of such things the rest of the world would scream because they were honoring "Evil"!



Thats so bad...when I think about WW2 I like to think about Germany and Germans as Germany and Germans...sure they where nazis also but I like to see the war from the perspective of a common soldier and I hate people the when they hear about Germans the first thing that comes trough their mind is nazis...I just hate that...there are many WW2 veterans that even on the battlefield saw the Germans soldiers as simple guys like them...


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## Wayne Little (Jan 28, 2008)




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## timshatz (Jan 28, 2008)

He also was married to the same woman for 75 years! Pretty impressive. She died at 102. Wow.


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## joy17782 (Jan 28, 2008)

TIGER 205 YOUR RIGHT , most german s were not fighting for the nazis, and a vet is a vet, no matter what , and a ww1 vet, that is a page in history that is going away , we should thank them all


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## Konigstiger205 (Jan 28, 2008)

Exactly...who knows perhaps one day politicians will fight their own wars and leave the common people to live in peace...


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## syscom3 (Jan 28, 2008)

Lets not compare WW1 vets to WW2 vets.

Two different wars, two different circumstances.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jan 28, 2008)

There not comparing them. Even the majority of WW2 German soldiers were only soldiers doing there job as soldiers. There is a difference between a German Soldier and Nazi Goon in WW2...

I for instance am very proud of my Grandfathers service in the Wehrmacht in WW2. I am not proud of what the Nazis did and what they were trying to do but I am proud that my Grandfather served his country.

I think there should be more memorials than there are here in Germany to the fallen German soldiers of WW2. The majority of them were victoms of there own tyranical government.

Watch the documentary "The World at War" and you might gain an understanding of what I am talking about.


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## Konigstiger205 (Jan 28, 2008)

Adler is right there is a difference between the nazi supporters and the common soldiers who were caught in the middle...they have gone to war for what they thought it was the good of their country...I see no shame in my country fighting alongside Germany in WW2 and I honor the veterans who gave their lives for us!


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## joy17782 (Jan 28, 2008)

yep , your right crewchief and tiger , i got that documentary and its very good , but theres also a book out there i have called the german infantry by ian baxter, and mostly the german soldiers were not happy about going to war , but they did it because it was what was exspected of them , it was tradition not because of hitler or his goons, ever wonder how many americans would,nt have jioned up if there wasnt a draft, but thats another thread , a vet is a vet and i honor them not the politics,


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## Scrapyard Ape (Jan 29, 2008)

syscom3 said:


> I wonder how many WW1 veterans remain in the UK. I cant seem to find a reliable figure.


If Wikipedia's numbers are correct....

Surviving veterans of World War I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

... then there are four. Three confirmed vets and one who joined after armistice but before the Treaty of Versailles.


/edit: There are two additional British vets living in Australia, having moved there sometime after the war.


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## Heinz (Jan 31, 2008)




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## Njaco (Feb 9, 2008)

Just to prop up the point about veterans, I always say just because we have a republican president does not mean every one of our soldiers are republican. And if I am correct most officers in the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe were not even allowed to belong to a political party. Any person who goes to war for their country regardless of personnal opinion is deserving of a least respect for their patriotism - and thats for any country.


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## A4K (Feb 12, 2008)

A long salute to the last German 'Great War' veteran.

I think we've only got one left in New Zealand now, aswell.


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## Negative Creep (Feb 20, 2008)

syscom3 said:


> I wonder how many WW1 veterans remain in the UK. I cant seem to find a reliable figure.
> 
> One thing I still cannot fathom, is Germany's lack of records for their veterans. Considering their legendary attention to details, I cannot fathom their lack of oversite.





Surely a lot of it would've been lost in the chaos surrounding the last year of each war?


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## Milos Sijacki (Feb 23, 2008)

Salute!!


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## Soundbreaker Welch? (Apr 1, 2008)

That's really sad that there are NO German vets left from WWI at all. I mean, it's like, all gone, nothing living exists from Germany's war in WWI.

Now all you have is books and movies and some people on the homefront still living.


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