Gottfried Dulias: for real or an imposter

This particular thread about my good friend Gottfried Dulias was just brought to my attention. After reading the many disturbing messages that have questioned the authenticity of his formal service to his country is a complete outrage! After suppressing the countless horrors the he endured in the Russian Gulags for nearly 60 years, he has finally come to grips with the past and has made a very sincere attempt to enlighten that many generations since the war's end of the atrocities that were committed against him and his comrades! All of which were as harsh and in many ways were more extreme than the Nazi concentrations camps and inconceivably these atrocities continued on for many years after the end of WW II. More importantly the captures that supervised the Russian Gulags were never ever punished for their actions and the countless lives that were exterminated long after the end of the war! Gottfried was a captive in the Russian Gulags until January of 1948! It was not until he had become too ill to work and too stubborn to die before he was finally released. At his time of release he had been reduced to a mere walking skeleton of only 32 Kilograms (70.5 pounds) at 6'-2" tall!

The following is personal reply directly from Gottfried about the many personal negative posts that have been written about him:


My dear friend Bob.
I thank you very much for your E-mail with the negative report. What really amazes me, is the vast quagmire of bickering and unproven accusations and name-callings and the use of lack of proof against my story as evidence of guilt, is so un- American and unbelievable, that this is happening here in the good old USA, where Freedom of speech is one of our sacred rights as citizens.
And being convicted in public ( here by inter-net) as an imposter, charlatan, liar and what not etc, is so hurting, that words for this injustice I cannot think of in my shocked and appalled mind.

I had no idea, that such a vast army of accusers and doubting Thomas's about my book and the truth about it exists. I feel like a lonely mouse that is chased by an army of cats and have no way to stave them off.
I knew of only one doubting Thomas, that Mr. Chorney told me about with a hint, that more of his kind are possibly after me for the validity of my writings and found it beyond my dignity to have to defend myself in that 'small' matter. Mr Mike Chorney, by the way, is only one of the very few in that Forum Thread, who warned against unproven convictions in this matter. I didn't even know about the existence of that Forum and now I am overwhelmed by such a barrage of vultures trying to put me down and eat me alive for telling the truth as I remembered it after all these more than sixty years!
What do they want me to do, admitting that I am a liar and imposter against my better conscience ?
In my book in the Foreword on page XIII and in the Introduction on page XXIII I state clearly, that due to the suffering of brainwashing while in the Gulags of Russia and the starvation I had to go through I wound up as almost a zombie who had lost a lot of his short term memory, in that I am unable to recall exact names, dates and locations and tell my war experiences only in flashbacks of the many episodes as I have remembered them after so many years.
Pictures of the happenings came up in my mind but names and places and location-names escaped
all my efforts to recall them, even names of my best friends and fellow pilots, including the names of my two faithful mechanics who did such a good job in keeping my Gustav 109 in the best of shape.The Russians did a thorough job in washing a lot of my memory away forever.
Even now, while reading my book for the sixth time, some shreds of more memories are flaring up here and there but still no names of former comrades and dialogs, as well as location names,etc come up. Only vivid pictures of that, what I lived through.
It especially hurts me, that I am even accused of making up the story of my life in the Gulags of Russia, but for that I have proof in the form of the official Russian post cards we POWs were allowed to write home with attached answer cards in late 1946. Those cards I have and I also had the official Russian discharge from prison document. Unfortunately it 'disappeared' from my display while lecturing a fairly big audience in Boalsburg, PA two years ago. So, now I have only the correspondence cards and the things I made while in the prison hospital, among them the booklets of the diary on Russian cigaret paper and the school-book pages I got from a Russian boy, that I made more booklets from. There is some Russian printing on the cover page to "prove", to my false accusers and bickerers, that they are genuine Russian.

So what am I going to do, against this vast army of vultures, for I have no other proof to proclaim my innocence. Here I am standing alone, as God is my witness and with the knowledge, that I did my best that I am capable of, to have told my life's story upon request of so many people to make it known to the general public, what POWs had to endure in Russia, and that is something nobody else has ever written about to the best of my knowledge.
I was against writing this book, it was too hard to bring up those dreadful and painful memories until I was finally "persuaded", to put it mildly, by so many people and my co-author and Lady friend Dianna Popp to get over my reluctance of causing more of the nightmares I was suffering, just thinking about those three painful years.
But it turned out to be the best therapy, no more nightmares, now I can fearlessly talk and think about my terrible time in the Russian Gulags and am no more negatively effected.
My military experiences were not so important for me to write about,it was anyway only a short part of my life, while there are hundreds of thousands such stories on the market. But the truth of life in the Russian Gulags was and is my main concern and effort to bring it out for the world to know. That's why the title of my book: "Another Bowl Of Kapusta" is pertaining to the"Main Event", the center of my biography.
I really should fight these 'Know it Alls" and so called "historians", but I would take up a war that I probably cannot win, there always will be those doubtful Thomas's and Know it Alls around, that are eager to show to the people in the world, that they are doing them a favor by their "corrective bickering" and 'search for the Truth'. No matter what harm they are causing with their unproven accusations.
Not one of them ever had the courage to contact me personally and tell it to my face, that I am an imposter and liar, only from the safety of a forum they are spreading their poisonous opinions behind my back and I was never aware of it until now.

How can I, as soon to be a 82 year old lone "defendant" take up this fight? I am too tired for that and would put an unnecessary load on my shoulders, knowing I told the God's honest truth.
And for that I am punished?
So, I will not let it bather me and get sick over it, end of story !

If you, my friend Bob, want to take it upon yourself to send this, my statement, to those doubting Thomas's. I give you my wholehearted permission herewith.
It is a well known fact, that in the turmoil of the last few Month of WWII and the thorough, incessant bombings by allied planes not only towns and factories suffered great destructions, but the trains and railroad tracks, which were the main way of transporting war material and records to and from the fronts. Trucks as well as planes of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe were also destroyed that way, and those that survived, often could not function for lack of gasoline. The whole system of communication and transport was in a total disarray.
So, it is no wonder, that a lot of documents and important papers got lost and destroyed, evidently mine among them.
Even Mr Prien's three volume book about JG 53 Pik As is not absolutely complete, and hat he never heard of me, was evidently caused by those above mentioned destructions of records near the end of the war. So, I fell through the cracks and now being punished for it through no fault of my own. I rest my case and plead innocent, Justice will prevail !
Horrido !, and cheers,
Gottfried, the triumphant survivor.

interesting Bob but I'd like to know personally the answers to Morai's questions,
the kills, what type and where, date of awards. this all can be traced and it goes beyond Dr. Prien anyway who is just one of many German research historians, and he produced the multi-volumes on JG 53 I know well.

If Herr Dulias would like to comment further it would be enlightening, if not then so be it

As one who has followed this thread on TOCh and this among others I want to say that nobody is doubting any war service, nobody is doubting any Russian hardship... just what is the real story.

GD made the claim of being with JG 53 - nobody else. Give something that we can believe.

I find it interesting in that letter that the horrors of war while involved cannot be remembered while the horrors of captivity are somewhat clear.

Mr. Bob C as Njaco has pointed out, no one here has doubted his military service or anything else. There is just a lot that is missing from the story and that is what people want to hear.

Please dont construe anyones words as it seems that some have. That is just as bad as what you are accusing us of.

this is getting funnier by the minute. look sto be G.D. is not who he claims to be ...........

Gottfried Dulias - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum

read the multi pages and see that friend bob posted the very same assorted copy on the forum as this one

Boy, that was interesting...

I suppose Gottfried Dulias is a bit emotional from the horrible memories, but can he sound a little bit over the top with the whole vultures thing, ect.?

Of course I am an American. We are often more bland in our speech.

I guess Bob is a loyal friend at any rate, and that can be taken as some proof.

It is easy in air combat to think you shot down more planes than you ever did. All those B-17 gunners did that a lot. There may be some of them today still claiming kills that never truly happened in the German Records.

If Gottfried was a german pilot, he could have made this mistake, and if there was no wingman present to verify or discredit his claims, he feels as sole eye witness he is a reliable enough person to claim his own kills......as many pilots liked to do.

But since he has no mention in the Luftwaffe Records of even being a pilot as people are pointing out.......it can be doubtful if he flew a plane at all.

fromSoundbreaker Welch?
.......it can be doubtful if he flew a plane at all.

Click to expand...

On a personal level, If he was a groundcrewman or transfer pilot or anything else in some sort of capacity I think some leeway could be given. But there is nothing reported by those who know these units, no shred of info, not even one little scrap that upholds even a part of his story.

And thats the shame. Fess up, tells us what you really did (hell, even if it ferriing food canisters to the frontline troops, that was difficult) tell us what happened. The community at large would welcome you just the same.

But to constantly ignore the issue, let friends fight for you and still bamboozle people at airshows and museums and such, is disgraceful, much more so for those who actually served.

Hello All,

After several message exchanges between myself and Gottfried and I've decided to post my final reply.

Please understand that Gottfried is now 82 years of age. In talking with him about trying to establish various dates of the many occurrences that took place more than 60 years ago I finally came to the reality that at the mere age of 43, I can't even remember that date that I graduated high school and I've forgotten the majority of the names of my teachers and the majority of the names of my classmates, with the exception being my closest friends and favorite teachers. Now given my age is nearly half that of Gottfried's I find it to be completely understandable that he can't put specific dates on the events that took place so many years ago.

There was some mention made about how they couldn't understand why Gottfried's recollection about his time in captivity was so clear, but his time as an active pilot was so vague. This comes with a very good explanation. During Gottfried's time with his squad he made no attempt to generate a daily dairy were he would have recorded many of the dates that so many have requested. However, shortly after his capture as a P.O.W. in the Russian Gulag, he carved a small wooded box and generated a concealed false bottom were he hide a daily dairy that he assembled used Russian cigarette papers. In extremely tiny tiny print he recorded many of the daily happenings of his horrifying experience. To this day he still has this carved wooden box and the very tiny dairy, which was referenced in great detail when he was writing his book.

During the fleeting months of the war countless records were lost due to bombing and strafing not to mention the records that were personal destroyed my of the German personal due to the collapsing front lines on both war fronts. I find it too be rather appalling that with the tens of thousands of Luftwaffe pilots that flew during the war that only a few several hundred were fortunate enough to have made it to an historical list. With the rationalization that is being used here one would be falsely lead to believe that the whole war was flown and fought by only the very select few pilots that were fortunate enough to make it to an ace list, and we all know that is not true!

For what it's worth, over the last 10 years I've spent countless hours talking with and assisting Gottfried at numerous autograph and book signing sessions. His complete understanding of the plane he flew and the passion that he exudes when he is discussing the time he spent in the cockpit in of his precious Gustav is without any doubt completely true and genuine!

The following are two letters that I've received from Gottfried, he has encouraged me to include them here as a final reply from himself on this matter. I hope that after you read his second letter and you see that now the U.S. Air Force has completed a thorough background investigation on Herr Dulias that they have concluded that he is who he says he is, will that he has received a personal invitation to attend this year's "Gathering Of Eagles" as a featured guest!

Sincerely, Bob C

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Hello, Bob.

You are absolutely right, the date of my crash landing is my best guess. I had to write a date of my crash landing in my book and to the best of my blurry recollections, I came up with that date.
I know for sure, that it was in the beginning of March 1945 and the exact date I was unable to recall, but I really thought, that it must have been the 4th of March for some reason or another. I don't remember even the day I was writing that part of my book in late 2004.

As you said, you can't remember your school teachers names or classmates, so how come, that those armchair historians expect me to remember exact pertinent facts and dates as well as locations from an 82 year old who wouldn't be able to remember those things even without having been brainwashed?

I was reading the replies after you posted my letter to you in the Forum and that one guy criticized me for having better recollections of my prisoner of war times, than of my time as a fighter pilot.
Well as I mentioned in my book, while being in the prison-hospital stays, I was writing a dairy in the form of letters to my family on Russian cigarette paper booklets I made. That I used of course as an aid to write my story. Some of those I wrote verbatim in my book, just look it up and you will find it on page 186.

These Know it Alls are picking on everything I wrote and are so eager to point out any imagined inaccuracies in my book, and therefore call me a liar, it's pathetic!

Well, as you said, let it go and rest, it's no use and surely impossible to try to satisfy all those doubting Thomas's and Know it Alls. They would have to consider all those circumstances of those bygone times, that I lived through long before most of them were born, and they completely ignore those facts and don't give a hoot, what damage they are causing me by making those accusations and demands for exact reporting.

From my short time as Fighter pilot I had no diary to fall back on as aid for the accuracy of my writing and have only my very limited memory to go on. But those armchair historians are constantly insistent that I have to be able to tell dates, locations and names for them to believe my story and for that they condemn me to be an imposter and liar or charlatan. They are not logically thinking and have no consideration whatsoever what they are doing to me in the form of damage foremost to my reputation and also to the creditability of my book, not to mention even a curtailment of me being invited as speaker or lecturer at events, like the WW II weekend in Reading.

They really owe me an apology!!!

Horrido !
Your friend Gottfried.

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Hello, Bob.

The US Air Force, has invited me to be honored as an Eagle at the "Gathering Of Eagles" among 14 heroes of the American Air Force and one Briton at this year's graduation ceremonies of their cadet class.

After writing humbly to the Air Force, thanking them for the invitation, I mentioned that I do not measure up to the Hero standard of the other 15 other invitees. Shortly after that I received a letter from the U.S. Air Force stating, that I am worthy to be an Eagle! After a careful investigation and consideration, their board made the decision to invite me as an honoree.

During their invitation two U.S. Air Force majors came to my house to interview me and told me that there are some dissidents who are making derogative accusations about me. They completed a thorough investigation and dismissed them as armchair historians who ought to know better.

The majors didn't tell me where the board got their information from, but they acknowledged, a lot of records got lost due to the bombing and strafing in the last few months of WW II in Europe. But, evidently they had enough info about me to make their considered decision.

The fact, that the USAF made a thorough investigation about me and found me worthy, this alone is proof, that those false accusations by the doubting Thomas's are just that: false.
The USAF could not risk an embarrassment of that magnitude and made sure, that it wouldn't happen.

With this being said I feel that I'm deserved an apology from those who sought to damage my honest reputation. I flew and did my duty, served and nearly died for my country and after all that I find myself still being persecuted by some doubters because my name didn't find it's way onto any historic list.

That's all I can tell you.
Cheers and HORRIDO !,
Gottfried

as you can see for whatever it is worth the last response was April 10th meaning Bob the thread is dead, but you brought it up again

good bye your gone

After writing humbly to the Air Force, thanking them for the invitation, I mentioned that I do not measure up to the Hero standard of the other 15 other invitees. Shortly after that I received a letter from the U.S. Air Force stating, that I am worthy to be an Eagle! After a careful investigation and consideration, their board made the decision to invite me as an honoree.

During their invitation two U.S. Air Force majors came to my house to interview me and told me that there are some dissidents who are making derogative accusations about me. They completed a thorough investigation and dismissed them as armchair historians who ought to know better.

The majors didn't tell me where the board got their information from, but they acknowledged, a lot of records got lost due to the bombing and strafing in the last few months of WW II in Europe. But, evidently they had enough info about me to make their considered decision.

The fact, that the USAF made a thorough investigation about me and found me worthy, this alone is proof, that those false accusations by the doubting Thomas's are just that: false.
The USAF could not risk an embarrassment of that magnitude and made sure, that it wouldn't happen.

Click to expand...

Bob C - all very interesting but who from the USAF investigated Gottfried? Again, you come out with information vindicating the man but this proof becomes just as vague as the original story. Where were these two Major's from? Their command? This is a very easy piece of information that could be stated which will very easily vindicate Gottfried. I truly would like to believe Gottfried - if he would tell all who investigated him (it seems this is recent so these two Majors can be verified and even contacted) I think it would be a starting point to turn all this around. I don't believe this to be unreasonable...

BTW I work at the US Air Force Academy and have access to many active duty and reserve units and personnel. If you wanted to provide me this information I would be willing to verify this investigation in confidence and if found to be true, would be a forever lasting advocate for Gottfried...

although the person feels the USAF seems to think he is legit the country that he fought for sure does not think so. The experten of the Fliegergemeinschaft of the Luftwaffe and the author of the JG 53 volumes the outfit G.D. says he flew for does not have anything on the man nor has ever heard of him. that is pretty sound evidence to me to doubt this fellow .........

He keeps going to the prisoner episode and nothing about his flying. YOU DON'T NEED A DIARY TO REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU SHOT A PLANE DOWN. That should be as traumatic as the gulag. And with as many claims for victories he states, there should be ONE he remembers or can verify.

I don't know about a hoax but something is fishy and it should be thrown back.

lock this thread please ..............

I don't believe that Mr. Dulias has ever claimed to be an "ace". Five aerial victoreis might qualifty an American pilot for that status, but not by Luftwaffe standards. By his own admission, Dulias says that five shoot-downs was nothing in terms of recognition, either from fellow pilots or the powers in Berlin. Most Luftwaffe aces never received their Knight's Crosses until they achieved scores of victores. That was just the nature of the beast , especially on the Eastern front.
I believe that if Mr. Dulias was going to ebellish or inflate his wartime record he would inflated his "kill" record; if for no other reason than to sell more books. He states that he was just a junior officer (Leutnant) who was impressed into becoming a pilot late in the war and did his duty to the best of his ability and endured three years of imprisonment in a Soviet gulag.

Someone please close this thread as it is a waste of time ......... Dulias acct and record is found nowhere in the JG 53 war diaries by Dr. Jochen Prien. that says alot........ in fact his war record is being researched right now by several European historians checking on the kills he makes claim too at the many archivs within Germany ..........

CLOSE THIS THREAD ~

Closed....