Luftwaffe dagger with a bit of history

[Nick VR]

Hi Adrian

Though pictures would ease the pain a bit...

Nevermind I just read this thread:

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/germa...r-horster.html


Greetz

Nick VR

[Pierre N]

Very nice history Ad ! i read one nice history of dagger return home in the old newspaper 1991 , i write this history from newspaper :

That's absoluty wunderbar''
Werner Muller was overjoyed yesterday . the journal called him at this home in Germany to say his Khife had been found, the dagger Muller has been looking for since the end of ww2.
you may remember Muller. We wrote about him in Monday's paper. He's a retired Formicasalesman living near Bonn with his wife .He's preparing for a reunion of his old naval buddies, the men of U-190, the first german sub captured by the Royal canadian Navy at the end of the war.
Muller was a 22year old officier on the boat. he and his comrades wereinterned for a year at a campoutside Gravenhurst, Ont. His ceremonial Knife, emblazoned with the Nazi swatika and engraved with his name , was confiscated and never returned. Muller went on to spend two more years in a British POW camp.
This month , after years of trying to track it down and have it returned, Muller turned to the Newspaper for Help. He figured having his story told in a Newspaper with half-a -million daily readers and millions more sister newspapers across Canada would lead him to his Knife. It did . Yesterday , Bill Ross , a retired Australian army caporal,called us to say he 'd read the story and decided to come clean. the Knife was hanging over the mantel-piece in his Amberwood Village home, near Ottawa. Ross and his wife were good friends of the camp commender who had kept the knife, Lt- Col.Charles Lavigne. Lavigne died two years after the war and his wife three years ago in Montreal . Ross helped settle the estate, turning most of the military memorabilia over to the Canadian War Museum and keeping the knife , for himself , as a souvenir.
I have the dagger , and to save the honor of the Canadian armyand the Lavignes, I'd be happy to return it to Herr Muller , Ross said . Reached at his home in Lohmar Birk , a suburb of Bonn, Muller couldn't believe his good luck. He asked whether Ross was willing to give up the knife. We gave him the good news , and he waxed ecstatic.
When you come to Germany , not only will I give you a good beer, but I'ii open a bottle of fine wine , he promised.
I am deeply moved and thank ful.
No problem Ross said . We have some German friends , and we've argued over why we have something with a swastika on it hanging over the fireplace . It's just as well to see it go back to its rightful owner.
Last question: Why didn't Lavigne a distinguished veteren of two world wars and a man of principle, return the knifehimself after the war ? After all, he'd promised Muller he 'd get it back to him.
He died two years after the war Ross said . I 'm sure writing Herr Muller wasn't a high priority. The next step is to ship the knife to Muller . Ross has approached the German Embassy in Ottawa, hoping they can zip it up in their diplomatic pouch and send it off. If that doesn't work , I'll go to External Affairs and see whether thy couldn't put it in their pouch and drop it off at our embassy in Bonn, he said
It' s a question of honor and esprit de corps , so maybe they'd do that to set a good example . After all, we won the war ......

text and pic from Ottawa citizen 7,3,91

[Nick VR]

Hi Pierre


Thanks for sharing this incredible story. I find it very intriguing how these items have a life of their own, they will be around for many more years to come after we die. Yust imagine how many people allready owned these pieces and how many more will own them in the not to distant future...


Greetz

Nick VR