Oblt. z.S. Heinz Schäffer, U-977

[drmessimer]

Does anyone know what became of Oblt. z.S. Heinz Schäffer, U-977 after he wrote his book, 66 Tage Unter Wasser (English title U-Boat 977), published in 1952? I looked for him on Google.de and came up dry except for an article that appeared in a 2010 issue of Der Spiegel On-Line, "Die Mär von Hitlers Tauchgang" ("The Myth of Hitler's Dive") which said nothing and was based entirely on his book. Dwight

[HPL2008]

The book was originally published by the German Limes Verlag in 1950. (1952 was the publishing date of the English edition.) According to these secondary sources...:

zum Boot U 977
U-977 - Die Mär von Hitlers Tauchgang - SPIEGEL ONLINE

...Schäffer left Germany again very soon after the war (apparently in 1947/1948) and went back to Argentina, where he got married in 1950. The wedding took place at the German-Protestant church in Buenos Aires.

Wikipedia lists the year of his death as 1979:

German submarine U-977 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(I know this isn't much, but I hope it helps a little.)

[drmessimer]

Andres: Thanks for that, and yes, it does help quite a bit. I guess I am not surprised that he went back to Argentina, so the next thing might be to find out why he died so young--58 Thanks again. Dwight

[rogge16]

I wish I had something more to add. I just finished his book the other day. Dwight was kind enough to give it to me. I've looked for information on him and there just doesn't seem to be much out there. Here's the only photos I could find of him.

Luke

[Mecklenburger]

According to Ultramar Sur by Salina and De Napoli published Buenos Aires, 2002, Schäffer was employed as a ship's master by the ELMA shipping line, an Argentine shipping company which collaborated with the German Navy during the Second World War. It is also suggested by this source that he might have been involved with the Argentine Navy in a minor capacity.