Panzergrenadier Hötzl Sterbebild (death notice)

[JPhilip]

I think the whole “panzer wrap “ jacket and insignia may have been added later. The jacket and sleeves look very bulky as though overpainted later.

Hello,
Perhaps the black wrap was in fact a grey wrap, as we know that in 1944 a part of the Panzergrenadier Regimenter received the Feldgrau Sonderbekleidung. Too bad we don't know his unit...
Thanks

[DavK]

It could be the case that this was printed after the war when insignia such as the SS runes were outlawed. The Waffen-SS itself was judged to be a criminal organisation at the Nuremberg Trials, so many families would probably have tried to hide the fact their loved ones had served in their ranks.

I remember seeing two death notices to the same SS soldier, one printed during the war and the other printed post war (the post war example was a double death notice with his brother) and all traces of his SS service had been altered.

All of his SS insignia had been edited out and replaced. Along with this, the rank and unit details printed on the notice had been modified to make him look like a normal member of the Heer.


I found this entry on the Volksbund and although the surname is slightly different, I think this could be him. The death dates are the same and Galgweis to gainsdorf is about 1.9 km according to google maps.

Max Hötzel
Date of birth
04.04.1906
Place of birth
Gainstorf
Death/missing date
13.01.1945
Death/missing place
Iglau
Service rank
Grenadier

Max Hötzel is buried in the military cemetery in Jihlava, Czech Republic

Final grave: Grave 26


Kind Regards,

Will.

I think you got a hit there! While the place of death is not specified on my death card, it reads that he is at the "Cemetery of Heroes" in Iglau, which is the german name of the czech city Jihlava.

[DavK]

It also crossed my mind that it is a Heer panzer uniform. The collar tabs would be correct for that, and so are the shoulder straps. The piping is incorrect for that, but thats not a big deal. However, my greatest problem with it being Heer panzer uniform is that (correct me if im wrong) then the eagle should be on the chest, and not on the left sleeve.

I guess I will have to settle with it being a (at least partially) fantasy piece that does not resemble a full set of uniform with correct insignia.

[BlackCat1982]

To be fair to the sterbebild it is not a fantasy, merely a perhaps artistically inaccurate representation of the fallen soldiers uniform. There is no fantasy in his loss, only some frustration perhaps that the truth may never be told.

[TWS]

Hello,
Perhaps the black wrap was in fact a grey wrap, as we know that in 1944 a part of the Panzergrenadier Regimenter received the Feldgrau Sonderbekleidung. Too bad we don't know his unit...
Thanks

Jean-Philippe is absolutely correct here.

It is known that some Panzer-Grenadier troops, particularly those assigned to halftracks, received the Sonderbekleidung "wrapper".

Here are some Panzergrenadiers from Panzer-Lehr riding around in their halftrack in Normandy and below is a wrapper from my own collection. I know of a couple other white-piped Feldgrau wrappers that exist in collections today, but they are exceedingly rare.

[DavK]

To be fair to the sterbebild it is not a fantasy, merely a perhaps artistically inaccurate representation of the fallen soldiers uniform. There is no fantasy in his loss, only some frustration perhaps that the truth may never be told.

By "fantasy piece" I meant that an uniform like this could not exist, so it was made up by the artist. Maybe it was not the best choice of words.
Either the artist was not aware or dit it on purpose. Every part in itself may be correct, but they definitely dont fit together.

[Willmore]

Hello.

Ralph and BlackCat were right about this photo being 'put together'.

Recently I found another version of a Casualty card in my collection and the photo is similar in appearance to the Hötzl sterbebild, so thought I would post it up here for comparison.

Maybe when families didn't have a photo of their loved one in uniform, the printers must of had the ability to 'construct' a uniform based on the information they were given. This could also explain why the Hötzl sterbebild has a touch of artistic licence.

Kind regards,

Will

[TWS]

That's a great example of this concept Will. Upon inspection it's very evident that in the photo in uniform, the uniform was drawn onto his photo.

We see this more commonly with smaller modifications. Items like promotions in rank or addition of awards that occurred after the original photo was taken. In those cases, the family wanted an "up to date" rendering because they didn't already have a photo that was current with rank or awards at the time of the soldier's death.