Illustrated Diary of a Romantic Prussian Soldier
Heinrich Gimkiewicz
by
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Historian’s Introduction
A military diary is always an exciting find since it provides insights into the past, often at a critical moment in history, and provides a window into the existence of an individual soldier in the ranks..... We experience the detached point of view forced on a soldier during war. When one soldier is killed during an unsuccessful night raid, the reaction is one of relief. “We had survived, and under these circumstances one dead man was not so much.” Yet there is empathy as well. When advancing through a vineyard, trampling on an unknown farmer’s grapes, the diarist remarks “We go on without any qualms, regardless of whose disadvantage this will be or whose livelihood we are destroying. It’s the damn war that spares nothing.” ...... Appendix 1: For Those Inclined to Details:A Shamelessly Tiresome Survey of Heinrich Gimkiewicz’s Uniform and Equipment. By: Peter A Stith
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About the Book
Imagine receiving an email from your Great Grandfather whilst he was fighting, a nearly forgotten war, in a distant land! This is what the author (KWK) experienced, when his Great Grandfather’s Franco-Prussian War Diary was being translated from the old German text. A unique document, in that for the first time in history, Jewish soldiers in the Prussian Army, were permitted to attend religious services. Unter Officier Heinrich Gimkiewicz describes the event that is corroborated in literature and art. This richly illustrated work translates the diary, describes its discovery and correlates it to broader aspects of the war, and especially to the position of Jewish soldiers in the Prussian Army. It gives an account of how the romantic Heinrich was lodged with a retired French Army Officer and his “beautiful daughter Louise” which was to have repercussions many years later, and then follows Heinrich to The author (KWK) presents his own diary when, some 134 years later, he went to
About the Author
Keith W Kaye MD, FRCS(Edin), FRACS, FCS(SA). Diplomate American Board of Urology, a retired Professor of Urological Surgery, originally from
Thomas R Heysek PhD is currently a Resource Officer with the Department of Veteran Affairs based in