I dug another box of books out of Box Mountain in the garage this afternoon to add to my offerings on Amazon.com and discovered this box held a book brought back from World War II by my late father-in-law Capt. Phil Kroon.
It’s called Mein Skizzenbuch (My Sketchbook), a book of sketches by German soldier Ernst Eigener, an artist with Propaganda Co. 637, compiled during the conquest of France in 1940 and published in 1941.
The sketches are mostly black-and-white pencil drawings, but there are a few done in colored pencil, like this sketch of a German mortar crew.
In early October, 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered a shield decoration to commemorate the men of the 6th Army then fighting in Stalingrad and a prototype was created by Eigener.
The shield had a pointed bottom with a closed wing eagle on the top. The main body had across the top the inscription “STALINGRAD,”with three silos that were a landmark of the city beneath the word. In front of the silos there was a dead German soldier with a crown of barbed wire around his helmet.
The prototype was submitted to the High Command and understandably rejected as too morbid. Eigener was killed at Stalingrad in November, 1942.
A second prototype was submitted, but was never instituted because the 6th Army was eventually encircled and destroyed. Fieldmarshall von Paulus surrendered on Jan. 30, 1943 and went into captivity with 94,000 men. Only 5,000 survived to return home after the war.
I think I’ll hang onto Ernst Eigener’s little sketchbook. I don’t need the money that much.
3 comments:
I came across Ernst Eigener's name and his death while reading a paperback on Stalingrad, by a German soldier who fought in the battles. Struck me that he could be the German Ernie Pyle. I wish there was a book by or about him. We are still so terribly ignorant of the history of the Eastern Front.
allen goldman
coos bay oregon
Thanks for checking in and sharing your thoughts, Allen.
Hi,
Your website solved a long search problem for me. Back in 1959 I borrowed a book of German war artist sketches from a workmate who had picked up the book whilst serving with the Highland Light Infantry (HLI) in France. I spent a lot of time drawing from the book - and returned the book. Over the years I forgot the artists name but remembered the drawings. Numerous visits to second-hand bookshops produced zilch. Few weeks back I did an internet search and up came an Ernst Eigner sketchbook. Problem was I could recognise his style but I couldn’t see any of the drawings I worked from. That’s where your website came in, Ernest Eigner produced two sketchbooks, the one on your forum is the one I worked from.
From one Cancerian to another, cheers, and thanks.
Robert McKenzie
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