Slide 1 – Isaac Hello, I am Klaus Schmidt. I was born in Munich, Germany in 1914, which marked the beginning of world war one. Slide 2 – Blake I vividly remember the day when my mother received the letter, informing her of my fathers death. It was the saddest day of my life. I remember in my adolescence when my country was poor in wealth, and sad at heart.

Slide 3 – Isaac However, when Hitler rose to power, he raised my people’s hearts with speeches of revenge, and another Reich. I remember at that age, that I wanted to be a part of that Reich. I quit my teenage job, and joined the army. The training was rough, but I survived. Slide 4 - Blake On Kristallnacht, or night of the broken glass, I killed two Jews and was promoted to the rank of Gefreiter. I could not wait until I gained more land for the father land.

Slide 5 Isaac I was finally assigned to a war mission. The operation was codenamed Barbarossa. The object was to invade Russia. I was originally going to go to Leningrad, but I was transferred to the sixth army to go to an industrial city called Stalingrad. It was very important to the Russian economy, so we had to destroy it. Slide 6 Blake On the march there, a heard a speech from Hitler blaring from a truck. It made whatever feelings of fright that were in me left go away. (Podcast)

Slide 7 Isaac Slide 8 Blake Because of Stalingrad’s close city terrain, the Russians were forced to fight in close quarter battle. Our commanders told us to be careful and stay away from corners. They also told us to keep away from wide open places, because the Russians had good sniping soldiers as well. Many of my friends vomited when ever we were in an open field. We had to keep the fight in medium range. When I first got to Stalingrad, The first thing that I saw was a huge pile of bodies. I also saw my friend Rolf get shot. The casualties were huge on both sides. This was nothing like Hitler’s speech. There were flamethrowers, rifles, and loud noises from artillery. This was when I broke a big rule in the Wermacht, I was scared.

Slide 9 Blake We tried to shell the buildings, but we had fellow soldiers inside battling the Soviets. We were assigned to another building that was a Soviet sniper’s nest. Along the way, I was separated from my squad in a blizzard and was forced to take refuge in a nearby house. Slide 10 Isaac I was at the brink of insanity. The only thing that saved me was the random chatter on the shortwave radio I scavenged from the body of a Soviet. In the night I was attacked by a Soviet and shot in the arm as we wrestled on the floor of the house. I killed him but he left a hole in my left arm. I had to find medical supplies before I died.

Slide 11 Blake I was picked up the next day by a Soviet patrol while I was sleeping and was taken to war camp on the Volga river and was detained there. While I sat in my cell, I was strangely at peace. I was happy I was out of that industrial wasteland. I didn’t really want to fight in the war. I just wanted my dad back, and I thought this would do it. Slide 12 Isaac I was released at the end of the war, but I kept a document of my experience. On my march back to the fatherland, I saw the Warsaw ghetto. I died a little inside to see the starved women and children on the other side of that barbed wire fence. It also hurt to know that people like me did this to innocent people. I realized that I could achieve vengeance from the death of my father, but it would only lead to more widows and children without fathers. Why was there war? Why did people kill people just like them? I don’t know. I did know that I was happy to go home and see my mom.

Slide 13: Blake Klaus Schmidt died from complications of Ataxia, a neurological disorder that ran through Germany. Klaus’s diary was found years later in his house in Munich, Germany.