The father and son who discovered secret World War II letters hidden in an antique statue in Malta have located the final resting place of the German soldier who wrote them.
John Edward DeMicoli and his 15-year-old son Leighton John have been trying to track down more information about Friedrich Bauer since they uncovered a stash of 70 documents including letters he wrote home to his parents from the battlefield of Stalingrad.
They have been able to find his burial site after reading a story about the discovery of the letters in Times of Malta.
“The grave of Friedrich Bauer is located at the Heroes’ Cemetery at the old church in Abganerowo: first row, second grave, left side,” said John Edward DeMicoli pointing out that Bauer was buried close to the area where he perished in battle as described in the letters.
Some weeks ago, the father and son were cleaning a German porcelain statue they had bought at an auction in Malta when a worn-out fabric layer fell off the bottom, revealing a bundle of old papers written in German.
The documents were dated between 1941 and 1942 and included letters, awards and details of German units and a soldier’s war booklet, displaying a photograph of a young sergeant.
As art collector father and son dug deeper, they unravelled the story of Friedrich Bauer – an Unteroffizier (non-commissioned officer) of the German 6th army – writing home to his parents in Vienna from the site of one of the pivotal battles of World War II – Stalingrad. Bauer was an artillery observer, and in the letters he describes what he saw in vivid detail.
The bundle of documents also includes one, dated November 20, 1942, in which the company commander informed his parents that their son had fallen in battle.
He was killed near Abganerowo and Tinguta Railroad Station in Russia, right outside of Volgograd (Stalingrad) in August 1942 – aged 29.
The poignant letter informs his parents that his body cannot be returned home to Vienna for burial since Hitler ordered that soldiers are to be buried where they fell.
Bauer was among over 85,000 soldiers who died during the battle – and his body remained there – as confirmed now through the military records.
Meanwhile, as the faded letters are slowly being translated and father and son dig deeper – more details will continue to emerge.
Fascinated by this story, which they are sharing with readers, father and son were initilly thinking of turning it into a book – and have now been encouraged to turn it into a film.
“We are working hard to safeguard all these documents and look forward to uncovering more details so as to make a booklet to hand over in partnership with any media house filmmakers in the near future,” they say.