Friedrich Bauer’s letters from Stalingrad would have been lost forever, had it not been for a Maltese teenager and his art collector father, Claudia Calleja reports.

When John Edward DeMicoli bought an antique German statue at an auction in Malta a year ago, he had no idea that another piece of history was hidden inside the hollow porcelain figurine.

Leighton John DeMicoli and his father have been piecing together the story of the German soldier through a stash of letters.

He and his 15-year-old son Leighton John were cleaning their purchase when a worn-out fabric layer fell off the bottom, revealing a bundle of old papers written in German.

The stash of 70 documents were dated between 1941 and 1942 and contained 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. They plan to turn his story into a book.

“We are on a quest to find out more,” says John. “With every letter we are living his story. They are special because usually history is told from the winner’s side, but this was a war lost by the Germans.”

Bauer was an artillery observer, and in the letters he describes what he saw in vivid detail. In one letter, describing the Battle of Kharkov, when German troops captured the city in October 1941, he describes: “At night we could see the firelight of the may burning factories…. The marches were agonising for the men and horses in the continuing rain and were very delayed due to the bridges being blown up by the Reds and the many mines.”

In another, he describes “two explosions in my immediate vicinity, the consequences of which were terrible”.

Stash of 70 documents were dated between 1941 and 1942

As the faded letters are slowly being translated, more details are now coming to light.

Leighton says: “I love this historical point of view from the German side. I feel these letters have a very unusually high value, at least to his fami­ly who tucked away these letters in some closet for years, but fearing they’d be lost after their death, perhaps put them in the statue.”

The German bisque statue that was bought in an auction in Malta and contained a secret.

And that is where they remained for decades – until a few months ago when father and son found them.

Although they could not understand German, they realised they were sitting on something special.

Detailed battlefield descriptions and political reflections

There were some 60 letters to his parents that contain detailed descriptions of life on the battlefield as well as reflections and political opinions.

Leighton, 15, has taken on the mission of getting the letters translated with the help of academic Katrin Mohamed.

“Friedrich is very descriptive in his choice of words. In one letter he describes an extremely exciting aerial battle of six bombers drawing long smoke trails and plunging into the fields. In another, he explains that the Russians are defending their well-placed positions with tenacity, and even under the barrage of their guns, the Red Army soldiers stayed in their holes unless they were put out of action by direct hits.”

A certificate confirming the death of Friedrich Bauer, aged 29, “in the field of honour for Fuhrer, people, and the Fatherland”.

Bauer goes on to vividly recount the extremely violent and persistent attacks by the Russian armed forces and their artillery shelling.

“In a particular document he mentions a letter addressed to Hitler but he insists that he has nothing to do with the party and everything related to it. In his eyes, the war with Russia was inevitable for the Reich because Stalin had villainously occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,” Leighton says.

The letters also tell the story of a sensitive soldier who was yearning to return home. In one letter he writes to his parents: “The night is always spent outdoors in the field. Everyone digs in to be safe from the shell fragments”.

In a letter to his father he says: “Out of respect for mother I refrain from describing the battle in my letter so as not to cause more concern.”

He speaks how he saw his friends die and lost two horses and writes: “I got to know Russia well enough and I would very much like to turn back towards home. Hundreds or thousands with me, God willing…”

But this never happened, since he was killed near Abgenerowo and Tinguta Railroad Station in August 1942 – aged 29.

In fact, the bundle of documents includes one, dated November 20, 1942, in which the company commander informs his parents that their son had fallen in battle.

Bauer was among over 85,000 soldiers who died during the battle – and his body remained there. The poignant letter informs his parents that his body can’t be returned home to Vienna for burial since Hitler ordered that soldiers are to be buried where they fell.