What did the veterans of the Franco Prussian war that were still alive think about the war, Germany’s place in it, and the further deteriorating situation for Germany at this point in 1944?
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I’d be surprised to see any F-P war vets from either side would be alive enough to have memoirs and opinions. The typical grunt would have been born in 1852 and so would be in his late eighties in 1940. I have not read anything about this topic.
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This generation lived from 1871-1914 in a Germany without a war in Germany. Because Germans without war are boring, there is not much attention on this part of history.
Well I will say we know Generalfeldmarschall August Von Mackensen was still alive and I believe he was a Leutnant during the Franco Prussian war however he was in his early 90s at the beginning of WWII and died shortly after the war. It is my understanding that he had a level of sympathy for the Nazi Party but refused to serve any German State that did not have Kaiser Wilhelm II or one of his successors as Kaiser. I am interested to know if any other Franco Prussian war veterans (whether a Junior Officer or an enlisted man) either at a national or at a local level were outspoken about the war and/or the Nazi party during the war in some manner or another and Germany’s place in it.
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