Pupils hand over special find to museumPupils hand over special find to museum

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Two pupils from class 6c at the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule handed a dagger from the Nazi era over to the Hällisch-Fränkisches Museum. The two pupils, Cedric Alber and Tim Schieber, had found the dagger at the end of July during a school trip. „Wir spielten gerade im Wasser des Kochers, als ich merkte, dass ich fast auf etwas getreten wäre. Ich habe zuerst gedacht, es sei einfach nur ein Stock.“, so Tim Schieber. The two quickly realised that it was something else. Cedric Alber said: „Wegen dem ganzen Rost konnten wir nicht viel erkennen. Mir ist aber sofort das Hakenkreuz am Griff aufgefallen. Da wussten wir, dass wir etwas Besonderes in den Händen halten.“

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Together with their teacher Ribanna Tsehaye, it was decided to give the Wehrmacht dagger to the Hällisch-Fränkisches Museum. At the official handover, the honest finders wanted to know what the dagger was and how it could have ended up in the Kocher.

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From left to right: Teacher Ribanna Tsehaye, Tim Schieber, Cedric Alber, museum director Dinah Rottschäfer and trainee Lorenz Hafner at the handover. In the background is the portrait of Adolf Hitler mentioned above.

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Lorenz Hafner, academic trainee at the Hällisch-Fränkisches Museum, had plenty to tell: “According to research so far, the dagger belonged to a Luftwaffe officer of the Wehrmacht and was made in Solingen around 1937. It is highly likely that the owner disposed of the dagger in the Kocher towards the end of the war or in the period afterwards, in order to conceal his role in the National Socialist regime.” Since there was a Luftwaffe airfield of the Wehrmacht in Hessental, it is likely that the owner of the dagger was stationed there.

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The destruction of files and objects that could have caused their owners problems with the Allied justice system after the war was not unusual. For example, pupils of the Waldorf School found a bust of Hitler in the Kocher in summer 2018, which had almost certainly been “disposed of” there. The bust was also handed over to the museum. Another example is a portrait of Hitler over which a modern art print was pasted after the war. Asked what would happen to the dagger now, museum director Dinah Rottschäfer replied: “Now that the dagger has been added to the museum’s inventory, it will be given a permanent place in the museum’s section on National Socialism. It is a special piece of contemporary history.” The two finders were then rewarded with a small gift. As a further thank-you, class 6c will in future receive a free guided tour of the Hällisch-Fränkisches Museum.

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Close-up of the Wehrmacht dagger (test)

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