Two pupils from class 6c at Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule presented the Hällisch-Franconian Museum with a dagger from the National Socialist era. The two pupils, Cedric Alber and Tim Schieber, found the dagger during a school trip at the end of July. “We were playing in the water of the Kocher when I realized that I had almost stepped on something. At first I thought it was just a stick,” says Tim Schieber. The two quickly realized that it was something else. Cedric Alber commented: “We couldn’t see much because of all the rust. But I immediately noticed the swastika on the handle. That’s when we knew we were holding something special in our hands.”
Together with 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.
V. l. n. r.: Lehrerin Ribanna Tsehaye, Tim Schieber, Cedric Alber, Museumsleiterin Dinah Rottschäfer und Volontär Lorenz Hafner bei der Übergabe. Im Hintergrund das erwähnte Porträt Adolf Hitlers.
Lorenz Hafner, scientific volunteer at the Hällisch-Franconian Museum, had a lot to say: “According to previous research, it is the dagger of an air force officer of the Wehrmacht, which was made in Solingen around 1937. It can be strongly assumed that the owner of the dagger disposed of it in the Kocher towards the end of the war or in the period afterwards in order to cover up his role in the National Socialist regime.” As there was an air base of the Wehrmacht air force in Hessental, it stands to reason that the owner of the dagger was stationed there.
The disposal of files and objects that could have caused the owners problems with the Allied justice system after the end of the war was not uncommon. In the summer of 2018, pupils from the Waldorf School found a bust of Hitler in the Kocher, which was almost certainly “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 end of the war. When asked what will now happen to the dagger, 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 National Socialism section of the museum. It is a special piece of contemporary history.” The two finders were then rewarded with a small gift. As a further thank you, there will be a free guided tour of the Hällisch-Franconian Museum for the entire class 6c in future.
Close-up of the Wehrmacht dagger