General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: U-Boot Archiv
Posted by:
Frank
()
Date: August 22, 2001 02:57PM
<HTML>Hi Tom -
Having recently visited the Archiv, can I make add a bit to what MPC has rightly said above ? The Archive is indeed in a private house, and is largely self-supporting and undermanned. I was told that it is supported by the local town council, though it certainly isn`t recognized by the government as the National Archive that it has in fact become, in the absence of any other U-boat Archive and as a result of the almost endless enthusiasm of Horst Bredow.
There have been a number of postings about the Archive over the last few months. The fact is that Herr Bredow has not been for a while well enough to open it regularly; that mail is (if one is lucky) replied to eventually but after a (very) long interval (I believe Jak M-Showell does all the English letters, and he is only in Cuxhaven occasionally; no idea about German correspondence); that donations of items or money, including subscriptions, do not appear to be acknowledged; and that it is in reality very difficult to guarantee that the Archive will be open at all on any particular occasion (not helpful if one is only in Cuxhaven for the day).
As MPC says, it is not felt to be a good thing in Germany to be seen to be too interested in the war, hence in the Third Reich. (I talked to a group of ex-servicemen about Dönitz`s funeral - and they hastily added `But of course we didn`t go to it`....) Hence there seems to be a (to us) extraordinary reluctance on the part of locals to be involved in the day-to-day running of the Archive.
Sad; because the Archive contains a mass of well-organized material, with good photo-copying facilities available. Like Tom, I`m not sure why it should be quite so expensive; it costs quite a bit (by UK standards) even to do one`s own research there, and to have photographic copies made costs, understandably, a lot more; and it has to be said that a visit tends to be overshadowed somewhat by pointed reminders about paying.
What its future will be one can only speculate.
Having said that, it`s well worth a visit, if you can get in !
Best regards
Frank</HTML>
Having recently visited the Archiv, can I make add a bit to what MPC has rightly said above ? The Archive is indeed in a private house, and is largely self-supporting and undermanned. I was told that it is supported by the local town council, though it certainly isn`t recognized by the government as the National Archive that it has in fact become, in the absence of any other U-boat Archive and as a result of the almost endless enthusiasm of Horst Bredow.
There have been a number of postings about the Archive over the last few months. The fact is that Herr Bredow has not been for a while well enough to open it regularly; that mail is (if one is lucky) replied to eventually but after a (very) long interval (I believe Jak M-Showell does all the English letters, and he is only in Cuxhaven occasionally; no idea about German correspondence); that donations of items or money, including subscriptions, do not appear to be acknowledged; and that it is in reality very difficult to guarantee that the Archive will be open at all on any particular occasion (not helpful if one is only in Cuxhaven for the day).
As MPC says, it is not felt to be a good thing in Germany to be seen to be too interested in the war, hence in the Third Reich. (I talked to a group of ex-servicemen about Dönitz`s funeral - and they hastily added `But of course we didn`t go to it`....) Hence there seems to be a (to us) extraordinary reluctance on the part of locals to be involved in the day-to-day running of the Archive.
Sad; because the Archive contains a mass of well-organized material, with good photo-copying facilities available. Like Tom, I`m not sure why it should be quite so expensive; it costs quite a bit (by UK standards) even to do one`s own research there, and to have photographic copies made costs, understandably, a lot more; and it has to be said that a visit tends to be overshadowed somewhat by pointed reminders about paying.
What its future will be one can only speculate.
Having said that, it`s well worth a visit, if you can get in !
Best regards
Frank</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
U-Boot Archiv
|
Tom Caramela | 08/21/2001 03:25AM |
|
RE: U-Boot Archiv
|
MPC | 08/21/2001 08:37PM |
|
RE: U-Boot Archiv
|
Frank | 08/22/2001 02:57PM |
|
RE: U-Boot Archiv
|
Craig McLean | 08/23/2001 12:02AM |
|
RE: U-Boot Archiv
|
Marc Haldimann | 08/22/2001 05:13PM |
|
RE: U-Boot Archiv
|
Frank | 08/22/2001 09:51PM |
|
RE: U-Boot Archiv an addition..
|
MPC | 08/22/2001 06:18PM |
|
RE: U-Boot Archiv an addition..
|
Craig Mclean | 08/22/2001 11:38PM |
|
RE: U-Boot Archiv an addition..
|
Frank | 08/23/2001 04:16AM |