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11
HANS BEIN
1921: born in Essen (D)
1937: begins an apprenticeship in the civil service and later works at a savings bank
1939: Reich Labour Service (RAD)
1941: called up for the Wehrmacht and deployed in Russia; wounded; becomes Wehrmacht instructor in Germany
1944: deployed during the Battle of the Bulge; dies near Gralingen (L)
1952: buried at the military cemetery in Sandweiler (L)
Hans Bein and his family, Essen 1932
Hans Bein was called up for the Reich Labour Service (RAD) in 1939 and drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1941. He took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union but was wounded by shrapnel in July 1941. He returned to Germany to recover and became a Wehrmacht instructor. Bein was very determined and, contrary to his parents’ wishes, would have preferred returning to the front. He refrained from volunteering but was nevertheless drafted again at the end of 1944. He resisted his father’s suggestion that he injure himself in order to avoid service. He was deployed during the Battle of the Bulge and died in Gralingen in Luxembourg on 25 December 1944.
Work
Er freute sich wenig darüber ( Ausbilder zu sein ). Vater und Mutter waren froh, ihn einigermaßen sicher aus der Schusslinie zu haben. Freiwillig zur Front wollte er sich melden, doch Vater konnte ihn mit viel Mühe davon abbringen, verbot es ihm direkt – und Hans gehorchte.
Helmut Bein about his brother, 1992
Mass grave and memorial stone with the names of fallen German soldiers, among them Hans Bein
Stolz, voller Enthusiasmus, mit dem Glauben an das Gute der Sache – so schrieb er nach Hause – lag er vor Kiew, und die Truppe kam nicht weiter – und dort erwischte es ihn dann auch: einige Granatsplitter im Körper, mittelschwer verwundet.
Helmut Bein about his brother 1992
Wehrmacht helmet
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