Julius Erasmus: Interview from the year 1959 (Published on 24/06/2022)
An interesting original source on Julius Erasmus can be found in a Youtube video on the so-called “Historisch-literarischen Wanderweg Hürtgenwald 1938 – 1947” (“Historical and literary hiking trail Hürtgen Forest 1938 – 1947”) which is part of the project Multimedia-Historyguide by Konejung Stiftung: Kultur. In video “F7” on the so-called “Boesch-Weg” (“Boesch trail”), named after US soldier Paul Boesch, who fought in Hürtgen Forest with the 4th US Infantry Division, from min 00:38 onwards also Julius Erasmus’ work is described (in German language) – this in the form of the conventional “legend”. From min 01:25, an interview excerpt of unknown origin, presumably with a radio station, from 1959 is played, in which Julius Erasmus is questioned about his work.
The video is worth watching and listening to, especially in light of the long-standing portrayal of Julius Erasmus and his activities.
The portion of the video relating to Julius Erasmus is reproduced below in transcribed form for convenience (translated from German language):
“For many of the war dead there was not even a burial for years. It was only thanks to the initiative of the former captain of the engineer forces Julius Erasmus, who had already lived in Vossenack before the war and who worked for the Fortress Engineer Headquarters (‘Festungspionierstab’) at Burgau Castle, that more than 1,500 German soldiers could be recovered through his work alone. Erasmus repeatedly ticked off the authorities, and his disappearance from the region has never been fully resolved. The fact is that he lived for years just a few kilometers away in Nideggen-Abenden and died in 1971 in the Lendersdorf hospital. Listen now to an interview with Julius Erasmus from 1959.
Julius Erasmus (JE): ‘The dead comrades were scattered all over the area, especially in ditches. I immediately began my work of recovering these comrades. Since I had no place to put my comrades, I first buried them at the edges of the woods in order to secure the identification tags to be able to carry out the identification later. With the help of the then priest of Vossenack, Dr Eschweiler, we managed to do the job together. However, after he himself had recovered, I believe, about five to ten dead, I moved on alone. It was not until 1946 that the municipality of Vossenack provided me with a site adjacent to the municipal cemetery in Vossenack to recover my dead. At that time I was provided with four disabled persons to make my work easier, above all to dig graves in the cemetery. In the summer, I usually left at three or three-thirty, since I had to work during the day to earn my living. The area was completely mined. To this day, about 80,000 mines have been dug up here in the Vossenack district.’
Question: ‘That was the great danger. These were the dangerous circumstances, Mr Erasmus, under which you had to work here; under which you recovered the dead here.’
JE: ‘I must say that I never had the thought that something could have happened to me. I always went without any equipment until, when I recovered the 523rd, they forbade me to go into the minefields and rescue comrades there. I then continued to do so during my usual job. The minesweepers were very supportive of me at that time. They reported many dead to me and also sometimes helped me to look for the identification tags with the mine detectors. They were then cleaned in the Fachhaus, because I myself was only living among the rubble, and were sent via the Red Cross to the Deutsche Dienststelle in Berlin for identification.’
Question: ‘How many dead soldiers, Mr Erasmus, have you alone been able to recover?’
JE: ‘By today, this year, on June 10, I recovered my 1,592nd comrade to here.’
Question: ‘This year you still found dead people here?’
JE: ‘We have already found four this year, again. Last year there were eight Germans and one American.’”
The interview is likely to have been of longer duration, but due to the lack of a source reference, this cannot be determined more precisely. The statements are nevertheless a valuable historical source for understanding the events of the time.
(Head picture: Group photo during the construction
of the military cemetery Vossenack in November 1949;
first from right: Julius Erasmus;
source: Archive Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge)
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