Manfred Zanker was to become a Nazi like his father. The son of an NSDAP activist, however, stated that he would not risk his life for a madman with a mustache. He coaxed from classes at the Hitler Youth. To avoid conscription to the army, he tried to flee to Switzerland. Finally, he deserted from the Wehrmacht and ... joined the Polish partisans. You just have to know this curriculum vitae!
I am entrusted with the national education of the Germans. I'll take care of it - was noted in his diary by Joseph Goebbels in August 1932. And he kept his word. Nazi propaganda was present on the screens of cinemas, radio, theater, schools, universities.
One of the ways to "educate the German nation" was also the Hitler Youth, a youth organization linked to the Nazi party. For Oswin Zanker, who held a leading position in the party in Bautzen, enrolling his son Manfred in the Hitler Youth was a matter of honor .
“The national education of the Germans is entrusted to me. I'll take care of it, Joseph Goebbels promised himself. He kept his word (source:Bundesarchiv, license:CC-BY-SA 3.0).
Son of the Nazi - pacifist
Like most Germans, Oswin Zanker struggled with poverty after World War I. It was only after 1933, when the Nazis came to power, that he changed from a traveling trader to a manager of a large department store. He was filled with gratitude. He imagined that his son would help build a national homeland.
Manfred had other plans, however. The boy was not interested in the service or the Nazi party. Playing war is not for him. He preferred to look at plants and animals for hours. He was collecting butterflies. Supposedly wanted to become a biologist.
Manfred Zanker was out of his way with ulizowani colleagues from the Hitler Youth. Daily drill and lining up? It's not his cup of tea! (source:Bundesarchiv, license:CC-BY-SA 3.0).
Manfred notoriously played truant from his classes at the Hitler Youth. These were his first attempts to escape the totalitarian system. To his father's despair, he did not support the Nazis . The son of a Nazi grew up to be a pacifist - a shame and a disgrace for the whole family! And that was just the beginning.
Deserter and simulator
Manfred turned eighteen in 1942. The army needed people like him - well-grown, healthy youngsters. He received a call to a labor squad in the vicinity of Gdańsk. Instead, he decided that he would flee to Switzerland via the green border . The Germans caught him and he was arrested for his escape attempt.
Oswin Zanker had to use his influence and money to save the only child from oppression. Manfred explained to the court that he wanted to get to the Afrika Korps. After three months, the father came to prison and took his son straight to the labor camp near Dresden.
There, the young Zanker earned a reputation as the greatest simulator . He rubbed the thermometer and told everyone he had a fever. He knew that the thermometer could not be higher than 38 degrees, because then the pulse would change and the doctor could detect the deception. He also faked an appendicitis until he was referred for surgery. The hospital was better than the daily drill.
In mid-1943, a few months after Goebbels declared total war, Manfred became a private member of the Sapper Battalion of the 154th Infantry Division . Initially, he was stationed near Dresden, and after a few months his battalion was moved to the vicinity of Przemyśl.
Zanker was such a convincing simulator that he even ended up in a sanatorium in Krynica! Here he started learning Polish (source:public domain).
Private Zanker had already practiced a rich repertoire of tricks. He was so successful in pretending to be sick that his superiors sent him to a sanatorium in Krynica for two weeks, where he was treated with wounded soldiers on the eastern front. There he started learning Polish.
Manfred wants to be "Jedrus"
In 1944, the fate of World War II was already sealed. At that time, Manfred Zanker was stationed in the barracks in Sandomierz and had only one goal ahead - not to get killed . His main duty was to watch over Poles digging trenches. It was not a very engaging job.
One of the Poles spoke German very well. Manfred asked him for help in writing letters to a Polish girl who caught his eye. The name of an obliging Pole was Tadeusz Pfeiffer and he was active in the Home Army. Similarly to his mother, Mrs. Irena, who ran a canteen in Sandomierz, where private Zanker often stopped for lunch.
The surrounding forests were swarming with partisans. Manfred Zanker, the son of a Nazi, decided to join the "Jędrusiów" unit. In the photo:Zdzisław de Ville "Zdzich" from the "Jędrusiów" branch (the photo comes from the photographic archive of Stefan Bałuk. Source:public domain).
It was to them that the young German soldier began to tell about his wartime adventures, his family, his mother, who wrote between the lines in her letters so as not to take any risks. In Sandomierz, for the first time since his history with Switzerland, he thought of an escape. The more so because now he had nowhere to - the surrounding forests were swarming with Polish partisans, the famous "Jędrusia". Manfred decided to become one of them.
Escape to the forest
Akowcy watched him closely and reported his case to their boss - Leon Torliński "Kreta", who was an intelligence officer before the war. The Mole had to meet Manfred in person. He also set tough conditions - he will be admitted to "Jędrusia" if he brings with him three machine guns, the latest invention of the Germans.
The escape from the Wehrmacht was scheduled for July 13, 1944. Together with Manfred, the Silesian Jerzy Pyka and Robert Toman from Lorraine deserted. All three could stay in the forest with the partisans, but only Zanker was accepted into the conspiracy . Partisans gave him a joking nickname "Little", because he was almost 2 meters tall.
Soldiers of the "Jędrusiów" unit with manual machine guns. Are these the ones stolen by Manfred? (source:public domain).
Manfred was not eager to fight. He announced immediately that he would not shoot. He just wanted to survive the war - says Jerzy Lech Rolski, a partisan nicknamed "Babinicz", one of the last living "Jędrusia". "Tiny" was successful in a different field.
"Babinicz" recalls Manfred going out to steal chickens. Partisans usually bought food from peasants, but sometimes it failed, and you had to eat. The chickens were thrown grain soaked in spirit, then they turned over and could be easily caught in a sack. To impress his colleagues, Manfred even stole the horse of the commander of the German unit who was based at a nearby estate.
Moments of Terror
Private Zanker came to "Jędrusia" in the worst period. The partisan units were already so numerous that it was difficult for them to hide. German planes often circled over the Świętokrzyskie forests. Jerzy Lech Rolski recalls how a German grenade fell into a pot in which groats were cooked. Many partisans suffered burns at that time.
Manfred certainly found himself much better among the forest guerrillas than in the Hitler Youth. In the photo:"Jędrusiów" branch in the Turskie Forests (source:public domain).
Manfred experienced his greatest moments of terror when he was convalescing in Biały Ług after suffering from dysentery. Unexpectedly, the Germans came to the estate. Fortunately, had no idea that the deserter wanted by the arrest warrant was hiding there . "Little" pretended to be a worker. When the gendarmes checked all Poles one by one, Manfred showed a document stating that he was a displaced person from Warsaw.
In January 1945, "Jędrusie" laid down their arms. The Home Army was disbanded. Zanker was close to achieving his goal of surviving the war. But things got complicated again. He couldn't admit to the Soviets that he was German . It was also not the best move to admit to being active in the Home Army.
Russian spy, German spy
At the urging of his fellow partisans, he pretended to be an Englishman. He said he was from Cardiff and his plane had been shot down. The Russians did him a favor and took him to Częstochowa, where the English prisoners were kept. There, he was asked to replace stations on the London-Cardiff railroad. Manfred didn't reply.
The last photo of the former unit of "Jędrusiów", at that time already the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Home Army Legions, taken before the dissolution of the unit in the Siekierzyńskie Forests (source:public domain).
The English recognized him as a Russian spy and they took them with their prisoners to the British Embassy in Moscow. There he told his war story that no one believed.
He was sent to the notorious NKVD prison on Lubyanka. Years later, he recalled that it was not so bad there:everyone had their own bed and sheets. They gave food and did not beat. But the threat was great - the Russians suspected that Zanker was a spy. He explained that he was a German from Bautzen. This was confirmed when the Red Army entered his hometown.
Maybe not a spike, but socioopasnyj (a suspicious element) - the Soviets decided - that is five years of a labor camp in Siberia. As Maciej A. Zarębski, the author of the book "Visiting Mafreda", recalls, it could have been worse. Harmful political element, espionage, terror - with such accusations, the death penalty is a solid one.
Łubianka - the current headquarters of the FSB, former KGB and NKVD in Moscow. Many political prisoners, including many Poles, were murdered in the basement of this building. Manfred Zanker, suspected of espionage, was also held here (source:public domain).
Seven years of Siberia for a sack of potatoes
Manfred ended up in the vicinity of Novosibirsk. After three years of serving his sentence, he stole a sack of potatoes on his way home from work in the field. The guards usually turned a blind eye to this. But that day, an inspection was ordered. Manfred's trophy was taken and a new penalty was awarded - one year for each kilogram stolen . There were seven kilos in the sack…
At that time, it seemed that he would not leave Siberia until 1957. However, he was released from the labor camp in 1953, after Stalin's death. He returned to his family home in Bautzen, where his mother was waiting for him. My father hanged himself in 1945 after the surrender of Germany.
Happy weirdo Manfred Zanker
After the war, Manfred Zanker studied Slavic studies in Berlin. He became a sworn translator of the Russian language. A language he had learned well during eight years in Siberia. Translated for Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany.
If Oswin Zanker had received such a photo from his son, he would probably have burst with pride. Manfred, however, did not share his father's delight with Hitler. In the photo:German soldier Hans Hoff is sitting on a captured Soviet tank (source:public domain).
In the 90s, he renewed contacts with his friends from the forest. He came to Poland for the meetings of "Jędrusia". He particularly liked the sanatorium in Busko-Zdrój, a place recommended by "Babinicz". He had a paid room there for a whole year, he came unannounced and disappeared when he wanted to. He was considered a nice freak among Polish friends.
He wore a long beard like Santa Claus, or he would shave it and grow a mustache. He dyed shoulder-length hair or shaved his head to zero. He did not respect mealtimes and ate when he was hungry. He sent parcels from Germany - chocolates, porcelain figurines, newspaper clippings - whatever he had on hand. He spoke a mixture of Polish and Russian.
Fifty years after the guerrillas, he still hoped that he would master Polish perfectly - just like Russian. He died on September 16, 2007 in Berlin.