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I'll See You Down There by Solsticeman


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I must admit that the moment I started to read this I was gripped. Solsticeman has a way with words which allows him to get to grip with subjects that other writers have difficulty writing about. I know because I have tried to write about the same periods and have given up because I could not get the words to sound right, for me they would not carry the insight into the zeitgeist that was predominant at the time. Without that insight into the zeitgeist such writing becomes weak and immaterial. Solsticeman in elegantly simple language carries that insight into the zeitgeist of the period. He had done this in the past in Wandervogel and in The Moor. Here he does it again. Within the first paragraph I had the feeling of the place, the time and the occasion.

I have no idea where this story will take up, though I think I could hazard some guesses but no doubt they will be wrong. Two things though I do know, wherever it goes it is going to be remarkably well told and it will be historically accurate. Solsticeman does his research.

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WOW! It's a while since I read anything quite so gripping and involved. As a general rule I don't like stories that jump about in timescale, but this one makes it seem natural.

Not saying it's wrong, but is the song "Ich hatt' einen Kameraden" really banned in Gernamy? It dates from 1825 as a song, and earlier as a poem. I can't see anything in the words that would be offensive. Now the Horst Wessel song, I didn't even bother to look up, as it's perhaps the song most closely associated with the Nazis, ever.

But whatever, read the story here:

http://awesomedude.com/solsticeman/i%27ll-see-you-down-there/index.htm

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Not saying it's wrong, but is the song "Ich hatt' einen Kameraden" really banned in Gernamy? It dates from 1825 as a song, and earlier as a poem. I can't see anything in the words that would be offensive. Now the Horst Wessel song, I didn't even bother to look up, as it's perhaps the song most closely associated with the Nazis, ever.

Not sure if it was banned but I do know it was certainly not approved of when I was living in Germany, that was from 1989-1993 and 1995-1997. I understand from some of my German friends that some things that were regarded as bad taste because of the Nazi connections have started to come back into use, if they were not specifically Nazi in origin.

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Thank you guys. Once again I was sitting here wondering how close to acceptable I have sailed.

I think I agree with both of you regarding those songs. As I understand it Horst Wessel is illegal to print or sing. Ich Hatt Einen Kameraden is I suspect not strictly illegal, but jolly bad taste, unless you are a New Zealander WW2 battle re-enactor :-)

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According to Wikipedia Ich Hatt Einen Kameraden is still used at German military funerals! I suspect its use outside that formal setting is what is disapproved of.

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I too looked at Wikipedia, but it cannot be regarded as a trusted source due to the way it is compiled. If "Ich hatt' einen Kameraden" was tainted by its Nazi use, that is a shame really as there is no politics in the words, just regret at a fallen comrade.

But if you've not started reading the story, do so as if the other chapters are half as good as this one, you're still in for a treat.

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  • 2 weeks later...

One thing I admire about Solticeman's writing is the historically accurate detail he puts into his work. I thought I had a reasonably good knowledge of Nazi Germany but I had never come across Napola before, or at least not under that name. Having looked them up I find the detail described here to be very accurate. This story keeps getting better and it is one I can see is going to be very enjoyable.

If you are interested in the Napola there was a film made about them, Before The Fall, there is a trailer on YouTube:

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Thank you Nigel... the circumstantial detail; selection, facilities, rooms, rules etc come from the letters home from a Napola student to his parents. I liked finding incidental detail like the lack of bedside lamps and that the school provided pocket-money, presumably to ensure uniformity across the students. I hope the story will live up to your kind expectation

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you want to understand the events of the Battle of Britain then reading chapter 5 will give you one of the best descriptions of events that I have read. Many years ago I had to write a dissertation on it, which took just under ten thousand words and left me dissatisfied with the explanation of events, Solsticeman has captured the essence of the events in less than a couple of hundred precisely hitting the mark, and done so within the context of well told story that is getting more and more interesting as it goes on.

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I thought Chapter 5 was good but Chapter 6 has been outstanding. The description of the invasion of Crete is well done and historically accurate. It is the small details that make Solticeman's telling of the story so gripping, his observation about North African Coffee, the question whether the spoon would stick up in it, is a small thing but provides colour to the scene setting which makes it work. It also reminded me of the description of good coffee:

It should be as black as the night, as hot as hell and as sweet as sin.

I suspect Gott is going to check how sweet the later is.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Chapter 8 sees us once more into historic events but also manages to bring in elements from 'The Moor' into the story line. I loved Solticeman's story about the two boys from the south of Italy making their way in Rome, it is nice to see them again in this story.

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  • 4 weeks later...

We have come to the end of this story and I must say that by the end I was in tears. This has been an insightful and wonderfully well told insight the events of both the Second World War and the Indo-China war. More importantly it has been an insight into the feeling and motivation of those involved in combat. What must really be recognized though is the extent and detail of the research that has been done by Solticeman in bringing both this story and his other two stories in his World War II trilogy to life.

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Well, its race is run. Many thanks to those of you who stuck with it to thend, and especial thanks to those who have made comment. Apart from the excuse to devote (divert?) fourteen months to a few periods of history that I personally found interesting and under-reported, and of course the Fallschirmjaeger who history has largely forgotten perhaps because they had rather odd helmets and lacked the cache of a Hugo Boss designed uniform. But, more to the point I wanted to explore how youngsters could respond to evil surroundings. That and the notion of ships that pass in the night. We have all said "Oh really? I was there that night too!" Like six degrees of separation, Carlo, Hans and Gott are closer than we think... we are all closer to Hitler and Stalin than we think. Evil is there and always has been, it's how a morally sound boy responds to the challenge that matters.

So, thanks again guys, you make the effort worth it.

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I don't make a practice on commenting often on stories... but this trilogy is one of the finest I have ever read anywhere, at AwesomeDude... on the web, really anywhere.

I have to admit crying my way through this story... much as I chuckled my way through The Moor and sat with my mouth hanging open through Wandervogel.

It was truly, ali in all, a thrilling experience.

Thanks Jeff, for these stories!

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