Gensicke, F. Mein Weg zur 31. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division

In his memoirs, former Waffen-SS Unterscharführer Fredo Gensicke describes with a detached eye the eventful path he took from his training with the SS Ersatzbataillon "Der Führer" to the 31st SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadierdivision. Of particular value to those interested in military history are the experiences Gensicke made from the summer of 1944 until the end of the war as part of his work as a registrar in the adjutant's office of the staff of the 23rd SS Waffen-Gebirgs-Division "Kama" (Croatian No. 2) and the 31st SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division in the Balkans, Hungary and Silesia. After five years as a Soviet prisoner of war, Fredo Gensicke returned to his hometown of Berlin as a late returnee in April 1950.

Born in Berlin in 1924, he volunteered for the Waffen-SS in 1940, which he joined a year later after completing his commercial apprenticeship, to be trained as a heavy machine gunner from October 1941. With the SS division "Totenkopf" (Death's Head), he endured the heavy-loss battles in the Demjansk cauldron, from which he was flown out seriously wounded in the summer of 1942. After a long period of convalescence, Gensicke, as a soldier who was not fit for frontline service, performed clerical duties at various Waffen-SS offices, including the SS leadership headquarters in Berlin, due to his commercial training. At the end of his book, the author also discusses his activities at the Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der ehemaligen Angehörigen der Waffen-SS e. V. (HIAG).