Scherzer, Veit (Hrsg.) Ein Krieg geht zu Ende. Erlebnis- und Stimmungsbericht eines Soldaten am Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges

The author, retired staff physician Dr. med. dent. Hans-Otto Cramer, a relative of the last Commanding General of the German Afrika Korps, Hans Cramer, was in Kufstein at the end of April 1945. There, until 8 May, "in the mountains of Tyrol, in hours of relaxation [...] after a cruel war event", he put down on paper his experiences in the final phase of the war in the "home war zone", which are still kept in the family today.

The factual report begins in mid-January 1945, at which time Dr Cramer was serving as a dentist at an unknown post (presumably at the site administration) in Lamsdorf/Upper Silesia, which was located close to Stalag VIII B, the so-called British camp. After the large-scale Soviet attack from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains, when the Red Army approached Lamsdorf, the camp was relocated. The prisoners preferred to leave with the Wehrmacht in a westerly direction. No Briton wanted to be liberated by the Soviets. In the midst of huge columns of prisoners, mixed with refugee trains, Dr. Cramer and his people finally reached Görlitz, his home town, on a goods train under unspeakable strain. On 12 February he left Görlitz with his unit, not without taking his family with him, and moved towards Oschatz as ordered. On the evening of 12 February, he reached Dresden on a goods train. Together with his family, he experienced the terrible bombing raid on the city on 13-14 February, during which he "lost his laughter in the hours of horror" and which he describes in a harrowing way. In mid-March he was transferred again, to the Wehrmacht dental station in Altenburg. After only 14 days he was transferred again, this time to Kufstein, where he experienced the end of the war. What Dr Cramer experienced during this time, apart from the countless bomb and Jabo attacks on railway stations and trains, is almost unbelievable. The reality described has nothing whatsoever to do with what one usually reads about the last weeks of the war. There was no longer any "national community", no willingness to help, no compassion, everyone was out for themselves, Hitler pictures and swastika flags were thrown in the dirt on the streets, there was vandalism in the barracks and infirmaries, officers stole from each other, couples publicly dropped all inhibitions. The army in the stage was disintegrating.