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Germany (1921)
Source:
Siegfried and Kurt Karl (nephew) / Mengersgereuth-Hämmern
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Kurt Schnetter was born on March 3, 1921 in the Thuringian community of Forschengereuth, a district of Mengersgereuth-Hämmern, the son of Georg and Rosa Schnetter. He grew up with his sister Elli in the parental home in the town of around 4,000 inhabitants on the southern edge of the Thuringian Slate Mountains. His older sister Olga, born in 1913, died of meningitis before Kurt Schnetter even reached his first birthday. He grew up to be a tall and strong young man with brown hair and blue eyes. After finishing school, he learned the cooper's trade. His employer was the company Georg Buhl & Sons, where he was valued as a dear and loyal employee.
At the age of 19, Kurt Schnetter decided to join the navy. He was following in the footsteps of his father, who had served on a torpedo boat in the Imperial Navy during the First World War. His volunteer application was successful and he joined at the beginning of June 1940. He completed his basic training with the 5th Schiffsstammabteilung in Eckernförde. After a month, he and around 100 other recruits were assigned to the crew of the new battleship Bismarck. After six weeks on a barge in Gotenhafen — where the Bismarck's seafaring personnel were initially assembled — they finally boarded the battleship at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in August 1940. Kurt Schnetter saw it commissioned there shortly afterwards. Two other Thuringians from the Sonneberg district served with him on the Bismarck. After a long period of training, Kurt Schnetter, now promoted to ordinary seaman, 1st class, set sail on the Bismarck in May 1941. However, he never returned from the war mission. Kurt Schnetter was 20 years old at the time of his loss.
At the beginning of July 1941, the family received a letter from the 2nd Admiral of the Baltic Sea Station, sadly informing them that their son had not survived the sinking of the Bismarck. The obituary published shortly afterwards in the Sonneberger Zeitung clearly shows the family's deep grief for their "more beloved son and unforgettable brother, godfather and nephew". It concludes: "He was our hope and our entire happiness." The news of the death of her only son hit her mother particularly hard. Until her own death, she guarded the few letters from him like a treasure, wore only black clothes and was finally — in accordance with her last wish — buried with her son's letters.
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