Goering, Galland, Luftwaffe senior officers; Goering's train (Sonderzug) at HQ, Eastern Front; Goering's photographer Eitel Lange
Written note on can of 'Goener" refers to Dr. Fritz (Friedrich) Goernnert, of Goering's administrative staff (Stabsamt), responsible for the Reich Marshal's three special trains; he maintained close contact with Martin Bormann & the Nazi Party. OSS Report on Nazi Art Looting names Goernnert and Gen. Kattengel [sic] among participants in Goering's structure for looting art in occupied Europe. The report describes Kattengel as working directly under Goernnert, and indicates Goering's private trains were used to transport much of the art looted from German-occupied Europe. The trains were named"Asie" [Asia] and"Robinson" Gen. Kattengel is included on the OSS report on Nazi Art Looting, described as working under Fritz Goernnert on Goering's administrative staff.
Air-to-ground views from plane, flying over pock-marked countryside. Pilot/officer's face briefly seen in cockpit of Fiesler-Storch at 01:01:00 may be Gen. Wolfram von Richthofen. Front view of propeller spinning after landing. Flying over W. Ukraine? Thatched houses. Landing at airfield under construction; corrugated structures, semi-circular. Man swinging hammer, shirtless in sun. Views of train in woods, presumably Goering's train. 01:03:41 Shooting practice with rifles. Eitel Lange, Goering's still photographer, takes position on his stomach and shoots. Military men, jackets off. 01:04:30:10 One officer shooting rifle is short, round, older, wears sunglasses - Oberst (Group Captain)(Paul Koerner?) Friedrich 'Fritz' Goernnert shoots pistol. [Preceding sequence may be 26 July 1941. See Heinrich Hoffmann photo in FHQ Album #3, Camera Roll 5051, Frame 23 at NARA. Occasion is decoration of Luftwaffe Ace Werner Moelders] 01:05:33 - August 1942 - Three men walking to camera, along side of train. L to R: Goernnert, Gauleiter Josef Grohe, Gen. Karl Bodenschatz. 01:05:44 Adolf Galland on phone, pan to train. 01:06:00 officers by train in trees. Gen. Gunther Korten, others. Animated officer is General der Flieger Karl Bodenschatz, Goering's senior aide and chief adjutant, talking to Kastner-Kirdorf and Hans Jeschonnek. 01:06:14 Officer, Adolf Galland, Karl Bodenschatz, train just behind them. 01:06:20 In the background, the cook for the Sonderzug is at the open train window. 01:06:23:07 On the right Hans Jeschonnek, Luftwaffe Chief of Staff. 01:06:24 Josef Grohe, Gauleiter of Koeln-Aachen, in civilian suit on left, talking to Martin Bormann on right, both seen in profile, train behind. 01:06:29 On right in light uniform is Josef 'Beppo' Schmid, Luftwaffe Intelligence Chief. 01:06:37 Hans Jeschonnek, OKL Chief of Staff, facing camera, seen over Bodenschatz's shoulder. Pan left, including Galland . 01:06:44 ( ?) and Galland 01:06:49 Goering and Galland walk toward camera, along train. Goering without jacket, hitches up pants. 01:06:58 Bodenschatz, Galland, Goering, and Grohe. 01:07:08 Two men stride along train. Wavy-haired man in shirt sleeves looks to camera, possibly Kattengel. 01:07:20 Scenes from, and of train. Scenes along train, guarded, in station. Local people gathered near track, mix with German military men. Western Ukraine. May be near Vinnitsa & Hitler's HQ Wolfschanze ('Werewolf'). Thatched roofs, peasants. NSV woman and military man with local young woman in headscarf. 01:10:00 close views of thatch, women, etc. Ukrainians. 01:10:28 Back at target practice range. Various men shooting. 01:11:01 On belly with rifle: Walter Novotny? Sunny, summery. 01:11:30 01:12:00 interior of Ukrainian peasant house with Hitler portrait on wall amid ornaments, ikons, flowers. Substantial train coverage of all kinds, throughout. Moving footage, shot atop train, mounted A/A guns on grain. Train passing wreckage, other trains, soldiers on guard along track, some civilians? 01:13:50 Military man in overalls (or flying suit?) atop train with still camera, photographing. Probably Eitel Lange, personal still photographer for Hermann Goering. 01:15:32 Polish railway worker close to track. Pause in station at"Brest-Lit" (Brest-Litovsk). Pan down to sign: Bahnhofs Kommandantur. [German signs in Brest-Litovsk suggest 1941, not 1939) 01:15:36 Officers at stopped train. (Including Kattengel? at 01:15:38) Train on the move, passes two uniformed women close & smiling, some prisoners? on side of tracks. 01:16:19 Goernnert, others in uniform, near stopped train, in station. 01:16:27 German soldier, short officer & taller one in Hungarian uniforms. Station sign behind them: KASATIN I. (Major railway hub in Ukraine) Officers strolling up and down quai. Leisurely. Last shot, Oberstleutnant (Wing Commander) Karl Koller, walking with civilian in dark suit NOTES, re. dates: 1941, at time of Operation Barbarossa, invasion of Eastern Poland and Soviet Union; and 1942. Eitel Lange's book,"Der Reichsmarschall im Kriege" includes matching images and describes Grohe's visit to Ukraine as end of August 1942. Lange writes at length about Goernnert, and names"Kaltengel" as one of the others.
See Film ID 2841, Story 4618 for newsreel coverage (DW 571/34/1941) of related scenes, decoration of Werner Moelders and other Luftwaffe aces. Four men in this reel appear in Film ID 2544: Friedrich 'Fritz' Goernnert, on Goering's administrative staff and responsible for his 3 trains; the wavy-haired man who may be Kattengel or Kaltengel; dark-haired man in shirt and tie in shooting practice above; and the man with glasses in shooting practice (photographer Eitel Lange). The men also appear in Film ID 2549.
Handwritten title from original film can:"Goering, Trai". Bechtler Collection Tape #4