Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries
Guide to the Alexander Gustav Martin Diary 1940-1941
Cage.4695
Table of Contents
Summary Information
- Repository
- Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries
- Creator
- Martin, Alexander Gustav, 1874-
- Title
- Alexander Gustav Martin Diary
- ID
- Cage.4695
- Date [inclusive]
- 1940-1941
- Extent
- .05 linear feet, 1 folder.
- Language
- Language
- This collection is in German.
- Abstract
- This collection consists of one volume (number III) of a German-language war diary kept by A.G. Martin in 1940-1941.
Preferred Citation
Alexander Gustav Martin Diary (Cage 4695); Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections; Washington State University Libraries; Pullman, WA.
Biography/History
Alexander Gustav Martin (1874-1946) was born in London, to an Anglo-German mother, Wilhelmine Frederike Kleinwort Martin (1853-1917) and a German father, Philipp Ludwig Robert Martin (1846-1929). His family was part of a large and prominent community of families of German origin in Champion Hill in south London. As a fairly young boy, A.G. Martin was sent to Switzerland for his health and education, and while there he became interested in preparing for a military career in the Prussian army. His family sent him to Kassel, Germany for specialized education and training. He joined the Prussian army in 1893, and was commissioned as an officer in 1894.
His military assignments included work in foreign service as a military attache, most notably in Washington, D.C. during the Theodore Roosevelt administration. He served in the German army during World War I, and was taken as a prisoner of war by the Russian army in 1915. He was sent to a prison camp in Siberia, where he remained until December 1916 when he was returned to Germany in a prisoner of war exchange.
Martin served in the German army for 27 years, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Prussian 6th Dragoons in 1919. After his formal discharge, he joined his family at their home near Konigstein. He and his wife, Andree Richmers Martin, had three children, Gerald, Albert ("Bertie"), and Angela. In 1936, he published a memoir: Mother Country, Fatherland: The Story of a British-Born German Soldier (London: Macmillan, 1936).
Both of his sons, Gerald and Albert, served in the German army during World War II. Alexander Gustav Martin died in Hessen, Germany, in 1946.
Scope and Content
This collection consists of a single item: volume III of a "Kriegstagebuch," or war diary, kept by A.G. Martin from September 1940 to August 1941. It is an 82-page bound typescript, in German, relating his experiences and observations at locations mainly in the Rhineland-Palatinate area of Germany. He and his wife spent much of their time in Bad Homburg, which may have been their home during this time, and most of the diary entries were made there. They also traveled to Baden-Baden, Frankfurt, Berlin, Freiburg, and other destinations. A.G. Martin's sister, Wilhemine "Minnie" Martin Henschel, had married into a prominent manufacturing family in Kassel, and they visited that city in 1940.
Because the repository has no accompanying documentation for the collection, and the volume itself names the author only as "A.G. Martin," the processors of the collection in 2018 found it challenging to identify him. After locating a 1936 memoir by Lieutenant Colonel A.G. Martin, Mother Country, Fatherland: The Story of a British-Born German Soldier, they were able to compare details in the diary with information in the published memoir, and determined that both works are by the same author.
It is likely that this volume is a typed original, or a contemporary transcription by the author, rather than a later typed transcription. The repository has no information about the existence or location of other volumes of Martin's war diary.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries 2018-10-15
http://www.libraries.wsu.edu/masc/
Terrell Library
P.O. Box 645610
Pullman, WA, 99164-5610 USA
509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Restrictions on Access
This collection is open and available for research use.
Restrictions on Use
No known copyright restrictions.
Acquisition Information
At the time of processing in 2018, no acquisition documentation was available.
Processing Information
Cheryl Gunselman and Julie King processed this collection in 2018.
Related Materials
Related Material
Martin, A.G. Mother Country, Fatherland: The Story of a British-Born German Soldier (London: Macmillan, 1936). MASC copy call number: D640 M37 1936.
Names and Subjects
Geographic Name(s)
- Germany--History--1933-1945--Sources.
Subject(s)
- World War, 1939-1945--Germany
- World War, 1939-1945--Sources
- World War, 1939-1945--Germany--Personal narratives
- German diaries--Specimens
- Diaries