Historical Accounts
SKETCHES
Sebastian Leicht Artist
Dr. John Michel mentioned in his essay on Sebastian Leicht that Sebastian Leicht made a fairly large number of drawings and sketches on the Western war front and that the whereabouts of these are not known.
So it was a huge surprise to receive an e-mail from a young Texan, Mr. Eric Flatt, who wrote that he inherited from his grandfather two sketchbooks presumly done by someone with the name of Sebastian Leicht. Mr. Flatt did send me some sketches and it was very evident, that it was the work of Danube Swabian artist Sebastian Leicht.
Mr. Flatt is generously sharing those sketches with us. He wrote:
…”It is my pleasure to share this work. I’m excited that it makes others excited as well. It’s unfortunate they were hidden away in a box, up in some closet for the last 60 years. I’m very glad my aunt came across these treasures and set them aside for me. My grandfather was a tank mechanic in the 5th Armoured Division. He landed at Normandy Beach on D-Day and stayed there until the war was over. He helped write 2 books after the war about his battalion’s battles. He had lots of Nazi mementos, swords, daggers, helmets, armbands, bayonets, guns etc., but this is the first time I had ever seen the sketchbooks. None of the family knows how they were acquired or had ever seen them themselves…”
Mr. Flatt sent some 60 sketches, and some are displayed here. He wrote that one of the sketchbooks had only a few sketches, and “The rest of the pages are blank. Except for the bigger one, my grandfather apparently used if for a scrapbook while over there. It’s filled with dozens of newspaper clippings of battles the 5th Armoured was in, the news about the war and had all kinds of other stuff glued inside patches, stamps, etc….”
Mr. Flatt did contact the Landmannschaft der Donauschwaben Museum, as well we are trying on his behalf to get in contact with Sebastian Leicht’s daughter. We in turn are greatfull that Mr. Flatt is sharing the sketches with us.
Rosina T. Schmidt
17. July 2018
