Third Reich Books: “Du stehst im Volk” NOT “Du und dein Volk”!
The Third Reich Books[1] English language publication of the German original, “Du und dein Volk” (You and Your Folk, 1940, PDF. English PDF here) by Kurt Schrey and translated by Gerhard Lauck[2] who is behind the aforementioned publishers, is actually a translation of the German original, “Du stehst im Volk” (You are Part of the Folk, 1943, PDF which they also sell) by Hans Belstler and NOT the former title.
I came across this after reading Prof. Randall L. Bytwerk’s[3] free online 2004 English translation of “Du und dein Volk” and the free excerpt that Third Reich Books give on their website.
The confusing thing is that the layout of the beginning of both texts is very similar.
I will detail this below.
The following image is a photo of the introduction to the Third Reich Books 2003 translation of “You and Your Folk”.
The below is the cover of the Lauck translation.
Below is the opening introduction to Bytwerk’stranslation.
The below is the introduction to the German original of “Du und dein Volk.”
Now, Lauck is clearly in error. However, on the very first page of his translation is the below.
It says that “You and Your Folk” is translated from the Third Reich original, “Du Stehst im Volk”. Now, I knew this wasn’t correct and anyone with a basic knowledge of German or easy access to a free online translator will realise this too.
I did a little research and, obviously, it turns out that “Du Stehst im Volk” (Original German PDF scan) is a completely different book. But, the layout of the first page is very similar. See below.
As you can see, this is the German original of the Lauck translation. Regardless of it saying “You and Your Folk” on the cover of Lauck’s translation and the description of it being a translation of “Du und den Volk”, it is actually a translation of “Du stehst im Volk” (You are Part of the Folk) as it also confusingly states on the inside of the book as photographed above. Lauck just printed the cover title incorrectly, and also the introduction by the publisher which states that it is a translation of “Du und den Volk”. See below.
As a side, Lauck also sells a German language reprint of “Du stehst im Volk” on his website. Image below. Very similar cover too!
Though, I am also surprised that Luack didn’t include the name Fritz Wächtler to his translation and chose to ignore it altogether; and Bytwerk thought it read Erich something or other. A simple bit of online research could have cleared this up as I got to the bottom of this myself in less than 3 minutes.
This may seem like nothing in the grand scheme of things regarding the signature, but Lauck is a National Socialist and Bytwerk is an anti-National Socialist academic and both got it wrong!
In the end, we cannot afford to make these mistakes and send incorrect information out into the public. It is as simple as that.
Notes
1] Preuss/RJG Enterprises Inc.
2] NSDAP/AO
3] Professor Emeritus of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA (1985-2014) and Affiliate Professor at LCC International University in Klaipėda, Lithuania (2015-present).
4] Gauleiter: Party Leader of a Regional Territory of the NSDAP. NSLB: National Socialist Teachers League.
5] Fritz Wächtler was a National Socialist “German politician and Gauleiter of the eastern Bavarian administrative region of Gau Bayreuth. Trained as a primary school teacher, he also became head of the National Socialist Teachers League (NSLB) in 1935.”
See also:
* Faith and Action (Glauben und Handeln) by Dr. Helmutt Stellrecht
* Faith and Struggle (Glauben und Kämpfen) published by SS-Hauptamt, 1942.
(Source)