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Walter Julius Bloem | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 October 1898 |
| Disappeared | May 1945 Berlin, Nazi Germany |
| Occupation(s) | Writer,Waffen-SS soldier |
Walter Julius Bloem (October 22, 1898 – presumed dead 1945) was a German writer who became known under the pseudonymKilian Koll. Bloem was an officer in the First and Second World War as well as a member of theSS.
Bloem was born in 1898 inBarmen, in present-dayNorth Rhine-Westphalia,Germany, as the son of the writerWalter Bloem, noted as an author of patriotic novels, and his first wife Margarete Kalähne. His father e.g. wrote the memoir "The Advance from Mons 1914"—the translation included a foreword byJames Edward Edmonds who called it "one of the most graphic and dramatic accounts of the war yet written."
Since his earliest youth, Bloem suffered from irreparable hearing damage. Nevertheless, in 1915, at the age of 16, he volunteered for service in the First World War at the front, after he had fulfilled his father's demand that he complete hisOberprima (roughly advanced secondary school in the US) at Easter 1915. In the war, he was decorated several times including theIron Cross, first and second classes, and at the end of the war, he waslieutenant and company commander on theWestern Front. He was wounded several times, and his hearing damage had worsened so much that he was almost deaf. After the war, he fought until 1919 in theFreikorps inPoznań against Polishparamilitaries.
Back in civilian life, he studied philosophy and was awarded aDoctorate of Philosophy. After several trips through Germany andWestern Europe, he finally settled with his wife as a settler inNikolaiken,East Prussia.
Bloem began writing novels and poetry. His concentration was, among other things, the new medium of film. Under the titleDie Seele des Lichtspiels - Ein Bekenntnis zum Film (The Soul of the Moving Picture - an Avowal of Film), he produced a work in 1922 which is still recognized today by film theorists. In order to distance himself from his famous father, he wrote under the pseudonym Kilian Koll.
In addition, he discovered the love ofsoaring.
In 1933, Bloem welcomed the seizure of power (Machtergreifung) byAdolf Hitler and saw him as the savior of Germany. In his works Bloem glorifiedNational Socialist ideas.
Despite his severe disability, he succeeded in joining theLuftwaffe as an officer in 1938. During the Second World War, he flew missions with the "Boelcke" squadron (Kampfgeschwader 27) in the war against Poland and France. He was shot down in May 1940, but was able to parachute to safety. After a short stint in French captivity, he returned to Germany.
He joined theWaffen-SS, where he last fought in May 1945 duringBattle for Berlin enduring the battles in and aroundBerlin city. He is considered missing since then.
After the war, many of his works in theSoviet occupation zone were added to the"Liste der auszusondernden Literatur" (list of banned books).[1][2][3]
The short story "Urlaub auf Ehrenwort" was filmed twice: once in1937 under the direction ofKarl Ritter, featuringRené Deltgen,Berta Drews,Carl Raddatz, andPaul Dahlke. A remake was made in1955, directed byWolfgang Liebeneiner, featuring, among others,Claus Biederstaedt andPaul Esser.
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