Death
Von Richthofen was suffering from headaches and exhaustion and was diagnosed as having a brain tumor. He was sent on medical leave to the Luftwaffe hospital for neurological injuries at Bad Ischl. On 27 October 1944, Von Richthofen was operated on by chief brain surgeon Professor Dr. Wilhelm Tönnis. Tönnis, a former professor at the University of Würzburg, was one of the most noted German specialists. Initially it was thought that the operation was successful, but the tumor had only been slowed. In November 1944 von Richthofen was officially relieved of his command in Italy and transferred to the Führerreserve. His condition declined steadily in early 1945. It is thought likely that Professor Tönnis attempted a second operation but the tumor had progressed beyond hope for recovery. Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945. The hospital was taken over by the American Third Army and von Richthofen became a prisoner of war. Wolfram von Richthofen passed away on 12 July 1945.
Read more about this topic: Wolfram Freiherr Von Richthofen
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“For in the word death
There is nothing to grasp; nothing to catch or claim;
Nothing to adapt the skill of the heart to, skill
In surviving, for death it cannot survive,
Only resign the irrecoverable keys.
The wave falters and drowns. The coulter of joy
Breaks. The harrow of death
Depends. And there are thrown up waves.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“We should stop looking to law to provide the final answer.... Law cannot save us from ourselves.... We have to go out and try to accomplish our goals and resolve disagreements by doing what we think is right. That energy and resourcefulness, not millions of legal cubicles, is what was great about America. Let judgment and personal conviction be important again.”
—Philip K. Howard, U.S. lawyer. The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America, pp. 186-87, Random House (1994)
“It is difficult to accept death in this society because it is unfamiliar. In spite of the fact that it happens all the time, we never see it.”
—Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (b. 1926)