A very good friend has asked me to try to locate any information about his grandfather, a 40+ year old farmer from East Prussia (Intersburg region) who entered the Wehrmacht or Volkssturm circa 1944 and disappeared thereafter. I appreciate any information. Thank you
Mike, You could try- Deutsche Dienstelle (WASt), Postfach 51-06-07, D-13400, Berlin, Deutschland Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)
Perhaps this webpage and the links related -bottom right, "externe Suchdienste !"- can help in your enquirie: http://www.weltkriegsopfer.de/Opfer-Krieg-Gewalt-Datenbank_Soldatenliste_Suche.html Jan.
Hello Mike, just Gordon said the best way is to contact the WAST in Berlin. Do you have more detailed informations about the grandpa of your friend? It would be a good start if you would tell us his name, his birthday and maybe if possible the unit he served ... than I could probably find even more informations about him or about what happened to his unit). There are some special papers for contact the WAST. If I should send these papers just tell me, no problem. But I have to add something about the WAST: when you wrote to WAST to find out something about your grandpa or someone else of your family they will check if it´s really someone close to you. If not you will get no answer. And normally an answer took 12 month time ! So you have to be very patient. There are only a few reasons to get the informations you demand for a little earlier ... Regards Michael from Germany
Here´s a paper you can use for writing to the WAST ( I send you a paper which is written in german langugae, I hope it´s okay. If you need some more introduction just ask - no problem. Michael
I have some additional information on the German MIA. The following is an email from the MIA's son, father of my friend. I believe that this information is all that I will be able to obtain from the family of the MIA. Being most likely that Russian captivity was this man's fate, I may be at an end point in my search. My father was home at Christmas of 1944. Whether "the joy of being allowed to be together" implies a drafting date prior to this, I don't know. He was called up suddenly soon after Christmas, but hoped to see my mother on Jan. 1, 1945. That didn't happen. They corresponded for the next two weeks; and mother planned to visit him on Jan. 20, but that also didn't happen, because we had to flee the farm on the 19th, and were stuck in a traffic jam the next three days or so. When we finally arrived in Labiau, our Kreisstadt 40 kilometers away, where he had been stationed, she was informed that he had been sent to the battle front ("zum Einsatz ausgerückt"). There were "Volkssturmmänner" patrolling the streets of Labiau (crowd control, I guess). But there is no indication that my father was included in the "Volkssturm" designation. He was probably still alive several months later: my mother made a brief visit to our farm some time in the spring and saw convincing evidence that he had been there, and also evidence that he had afterwards been picked up by the Russians. The official report she got from her investigations in 1948, after we had escaped to West Germany, is that he was declared Missing In Action. It was said that he had been in a bunker which was bombed and either died outright, or was likely transported to captivity in Siberia. There is no way to judge the accuracy of that report. IF ANYONE HAS INFO ABOUT SEARCHING RUSSIAN/SOVIET ARCHIVES, I WOULD BE GRATEFUL. THANK YOU, ONE AND ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND CONTRIBUTIONS. SgtMike
Sgt. Mike, I sent you an PM. Maybe that i can help but it is without any guarantee to be successful. Regards Ulrich
