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SS Panzer Division Named for My Ancestor

Discussion in 'Military Service Records & Genealogical Research' started by Cadillac, Jul 26, 2014.

  1. Cadillac

    Cadillac Member

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    Hello all! I have just discovered, while perusing some old family histories made by my great aunt, that I am descended from the namesake of the 10th SS Panzer Division "Frundsberg". One of my ancestors was Count Hiram von Frundsberg, a descendant of the Holy Roman knight for whom the division was named. Once, on a hunting trip in the Alsace region, Hiram came upon a three-year old boy. The boy's father was a Spanish grand duke who had been assassinated by order of Louis XIV. Hiram adopted the boy and gave him the name Valentine Waldmann (as he had been found on Valentine's Day in a wald). Valentine had a son named Conrad, who came to America in 1738. The name Waldmann was Anglicized to Waltman, and one of Conrad's direct descendants was my great-grandmother, Violet.
    The 10th SS Panzers was one of the few SS units that didn't commit any atrocities, and were well-known for their reputation of fighting a "clean war". They participated in the French, Russian, Polish, and Czech campaigns, as well as the fighting in Germany as the war neared its end. Thanks to axishistory.com for information on the division.
    http://www.axishistory.com/books/119-germany-waffen-ss/germany-waffen-ss-divisions/1280-10-ss-panzer-division-frundsberg
     

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