Finding Dead German Soldiers for English Speakers

[hulkster1]

Hi there,
I recently was given a photo Album of a German Soldier during World War 2. The album shows from when he joined up to when he died. It also showed some personal pictures which could be his family or pics of himself when he was much younger.

I have tried to find out anything I can on the soldier. I have searched the web continuously and have been on countless websites searching but I been unable to find anything!!

The last picture of the album is off his tombstone and from this I could read the following

Name: Heinrich Wiederhold
Born: 18-10-1919
Died: 14-12-1940
'Kanonier' (Gunner)

If anyone could point me in the right direction or even find out about this German Soldier, I would be very grateful.

Regards,

Roy

[Heimatschuss]

Hi Roy,

take this one from http://www.volksbund.de

Nachname: Wiederhold
Vorname: Heinrich
Dienstgrad: Soldat
Geburtsdatum: 18.10.1919
Geburtsort: Malsfeld
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 14.12.1940
Todes-/Vermisstenort:

Heinrich Wiederhold ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Felsberg (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) .
Endgrablage: Block B Reihe 3 Grab 4

So Heinrich Wiederhold originated from Malsfeld in Eastern Hesse and is buried on the Felsberg cemetery in Bad-Münstereifel-Effelsberg (more renowned for its radio telescope).

Best regards
Torsten

[Heimatschuss]

Sorry,

but my last reply was not completely correct. The Volksbund search engine appears to use only a very primitive string search thus pointing to 'Effelsberg' when you look for 'Felsberg'.

Felsberg is a small town about 10 km NW of Malsfeld, both situated in County Schwalm-Eder. This county is one of the strongholds of the Wiederhold family (compare http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/wiederhold.html ).

This makes me guess that Heinrich Wiederhold was burried in his home parish. Either he died while on home leave or the family managed to have his body transferred home. (Volksbund does not provide a place of death in this case.) A transfer home was a rare occurrence but I know of cases where it happened. The lull in the fighting after 1940's western campaign may have been favourable for such a decision.

Best regards
Torsten

[hulkster1]

Hi Torsten,

Thank you very much for this information. It really has made my day if not my year!!

What you say about him being buried in his hometown or his family brought his body back from the war front is also what was the information I got from a research company who were surprised that he actually had a tombstone and not a temporary grave. See email below.....

"Are you certain the album's owner is the
man in the grave picture? It is a rare occurrence for this to happen, and
it is usually an image of a battlefield grave taken by a comrade and sent to
family. In these cases, the grave image is almost always the last image in
the book. I am wondering if perhaps the actual owner of the album took a
picture of a friend's grave and included it within his album. This grave
has a look of permanence, and the date of death leads me to think he was a
BoB casualty."

Unfortunately, I cannot confirm whether Heinrich Wiederhold is the person in the photo album but my educated guess is that the gravestone is of the soldier in the album!

How would I be able to find out how he was killed?

Once again, many thanks for your help!

Regards,

Roy

[Bjørn from Norway]

Hello!
A small comment: "All you need is date of death and name"
You do not need the date of death.

B.

[Heimatschuss]

How would I be able to find out how he was killed?

Regards,

Roy

Hello Roy,

one possibilty would be to ask the WAST (Wehrmachtauskunftstelle) for information on him
http://www.dd-wast.de/

What I don't know is if you as a non-relative are entitled to obtain such information at all. Well OTOH I don't think they'll spend too much research into your family background.

The other way I can think of is to write to the cemetery administration in Felsberg and ask if the grave still exists and if they could provide you with a contact address of Wiederhold's relatives.
http://www.felsberg.de/w3a/cms/Home/Rat ... .1471.html
I'm not sure it'll work because of the imbecile laws on data protection here in Germany but better than nothing.

Best regards
Torsten

[InfanterieRgt48]

I'm wondering if those same laws are why I have not heard back from the Deutsche Dienststelle as well; but I only put in my request last June, and I know there must be millions of records to search through, if they are even bothering to process my request on a cousin. This much I did find out from a friendly guy at the Bundesarchiv:

Nachname: Beck
Vorname: Julius
Dienstgrad: Gefreiter
Geburtsdatum: 05.09.1924
Geburtsort: Storzing(en)
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 04.10.1944
Todes-/Vermisstenort: nicht verzeichnet

Julius Beck ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Bedburg-Hau (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) Endgrablage: Block F Grab 218.

Would anyone know if there is anyway that I can get information on this cousin of mine? Or even if anyone has successfully done it before, I strongly doubt that any of Julius's relatives would be willing to pursue such an endeavor (I think that the only relative living now might be a sister, or a cousin herself) and I really don't want to email the farm dredging up the past, especially on a relative who was, quite possibly, killed while fighting my country. Are there any other avenues other than the DD WASt for records of German soldiers? I would rather not see his name resigned to history because of information protection laws, I would almost wonder if there were any University or research loopholes that might present themselves...

[Namwar]

Hi there,
I recently visit an area in my country (Namibia) where i came apon an old grave of an soldier from Germany. I took a picture of the grave.
Does anybody know where I can find information about his history or get hold of his relatives.
The following information is on the grave.

HIER RUHT REITER
G.TARABA
GEB: 22.4.1883
GEFT: 09.11.1905
ALURISFONTEIN

I believe that his family want a foto or at least want to know where his grave is.

Thank you

PS. I have tried to find out anything I can on the soldier. I have searched the web continuously and I been unable to find anything.

[Laurasia]

Hey guys.

Unfortunately when I tried to use the site given in the original post, after putting in the necessary information, I was asked to register with the site & fill out a questionnaire. Since I can barely read German that was problematic. I doubt that the man I am searching for would come up in their records anyway as I am looking for an SS/SD campman who did not die in action on any front with the Wehrmacht.

That being the case, does anyone know of a resource or archive for finding information on the SS/SD campmen or the Nazis that commited suicide while being detained?

Sincerely,
Laurasia