German South West Africa war graves

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James D.N.MacKenzie
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German South West Africa war graves

#1

Post by James D.N.MacKenzie » 30 Nov 2010, 12:00

I have done three trips to Namibia in the last two years and have taken over 1300 photos of both British, South African and German war graves. There are a lot more that I have not been able to get to, to photograph yet, but hope to do those in the future.

My aim is to add a section onto my website that will cover the German war graves as the British and South African graves seem to be well covered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and The War Graves Photographic Project.

I am sure that most German family members have never had the opportunity to travel to Namibia to visit the graves of their ancestors and they will be able to view them on my website.

I would like to add in a brief history of the different campaigns in the German South West Africa, any information as to how the soldier was killed or what disease he died from, photos of the soldiers, and any old photos of the graves, possibly taken at the time of the burial.

My request is to anyone who may be able to help with photos or information, to please contact me.

I have attached two photos of the Gibeon Station Cemetery, where there are both German and South African WWI graves, one old photo and a recently taken photo from the same angle.

Kind regards

James D.N. MacKenzie
SAM - Southern Africa Militaria
http://southernafricamilitaria.com
Attachments
Gibeon Station Cemetary 3.jpg
Gibeon Station Cemetary 3.jpg (30.79 KiB) Viewed 2735 times
Gibeon Station Cemetary 2.jpg
Gibeon Station Cemetary 2.jpg (55.31 KiB) Viewed 2735 times

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Chris Dale
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Re: German South West Africa war graves

#2

Post by Chris Dale » 13 Dec 2010, 15:18

Hi James,

Welcome to the AHF :welcome:

That sounds like a really good idea, I'm sure myself and other forum members would be happy to help try to identify graves and gather information. You're right in that many German families have probably never had the chance to find "Great Uncle Heinrich's Grave" or similar.

We in the UK are lucky to have the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, last year I found online the cemetry in France where my Grandmother's cousin lies. Maybe your site could do a similar job for the German graves in SWA.

Please let us know how the project progresses.

Cheers
Chris


James D.N.MacKenzie
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Joined: 29 Nov 2010, 13:56

Re: German South West Africa war graves

#3

Post by James D.N.MacKenzie » 13 Dec 2010, 18:00

Hi Chris

Thanks for the support, will keep you posted.

Cheers

James

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DSWA
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Joined: 21 Aug 2008, 21:03
Location: Namibia

Re: German South West Africa war graves

#4

Post by DSWA » 02 Jan 2011, 13:43

Hi James

I have been doing research on the war graves ( Shutztruppe ) in Namibia for 3 years now. Let me know which
grave sites (photos ) you need and I will see if I have available for you. Also I do have information on some
of the Schutztruppe on how they died let me know on that too.
I hope we can share our information on what we have.

Kind regards
DSWA
Namibia
my email is [email protected]

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Marcus
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Re: German South West Africa war graves

#5

Post by Marcus » 04 Dec 2011, 13:00

From Bundesarchiv:
Image
Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika, Uchanaris.- Zwei Gräber der deutschen Schutztruppe mit Grabsteininschriften: "Es fielen für Kaiser und Reich bei Hehanaris 1.11.06 Gef. Hauser, 9. Batterie; Rtr Peifert, Schubert, Schmidtke, Sauermann, 3. Ersatz-Kompanie"
/Marcus

James D.N.MacKenzie
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Joined: 29 Nov 2010, 13:56

Re: German South West Africa war graves

#6

Post by James D.N.MacKenzie » 04 Dec 2011, 18:32

Hi Marcus

Many thanks for the photo. I have this one already, if you come across any other please let me know.

Cheers

James D.N. MacKenzie
SAM - Southern Africa Militaria
http://www.samilitaria.com

Regenzeit
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Location: Windhoek

Re: German South West Africa war graves

#7

Post by Regenzeit » 27 Jan 2015, 22:39

The German war-graves in Namibia are looked after regularly by the Namibian branch of the German war-grave society: Kriegsgräberfürsorge under the able leadership of Mr. Harald Koch. On behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (Centurion, South Africa) they also look after the graves of the Union-troops that lost their lives during 1914/15
Contact: Harald Koch, P.O. Box 5648, Windhoek, Namibia; Tel. 061-222588

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Tanzania
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Re: German South West Africa war graves

#8

Post by Tanzania » 23 Dec 2015, 18:35

FULL LIST OF GERMAN WAR LOSSES IN DSWA 1914-1918


Dear James,

I also appreciate your good work. Unfortunately DSWA / Namibia is not my special field,
otherwise I would be able to give you more references.

Here is only one link which listed all German losses with full names, Location of death,
Rank and most of the times additional data. Special location and date could be maybe
helpful for your further research. http://denkmalprojekt.org/2013/bremen_k ... a_wk1.html

Cheers Holger
“Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. . . . All History was a
palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary” – G. ORWELL 1984

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