Researching Ops

[ancestry]

Hello. My name is Amber Drews. I'm new to your discussion group but was very impressed by your website and posts from a historical viewpoint.

We have recently found some handwritten notes that my father made concerning my grandfather, as well as some notes (in German, very difficult to read handwriting) in which my Opa had written responses to questions. Some of the notes are intriguing, and I was wondering if any of you might be able to help me sort out this part of our family history (both my father and Opa have passed away, and Oma won't discuss anything about that period of time).

I have contacted the Bundesarchive (no response yet), and done a fair amount of research, but have several questions I was hoping you might help with.

(1) My grandfather wrote that he was awarded the EK1. I don't know how to verify this claim - are there any databases that you could recommend to search for either an EK 1 or EK 2 awarded to him?

(2) My uncle had always said he was in an SS unit - in the paperwork, it lists specifically "Der Furher", "Das Reich" and "Polizei Division (?TITO?)" - I haven't had any luck confirming this information - again, could you recommend any resources?

(3) How would I find his rank out? We think he was enlisted, but have no references to rank.

Personal details:

Karl Frederick Drews
Born: 13 Dec. 1904 (I think in Turza?)
Died: 8 Sept 1992 in Naples, Fl. USA

His father's name:
Carl Ferdinand Drews (1829-1920)

These are additional notes that were in the papers we found (forgive any spelling errors, please, handwritten notes):

"Petersburg Nov 1941 - Mosha, Charkow, Wolchow, Petersberg" -
"Flak ost"- "Der Furher"
"Latvia, Goldinger(sp?) Christmas '41"
"Wolchow May '42-Sept '42"
"Merginghauser Sept '42"
"unit was moved to Bordeaux Jan '42"
"they were outfitted to go to Africa but cancelled"
"Wolchow Jan '43 - Sept '43 - Das Reich" - leg injury
"Sent back to Regensburg, where he had a leg injury operated on, Dec '43- Jan '44""
"Griederland (sp?) - March '44 - Polizi Division "TITO" to Nov '44"
"Yugoslavia Nov' 44"
"Regensburg Jan '45
"nach Wein - reassigned "Schneibstube (sp?) - Staab

"Captured by Weir "by American negros" "
"Escaped"
"Recaptured, was being sent to Russia, escaped from the train"

Thank you for your time and interest. We are also contacting my Oma's brother, who says that Opa mailed him everything he had (photos, papers, possibly more) before he died because he knew Oma would have thrown it all out. I'll let you know if we find anything of interest to your group.

Sincerely,
Amber Drews
riverkayak@earthlink.net

[Simon O.]

Hi Amber and welcome

I'm sure things will be clearer once you hear back from the bundesarchive.

Regiment 'Der Führer' was one of the infantry regiments belonging to the 'Das Reich' division

I don't know how far you've got but some basics on the division you'll find here, if you haven't already seen it.
http://www.dasreich.ca/

If he was with Das Reich then the Jan-43 should read Charkow rather than Wolchow.
looks like he was re-assigned to the Polizei division then operating in Greece and also Yugoslavia, hence the 'Tito'
'Schneibstube' would be 'Schreibstube' a unit's orderly room (office).

Please do let us know what you find, especially any photos.

[ancestry]

Thanks!

Dear Simon,

Thank you for your help. We're slowly gathering up more information. Once we can sit with Oma's brother, Vik, I'm sure a lot more information will be available. Right now, I'm trying to organise a timeline correlated with unit & place.

I think there are quite a few photos in the stuff Opa sent to Vik. I don't know about medals or the like, but will certainly let you know if we find anything of interest to the group. Opa was a keen letter writer, so there may be some nuggets buried in the papers as well.

Thank you for the link and the spelling corrections - they should help us quite a bit.

Sincerely,
Amber

[Larry deZeng]

Hi Amber -

I agree with Simon. You have already worked up a pretty fair outline and once you get the additional information from BA-MA Freiburg and your great uncle you will be able to add considerably to the detail. Have you contacted WASt in Berlin? That's usually the starting point for most people looking for official data on a relative who served in the Wehrmacht.

After you have the additional material and decide you want to dig deeper into the subject, let us know and we will try and help if we can.

--Larry

[ancestry]

thanks

Dear Larry,

Thank you for your response as well. I will follow up with your suggestions. We're planning a trip to visit my great uncle, possible in December. Hopefully I'll have more details from the Bundesarchive by then as well.

Thank you for your time. I'm amazed at the in-depth knowledge that members of the group have identifying photos and other items. Very impressive!

Thanks again,
Sincerely,
Amber

[RaymondG]

Hi Amber

I did some digging in my SS files and could find no information for you.

If you are finding dealing with the Archives hard work, then you could enlist a researcher to pick up the baton for you. Naturally, this comes at a cost, but would be a fast route option available to you.

Good luck with your search and I know that I and other forum members would be most interested to see the results of your investigations

Raymond

[ancestry]

researcher

Dear Raymond,

Thank you for looking through your resources. I suspect the officers are more thoroughly documented than the enlisted were.

We would actually be interested in hiring a researcher (it's amazing how time consuming research is!). Would I be better to wait until after I see what my great Uncle has, or would a researcher be able to locate enough information based on names, birthdates and military units?

If you know of a specific researcher, or a reputable research company that you'd recommend, I think we would be interested in hiring someone. I'm at a bit of a brick wall right now, despite many hours of dredging through stuff, but am eager to learn more.

Thank you for your time again,
sincerely,
Amber

[Simon O.]

Wait until you see what your great uncle has, and seeing as you've already done it, what the bundesarchiv can tell you.

I notice he was born in 1904, that would be too old really for just a regular infantryman so there's a whole range of interesting possibilities. A senior NCO for example, perhaps he was pre-war SS even.

[ancestry]

Dear Simon,


>>>>I notice he was born in 1904, that would be too old really for just a regular infantryman so there's a whole range of interesting possibilities. A senior NCO for example, perhaps he was pre-war SS even.

That's one reason we're very interested in his history. We were told as children that he was a simple farmer and was conscripted into the German Army at gun point and forced to fight on the Russian front.

However, speaking with my Uncle Vik has shed a different light on some things. Specifically, he said Opa was appointed as a town mayor (or similar capacity) in the years leading up to the war, therefore likely pre-war SS.

Another interesting detail is that my grandmother was born in Latvia into a very wealthy family. From what I understand, the Germans paid them a substantial amount in gold and let them pretty much take everything portable from her father's estates (for example, hundreds of horses) and resettled them into Poland. Dad's notes reflect that this was done to move pro-Germans into Poland, while appeasing Russia by letting them have Latvia.

Uncle Vik said that a large farm in Poland was basically seized from someone else and given to my grandfather and his family - again pointing to possible significant political affiliations (and unlikely that he was conscripted at gun point!)

So, yes, we're abit interested in finding out about this.....

Thanks,
Amber

[Huntzman]

......We were told as children that he was a simple farmer and was conscripted into the German Army at gun point and forced to fight on the Russian front.

Amber

If your Opa was in the SS, then it is reasonable to assume that post WWII it would have been prudent to distance oneself from the SS. There are numerous instances of captured SS personnel wearing Heer tunics. SS personnel seemed to have a target on them.


As one author put it "SS, Alibi of a Nation".

Good luck with your research !!!

Andrew

[ancestry]

*Update

Update on researching Opa-

Following Raymonds advice, we hired an excellent researcher. He found a huge treasure trove of documents - multiple photos of both my Oma and Opa, 160-page personal file, family trees for both branches and even bios written by both of them, in their own handwriting, before they got married!

Opa was enlisted SS, but very low ranking, an SS Kannonier

This is exciting to be able to learn so much in such a short time! Mum said my dad spent years just trying to figure out if Opa was SS or not (suspected, but no one would confirm) - our researcher found that out in hours, plus a depth of material which is stunning!

Thanks for everyone's help on the boards. I wasn't even aware you could hire researchers for these type of projects!

Sincerely,
Amber

[Simon O.]

If he was in for any amount of time it would be highly unusual that he remained at Kanonier (kanonier indicating he was an artilleryman but could also be flak).

Could you give us his career history just out of interest?

[ancestry]

Update

Hi Simon!

Thanks for responding. The researcher was kind enough to send me the following:

Hi Amber,

I just saw Simon has added to your post. It is probable that Kannonier was not his only rank, presumably he rose through the ranks to higher levels, but it is the only direct rank attribution I have found so far. There is the majority of data to go through so anything is a possibility.

You may wish to tell Simon that the data is still being digested and you'll post particulars when they arrive to you. In the meantime, I'll get more particulars to you for dissemination.


...........

Will keep you posted,
Amber

[Larry deZeng]

Hi Amber,

Did you find the PM (Private Message) I sent to you yesterday morning? It should be in your Private Messages in-box which you can access from the small window in the upper right hand corner of the screen where it says "Welcome, Amber...". I had trouble finding it when I first came to the Forum so I thought I would mention the location to you in case you had missed it. TNX, Amber!

--Larry

[ancestry]

Thanks Larry! It's easy to miss! I haven't been checking it, but will now....