If you know the full name and particulars of a soldier, how do you research him?

[Larry deZeng]

So what is the person has no familly, or the familly can not be contacted? Then thats it, he will be forgotten about untill the end of times?
JL

The authorities are only concerned with their exposure to litigation. If it were up to them, the TR period would be locked in a box, sealed and permanently erased from memory. All that the TR has been for Germany since 1945 is national guilt and the burden of enormous costs for reparations, the Holocaust, payments to forced laborers, and pensions and benefits to survivors. They just wish that it would go away. They view TR historians as trouble-makers for constantly rechurning a subject they would like to forget, and researchers and collectors as a nuisance. In a way, I guess I can't blame them.

--Larry

[Daniele C]

That s so true Larry,
I think german members here could confirm that as well

[Jean-Loup]

Yes Larry, I know that very well, but I just wanted to check if Ralf fully understood what his "I think it is correct that the WASt is so strict." means.

By the way, those links you posted still dont work for some reason.

JL

[PH1905]

Hey Larry,

what is the meaning of the abbriviation "TR"?

Hey JL

I don't know what you mean?

Regards

Ralf

[Jean-Loup]

I am just saying that protecting private data is important in some cases, but in others it is not, particularly for people who died more then 60 years ago, especialy if they dont even have any relatives still alive today.

I found some bodies of German soldiers, dug up their bones and held them in my hands, got several of them to be identified, etc... And now the WASt doesnt even want to tell me what their hometown was because that is private information... Maybe I should also have said that the location of their grave was private information and left them to be missing in action if I follow the same logic.

JL

[Larry deZeng]

JL wrote:

Maybe I should also have said that the location of their grave was private information and left them to be missing in action if I follow the same logic.

Maybe you should have written or e-mailed them and said you had found the previously undiscovered remains, and that you would be glad to provide the location if they would meet you halfway and give you the information you want. That would make it sort of like a business deal and it just might work! It might be worth a try.

--Larry

[Larry deZeng]

Hey Larry,
what is the meaning of the abbriviation "TR"?
Hey JL
I don't know what you mean?
Regards
Ralf

Hallo Ralf,

TR = Third Reich = Dritten Reich.

Grüß

--Larry

[PH1905]

Hello Larry,

thanks.

Yes you are right, Drittes Reich or more often called NS Zeit or Nazi Zeit is a very difficult subject.

Hello Jl,

WASt has to obey law like the BDSG (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz). When I am right even a dead person is protected with this law.

Regards

Ralf

[Larry deZeng]

WASt has to obey law like the BDSG (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz). When I am right even a dead person is protected with this law.
Regards
Ralf

We have the same law here, Ralf, and Canada does also. It protects each individual from having his personal information released by the government to others without his or her specific permission. Here we call it the Privacy Act Law and I believe Canada calls it the same thing.

--Larry