Generic Wehrpass explanation

[jmark]

I hope this is not a stupid question.

How did Wehrpasses find their way into the hands of their owners? Of course I know that the Wehrpasses of men who fell in action were forwarded to their families but I would like to know the circumstances in which a living soldier ended up with his own Wehrpass.

Thanks very much!
Jason

[JUNGCO]

If he was discharged during the war, he recieved his Wehrpaß as proof of serving. At the end of the war it seems many POWs of the English, were given their Wehrpaß, to keep with their Soldbücher.
Jeff

[jmark]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the explanation. So apart from discharge, the only way a German soldier obtained his Wehrpass was if his captors handed it over to him?

Jason

[D_Dutch]

At the end of the war it seems many POWs of the English, were given their Wehrpaß, to keep with their Soldbücher.
Jeff

Hello,

Do you maybe know what happened with the Wehrpaß of those who were POW's of the Russians? Were these destroyed?

With kind regards,

Koen.

[Simon O.]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the explanation. So apart from discharge, the only way a German soldier obtained his Wehrpass was if his captors handed it over to him?

Jason

As far as Norway goes, it was the units themselves that handed them over. Soldiers were required to be in posession of both their SB and WP prior to going through screening and being sent out of the country.

Those WP or at least some of them, held by units who had soldiers no longer with them for various reasons handed these over to the Norwegians and today the Norwegian national archives have quite a number of WP though i know some have come out of there and been sold.

[JUNGCO]

It seems Russians collected many of these, along with the Soldbücher and stored them. This is evident from the large numbers that came on the market from Russian or Ukranian sources about 15 years ago.
Jeff