Today I'd like to introduce the very rare Wehrpass of Oberfeldwebel Banaschik who served in both worldwars.
This Wehrpass is rare because of the soldiers occupation as a prison guard at various Wehrmacht-Prisons.
Those prisions as well as their guards were known for their brutality and conditions of detention. Not many of these documents have survived the war as the prison guards had to expect trials after the war because of what they were doing as prison guards at Wehrmachts-Prisons.
Johannes Robert Banaschik was born 1995 in Dresden.
By May 13th 1915 he joined "1. Königlich Sächsisches Jäger-Bataillon Nr. 12" and fought on both, East and West Front. Later in WWI he fought with "Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 102".
In WWI he was awarded with EKI, EKII and Frontkreuz.
With the beginning of WWII Baschanik - now 45 years old (!) - joined "Landesschützen-Bataillon 353" in December 1939 and in May 1940 he changed to "Landesschützen-Bataillon 364". Both were part of "Division z.b.V. 404" which didn't see any action at this time.
So far nothing fancy. But then things are getting very interesting:
On April 25th 1944 at 07:00 in the morning he was KIA nearby the town of Mokrowo (there was a campf for Russian Jews who had to work for Organization Todt).
Being an almost 50 yo prison guard at Wehrmachts-Prisons and Feldstraflager for such a long time I tend to assume that Banaschik liked what he was doing.
Finally he met his fate on the battle field.
For all the ones who have never heard of Wehrmachts-Prsions and Feldstraflager and especially the conditions and mortality rate there, I'll later write about that. The conditions there were equal or even worse than in Concentration Camps.
Regards
This Wehrpass is rare because of the soldiers occupation as a prison guard at various Wehrmacht-Prisons.
Those prisions as well as their guards were known for their brutality and conditions of detention. Not many of these documents have survived the war as the prison guards had to expect trials after the war because of what they were doing as prison guards at Wehrmachts-Prisons.
Johannes Robert Banaschik was born 1995 in Dresden.
By May 13th 1915 he joined "1. Königlich Sächsisches Jäger-Bataillon Nr. 12" and fought on both, East and West Front. Later in WWI he fought with "Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 102".
In WWI he was awarded with EKI, EKII and Frontkreuz.
With the beginning of WWII Baschanik - now 45 years old (!) - joined "Landesschützen-Bataillon 353" in December 1939 and in May 1940 he changed to "Landesschützen-Bataillon 364". Both were part of "Division z.b.V. 404" which didn't see any action at this time.
So far nothing fancy. But then things are getting very interesting:
- In August 1940 (promoted to Unteroffizier) he became a prison guard at "Wehrmachtsgefängnis Torgau" where he stayed until March 1941.
- In March 1941 he left Torgau to "Wehrmachtsgefängnis Lager Marie über Bitterfeld" where he stayed until July 1942.
- Now with the rank of a Feldwebel he had a short stay from July 1942 until March 1943 in "Feldstraflager 1" in Northern Finland.
- From March 1943 until September 1943 he was a guard at "Wehrmachtsgefängnis Torgau Fort Zinna" again.
- Being promoted Oberfeldwebel he had a one-week-stay at "Wehrmachts Gefangenen Abteilung Milowitz" before getting back to Torgau Zinna for another week until September 20th 1943.
- From September 1943 until April 1944 he was a guard at "Feldstraf Gefangenenabteilung 20" in Russia.
On April 25th 1944 at 07:00 in the morning he was KIA nearby the town of Mokrowo (there was a campf for Russian Jews who had to work for Organization Todt).
Being an almost 50 yo prison guard at Wehrmachts-Prisons and Feldstraflager for such a long time I tend to assume that Banaschik liked what he was doing.
Finally he met his fate on the battle field.
For all the ones who have never heard of Wehrmachts-Prsions and Feldstraflager and especially the conditions and mortality rate there, I'll later write about that. The conditions there were equal or even worse than in Concentration Camps.
Regards
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