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Hello !
Excellent research and well done presentation on a very difficult topic.
Thanks for taking the time to share this in great detail
!
Best regards,
ArchiComment
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Thank you.Originally posted by Archi View PostHello !
Excellent research and well done presentation on a very difficult topic.
Thanks for taking the time to share this in great detail !
Best regards,
ArchiComment
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Well, I'll be dipped!...it turns out theat the Major with his arm around Alex Kurzem aka "The Mascot" IS Egon Erzum when he was the acting Liason Officer to Schutzmannschaft Batallion 18.
I think you too will agree that it's him. Look at the dark eyes, large ears, the shape of his nose, the two ribbons through his second button hole..... Aleksander Przybylski had said it was him and now I'm convinced it is too.Last edited by vonStubben; 02-02-2019, 11:58 AM.Comment
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On page 103 of "The Mascot" I found reference of little Alex Kurzem's meeting with Erzum only he remembers the name spontaneously as well as incorrectly calling him "Aizum" instead of Erzum.
So it turns out Erzum was indeed the German commander of Schutzmannschaft Batallion 18 prior to taking over Pol. Rgt. 17 "Lettland" as reported in this German language reference to his part in the massacre at the Slonim Ghetto (see link below).
If you look at page 6 of his Soldbuch you'll see he took over Regt. 17 on June, 11, 1943. In the link below you'll see that Erzum's last day commanding Schuma Btl. 18 was also June 11, 1943.
https://books.google.com/books?id=uZ...0Erzum&f=falseLast edited by vonStubben; 02-03-2019, 05:29 PM.Comment
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From the government archives in Posnan, Poland.Last edited by vonStubben; 02-12-2019, 04:27 PM.Comment
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More findings.Comment
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Very interesting, some of my relatives came from that village. They were wood cutters in that forest.Comment
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Originally posted by Lee Luke View Post Interesting indeed. I wonder what it was like for them during that time? It must have been pure hell for anyone living in that part of the world then.
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In all the time of owning this document I have continually passed over something very important.
In the upper right corner of page 8 there is a small notation, "Truppe Lett Btl 18", or "Troop Latvian Btl 18", with ditto marks following each engagement. This means the 17th must have been subordinated to Schuma 18 and were therefore engaged along with the 18th's actions until at least April 16, 1943.Comment
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Since posting the Erzum Soldbuch, and learning of his connection to Alex Kurzem of "The Mascot" fame, I have been in contact with Dr. Barry Resnick and Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick. These two researchers were the first to question whether Alex Kurzem was actually Jewish, and not simply a young Russian boy. They now believe, because of Erzum's Soldbuch, that there is truth in what had been reported by Alex Kurzem through the end of the war, given the dates and movements of Schutzmannschaft battalion 18, but are still not convinced that he is really of Jewish heritage. Until my contact with them they had no idea what a Soldbuch was, or what it could provide in regard to gathering such information. They have asked me if I know of other researchers, with knowledge in these areas, who might be willing to work with them in future research inquiries. If anyone may be interested in doing so, please feel free to make contact with Dr. Fitzpatrick here:
colleen@identifinders.com
Information on them both may be read here:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ocr...-or-false/amp/Comment
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UPDATE: It has been some time since I, or any other person has added anything to this thread, so I have decided to do so now. I'm doing this partly because this thread has disappeared from the forum, when a normal search is made, due to a missing "security token". This is not the only post to go missing in this fashion, which was explained to me as having been caused by recent server modifications, but as yet it is still not known why. I also wanted to let others know that my final and extensive personal research into Egon Erzum has now been written into an article, which was printed in the July 2019 issue of the "International Militaria Collector" magazine published by Dietrich Maerz through B&D publishing.
When I began this post I did so having very little knowledge regarding the police forces of the Third Reich, especially of the notorious Einsatzgruppen. Never having studied these formations, I came to this subforum to try and learn more about Erzum, and his documents, hoping to enlist the more knowledgeable of our fellow forum members, but unfortunately that did not work out. Fortunately for me, Mr. Maerz found this post interesting enough to ask me to write an article on Erzum for his magazine, which in turn led me to an intense and indepth study of the subject where I learned a great deal, all while meeting some very interesting people from around the globe.
If what you have read here has interested you, then please, do contact Dietrich Maerz and purchase a copy of his magazine to learn the true and full story of "Major der Schutzpolizei Egon Erzum", along with his role as commander of the "Lettische" Schutzmannschaft Batallion 18.Comment
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