Ausweis

[Ian Jewison]

Gentlemen,
I know what this document is and I am in no doubt that there are quite a few forum members that know too....but look at the scans and what can you tell me about this document!

/Ian

[Ian Jewison]

Reverse....

[Eric Queen]

Ian,

First of all, nice piece and thank you for posting it here.

Its my understanding that this is what the Germans referred to as a "Tarn" Ausweis, because it contained only generic information ( name, home town, etc. ) i.e. no unit, training, weapons, etc. information that might be usefull to the enemy if captured. These were carried in the field in many cases in lieu of the soldbuch. What I find interesting about your is that it has the awarding of the wound badge in black indicated on the reverse, complete with the signature of the physician ( hospital administrator ) on the reverse. I have never seen this before.
Another interesting thing is that it is stamped Salzwedel, the location of Fallschirmschule IV.

Here is one the ones I have. It is from army paratrooper knights cross winner Gunther Straehler-Pohl. He was captured near the Tunis Bridgehead on May 13, 1943, and when he adventually received a POW id card, the photo from his tarn ausweis was affixed to it, and the ausweis sent home to his wife Lotti.

Thanks again for showing us this piece and looking forward to more comments.

EQ

[Ian Jewison]

Hi Eric,
Correct! As you say it is a "Tarn" Ausweis or correctly "Fliegendes Personal Ausweis". Tarn would literrally mean camouflage and again as you mention it was carried in lieu of the Soldbuch.
This document basically then should identify the holder as a member of the flying branch (to include paras, pilots, air gunners, air mechanics etc.etc.) or any aircrew which spent time in the air over or in enemy territory.
This document should not disclose the holders true unit.
As you see this one was issued by Fliegerhorst Kommandanteur Salzwedel.....and as you righlty say the home of Fallschirmschule IV.....this would indicate that he was probably a Fallschirmjäger! The real give away is on the reverse of the photo it has written "Jäger Weidl" and his date of birth....confirming that he was a para!!! With that said, what we know as collectors, researchers, historians today we can easily say that he was a para but what about 60 years ago....would someone be able put two and two together!!! If so then not so much of a "Tarn" Ausweis.

One thing that did interested me Eric is that you say you have not seen the awards filled in on the reserve of the Ausweis......I have at least another 5 with this and others that have recorded kit issues, promotions and pay entries! I thought this was quite normal with the view that they were not carrying their Soldbuch!

In this case, the Ausweis is all I have to Herr Weidl. The story goes that it was taken from a prisoner by a Polish Officer in Italy. The quarterly validation stamps would indicate that it was in use at least all of 1942 upto third quarter of 1943 (July-September).
What is interesting is the photo has been used before on another document (both stamped Fliegerhorst) and that the Ausweis was issued to someone else and has been carefully erased (this can just be seen on the scan around his DoB and place of birth)!!!
On the reverse is the award of the Wound in Black and it is authorised by the chief physician and SS Untersturmführer. The FP Nr. is that of SS Lazarett Bobruisk
From the Deutsches Dienststelle I received confirmation that his ID tags were -7952-63125 and that he was a member of 4 Kp., Fallschirmjäger Regiment 4, then part of 7 Flieger Division in Russia.
15.7.1943 he is confirmed as being in Catania...Sicily? and being promoted to Obergefreiter on the same day. However 26.10.1943 he is reported as being a member of Fallschirmjäger Ersatz Bataillon 1 in Stendal.....here the trail ends. Unfortunatly Herr Weidl died 3.3.1948 and is buried Goslar-Hildesheimer Straße (Federal Republic of Germany). The place of death or reason is not recorded and presumably he was still a prisoner of war!

Has anyone else got examples of this document? If so do they have examples with the awards on the reserve?
I will post other examples later......

Cheers, Ian

[JYN]

Dear Ian,

This is very basic stuff that everybody has to know about german FJ documents. The Soldbuch was not always carry in combat !!

Let's have a look on two other examples of Tarnausweis".

1) The first one is not an oilcloth document. A former menber of the Fallsch. Lehr. Regiment who was captured outside Paris by 1944 gave it to me. This is only what he has got left from the war.




2) The Second one is not common.
You could read "Grabenausweis". Could we translate it as "Trenchpass" ?Like yours, on the back you have the decorations mentioned. It was belonging to a fomer menber of the 2./Fallsch.Pi.Btl.3 (Normandy) and the Fallsch.Rgt. Müller (Bulge and Germany).



Jean-Yves