There is another archivist who through the years made an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of World War II military history researchers and will continue to do so for many years to come. I refer to the esteemed Georg TESSIN, author of the DRK's 173-volume Vermisstenbildlisten des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes (a lot of people don't know that he was the chief compiler of this massive work), the Biblio Verlag 16-volume Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945 and numerous other works we rely on for the basics on German units. The Lexikon der Wehrmacht web site, for example, is taken directly from Tessin.
Georg Tessin was born 16 June 1899 in Rostock and raised there. He fought as a volunteer in Mecklenburg from 1920 to 1922 during the civil insurrection in Germany. While worked toward his eventual doctorate in archival sciences, he was employed in the travel industry and by merchant shipping organizations. From 1939-45 he served in the Flugmeldedienst in Schleswig-Holstein and in the Hamburg area:
TESSIN, Georg. 01.09.43 promo to Hptm.(Kr.O.). 01.02.45 Hptm. and Zugführer in 11.(schw.Flugm.Leit-Kp.)/Ln.-Rgt. 232. [He held the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse and the Kriegsverdienstkreuz m. Schw. 2. Klasse].
He surrendered to the British in May 1945 and was released a few weeks later. Foolishly, he returned to Rostock where he was picked up by the Russians and spent the next three years in a concentration camp near Frankfurt/O. where he nearly died. From 1955 to 1964 he was an archivist for the Bundesarchiv, then retired to finish and publish his unit history compilations that were all published by Biblio Verlag in Osnabrück.
Georg Tessin died of old age at his home in Koblenz on 18 October 1985 at age 86. He was cremated and his ashes buried on the grounds of a church in Ratzeburg/20 km south of Lübeck in his beloved Mecklenburg on 19 November 1985.
The full and much more detailed Tessin obituary can be found in Der Archivar, Jahrgang 1986, Heft 3, S.403-406.
Larry
Georg Tessin was born 16 June 1899 in Rostock and raised there. He fought as a volunteer in Mecklenburg from 1920 to 1922 during the civil insurrection in Germany. While worked toward his eventual doctorate in archival sciences, he was employed in the travel industry and by merchant shipping organizations. From 1939-45 he served in the Flugmeldedienst in Schleswig-Holstein and in the Hamburg area:
TESSIN, Georg. 01.09.43 promo to Hptm.(Kr.O.). 01.02.45 Hptm. and Zugführer in 11.(schw.Flugm.Leit-Kp.)/Ln.-Rgt. 232. [He held the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse and the Kriegsverdienstkreuz m. Schw. 2. Klasse].
He surrendered to the British in May 1945 and was released a few weeks later. Foolishly, he returned to Rostock where he was picked up by the Russians and spent the next three years in a concentration camp near Frankfurt/O. where he nearly died. From 1955 to 1964 he was an archivist for the Bundesarchiv, then retired to finish and publish his unit history compilations that were all published by Biblio Verlag in Osnabrück.
Georg Tessin died of old age at his home in Koblenz on 18 October 1985 at age 86. He was cremated and his ashes buried on the grounds of a church in Ratzeburg/20 km south of Lübeck in his beloved Mecklenburg on 19 November 1985.
The full and much more detailed Tessin obituary can be found in Der Archivar, Jahrgang 1986, Heft 3, S.403-406.
Larry
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