WWII German Death Cards

[TrevorR]

Well found these the other day and decided to purchase and start a collection of Death Cards. I Do collect WWII US Purple Hearts of KIA soldiers, to remember their story fighting the "Axis of Evil", But I thought about these young soldiers fighting just as hard for their lives!


1.WW2 German Death Card (Sterbebild) for Army Brothers Willi and Franz Stuetzenberger.
Willi, a hairdresser in civilian, served with Jaeger Regiment 75, 5 Infantry Division. He was killed at Demjansk, Ilmensee, 15 August 1942. He was 18.
Franz, a 2nd Lieutenant, served with 8 Batterie, Artillery Regiment 215. He was badly wounded 28 March 1945 in Gotenhafen, and died 9 April 1945 in a reserve hospital in Peine by Hannover. He was 24.
Double page card measures about 5.25 x 4.25 inches. In excellent condition.
Includes slip from German Graves Office listing him as buried in Peine, Germany.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50730172@N07/9622107921/" title="STUTZBROS by somekid1991, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3770/9622107921_b093387b86.jpg" width="500" height="407" alt="STUTZBROS"></a>


2. WW2 German Death Card (Sterbebild) for Army Kanonier Andreas Niederlaender.
Gravely wounded at Stalingrad and died in the field hospital, 29 December 1942. He was 33.
Includes slip from the German Graves Office that he died in Dnjepropetrowsk, Ukraine.
Double page card measures about 5.75 x 4.75 inches.
Card shows wear and has 2 small tape marks to the edges.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50730172@N07/9622107945/" title="NIEDERLANDER by somekid1991, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3754/9622107945_fa9a568fe4.jpg" width="500" height="418" alt="NIEDERLANDER"></a>


3. WW2 German Death Card (Sterbebild) for SS Grenadier Josef Müller, from Himmelwies.
Killed at the Libau Bridgehead, 30 October 1944. He was 18.
Nice Kriegsmarine uniform photo, which shows he was taken into the SS to fill ranks.
Back of card has a crucifix.
The only SS unit fighting in the Kurland Pocket was the 19th Latvian. The Latvian was formed early in 1944 and included conscripts from the 2nd SS Infantry Brigade as well as non-SS soldiers.
The single page, single sided card measures about 2.5 x 4 inches.
Bend to the left upper tip

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50730172@N07/9625344012/" title="HIMMELWEIS by somekid1991, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5453/9625344012_e8983ddfc8.jpg" width="257" height="431" alt="HIMMELWEIS"></a>


4. WW2 German Death Card (Sterbebild) for Two Army brothers. Sawmill worker’s sons from Gais.
Machine Gun Schütze Wilhelm Steinkaserer.
After 14 months service in the war, he has killed by machine gun rounds to the head and breast in close fighting on the River Ssaly. He was 23. He was buried in the cemetery in Schitomir
Includes slip from the German Graves Office listing him as being killed in Ssaly and buried in Schitomir, Ukraine.
Grenadier Josef Steinkaserer.
After 9 months service in the war, he was wounded by mortar splinters and died at the main aid station, 6 January 1944. He was 28. He was buried in the cemetery at Scheptowka.
Includes slip from the German Graves Office listing him as buried in Kiew, Ukraine.
Back of card has Jesus with a crown of thorns. The double page, single sided card measures about 5 x 4.25 inches.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50730172@N07/9622107935/" title="STEINKASERER by somekid1991, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7395/9622107935_a26bb654ff.jpg" width="500" height="406" alt="STEINKASERER"></a>



5. WW2 German Death Card (Sterbebild) for Army brothers, Josef and Ludwig Wurzer von Auerbach.
Panzer Jaeger Josef Wurzer von Auerbach was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. He was killed in the East, 29 December 1941. He was 22.
Nice photo in black Panzer wrap tunic.
Obergefreiter Ludwig Wurzer von Auerbach, Pionier Platoon.
Was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class and the Gold Wound Badge.
After being badly wounded, he died in the field hospital, 11 December 1944. He was 22, when he joined his brother Josef, and brother in law, Karl, in death.
Includes a German Graves Office slip stating he died in field hospital 134, and was buried in Mlawka, Poland .
The back of the card has renderings of two graves. The double page single sided card measures about 5.75 x 4.75 inches.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50730172@N07/9622107995/" title="AUERBACH by somekid1991, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3801/9622107995_4a7cb9c113.jpg" width="500" height="419" alt="AUERBACH"></a>


6. WW2 German Death Card (Sterbebild) for Gefreiter Josef Kronschnabl, Machine Gun Company. Farmer’s son from Langbruck.
Killed by Tobruk, 16 December 1941. He was 22.
Nice photo in tropical uniform.
Back of the card has Jesus with a crown of thorns. The single page single sided card measures about 2.5 x 4 inches.
Includes a German Graves Office slip stating he died in Derny Army Hospital and was buried in Tobruk, Libya.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50730172@N07/9625344002/" title="KRONSCHNABL by somekid1991, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7425/9625344002_d8e19a657e.jpg" width="254" height="454" alt="KRONSCHNABL"></a>



7. WW2 German Death Card (Sterbebild) for Army brothers Alfons and Josef Fuchsbichler, from Emmering.
Josef Fuchsbichler was killed 14 April 1945, in Hösslinsülz by Heilbronn. He was 37.
Alfons Fuchsbichler died 27 May 1946. He was 21.
Both are pictured in their army uniforms.
Back of card has Jesus. Double page single sided card measures about 4 x 5.5 inches.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50730172@N07/9625418206/" title="FUCHSBICHLER by somekid1991, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/9625418206_e1d576f376.jpg" width="500" height="384" alt="FUCHSBICHLER"></a>

[TrevorR]

Does anyone know a nice way to have these items displayed? I was thinking of getting a binder and using those plastic sleeves but Im not 100% sure I want to do that.

[101combatvet]

War sucks. I was in a small farming village in Germany and at the center of the village was a war monument to the fallen. I recall something in the order of 12 men with the same last name. Maybe not such a big deal for a common name however it wasn't common so I gathered that they were all related in some way.

[feldpost 58]

Hi TrevorR.

I have a small collection (40+ WW2 and 10 WW1) death cards, and have them in themed binders, together with other paperwork items relevant to a particular service.
In the UK we have a chain of stationery shops "W.H. Smiths" who sell their own brand of collectors materials, which includes binders and various formats of acid-free display "pages" which are ideal for death cards and ID's etc.
All are in A4 format, and are double sided.
The "postcard" pages come in packs of five, being double-sided; you can display items in these without conservation problems.
I find these ideal for death cards, as two cards can be displayed in each partition of a page; making eight cards to a page side.
If gatefold death cards are being displayed, one to each partition; therefore four cards per page side.
Sure similar stationery shops exist in the US which will solve your problem.
I personally would not frame or display paper items in daylight, as they will fade and deteriorate quite quickly!

Best wishes,

John.

[Lloyd I.]

Two brothers from my hometown in Bayern.

The Ehrendenkmal in our Friedhof bears the last names of many neighbors.

[Lloyd I.]

Some of them lay out of sight such as Hans Kürzinger who rests behind the family tombstone. I had to clear away the snow to uncover him. Symbolic somehow. He died in November 1943 on the Eastern Front.

[Lloyd I.]

And to this day they remain unaccounted for:

Declaration of intent to declare Josef Michael Ringer of 9th Company Infantry Regiment 247 missing since January 1945 dead.

[matteo00]

Hi all
Can anyone help me about a strange death card?
The sterbebild is for unteroffizier Ludwig Doschko who was a panzergrenadier with EK II and wounded metal.
So he was killed in Licholetti (Ostfront) on september 18th 1943.
where is this place?
May be pigoletti (salerno front near the pimple hill attacked by 41 RM commandos)?
Matteo

[Waffenreich]

Matteo,

I could find no record of Ludwig on the German Wargraves Commission's website, and I could find no reference to Licholetti on the internet??

Can you post a picture of the Sterbebild please?

Hi all
Can anyone help me about a strange death card?
The sterbebild is for unteroffizier Ludwig Doschko who was a panzergrenadier with EK II and wounded metal.
So he was killed in Licholetti (Ostfront) on september 18th 1943.
where is this place?
May be pigoletti (salerno front near the pimple hill attacked by 41 RM commandos)?
Matteo

[Waffenreich]

Trevor,

Nice cards!

I collect these as well as my goal at one time was to try to get a card for each day that action occurred throughout the war. This would have left a slight void between the end of the Polish campaign in '39 and start of Norway in '40, but I'm still looking.

I try to get cards that show interesting uniform aspects, have significant awards, and are for major actions during campaigns or battles. I use them as accent pieces to give context to the display of my uniform collection. I also try to get them for soldiers from any of the countries involved in the war. German cards are of course the most plentiful and I have found Belgian cards to be next in terms of availability. Italian cards are fairly scarce and American cards are really hard to find. I have only seen one British card and it was too knackered for me to buy.

Here are a few to give you some display ideas.

Enjoy and good hunting!!

vr

Bob

[Waffenreich]

Belgian soldier KIA during the French campaign and a scarce Italian card for a sailor sunk on an Italian submarine in 1940.

[Waffenreich]

Pionier KIA in Afrika (with dogtag for his unit) and some soldiers from Grossdeutschland.

[Waffenreich]

Waffen-SS Kavallerie officer KIA at Kharkov to go along with my visor and some more SS cards from 1944.

[Waffenreich]

Feldgendarmerie soldier (bought it because it is a nice pic showing the gorget) and some American cards (one for a paratrooper KIA in '45 in Belgium).

[Waffenreich]

Card for a German soldier KIA on the last day of the war in Europe.