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Gefallenenbergung - Finding and Identifying the Missing


Fritz

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For many years now and since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (similar to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, but not state funded), based in Kassel, has been trying to locate, collect and identify the dead and missing in Eastern Europe, including former East Germany, especially in places like Halbe.

Erwin Kowalke, from Brandenburg, since retired, was one of the first, who, secretly and on his own initiative, located single graves of fallen German soldiers in the last days of the war, and collected and stored the remains, with the intention of later identification and proper re-burial. In the former DDR there were no war cemeteries and graves for German soldiers who fell in WW2 and it was tabu and prohiblited to even mention anything of this nature. Kowalke then later worked for and with the Volksbund.

 

When a missing soldier has been positively identified, he is then officially declared dead, and next-of-kin are sought and informed, after which a re-burial in a proper war cemetery is made.

 

The problem has been over many years that many graves in Eastern Europa and Russia have been plundered by relic hunters, who then sell what they find.

Important are the dogtags and any other documentation, without which it is impossible to identify the dead.

The Volksbund encourages prevention of these thefts and souvenir markets, but to little avail. Therefore, caution, when ground-dug identity discs are offered on the collectors market, they may be in the moral sense, illegal, although this is not restricted in Russia or Eastern Europe.

 

Illustrations show Erwin Kowalke at work near Halbe and a find of various identity discs in various conditions.

 

After the re-unification, new cemeteries for the war dead were built. The following clip is a documentation of a recovery/Bergung in Pottenstein-Alpenvorland/Austria.

 

 

A further clip shows work in Klessin, Märkisch-Oderland, Brandenburg:

 

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  • 2 years later...

Screenshot_2019-01-12 Verein zur Bergung Gefallener in Osteuropa.jpg

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Polen, Rosenthal, 23.3.2014

Der erste Einsatz des Jahres führte uns in Zusammenarbeit mit unseren polnischen Partner der Gruppe „Pomorze“ in die Region östlich von Küstrin. Hier erreichte uns eine Information über ein unbekanntes Massengrab deutscher Soldaten. Diese, teilweise Insassen eines örtlichen Sanitätspunkt, kamen beim Einmarsch der sowjetischen Truppen in die Ortschaft Rosenthal ums Leben. Nach Beendigung der Kampfhandlungen wurden die Toten schnell von deutschen Zivilisten neben der Kirche begraben. Im Gesamt konnten 32 Gefallene von der deutsch / polnischen Gruppe gefunden und geborgen werden. Leider wurden die Erkennungsmarken 1945 bereits von den Zivilisten nahezu komplett entnommen, so das nur noch drei übersehene Exemplare gefunden wurden. Die Gefallen finden eine letzte Ruhestätte auf dem Friedhof des Volksbundes Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge in Neumark / Stettin.

Geborgene Soldaten: 32
Deutsche Soldaten: 32
Erkennungsmarken: 3

The problem is that most of the identity discs are missing, stolen by grave robbers in the long postwar period.
Without the identity disc it is almost impossible to identify them.

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DemjanskSchild and one of six Erkennungsmarken found by excavations at Dramburg/Hinterpommern, February 2008

 

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A mass grave was discovered several years back in Villeneuve-Loubet, near the French Meditarranean resort of NICE. Local eye witness had kept silent for generations, and finally a search was made. Almost 20 German soldiers had been "executed" by the American invaders during "Operation Dragoon" around late August 1944. They were registered and reburied in the nearest proper military cemetery.

 

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  • 7 months later...

https://www.pnn.de/suche-nach-toten-soldaten-der-knochenjob/24993666.html

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Im Oderbruch, wie hier an der Straße zwischen den Dörfern Wollup und Zechin, liegen Munition und Blindgänger aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg...
Grabungsleiter Joachim Kozlowski at work.
In the Oderbruch Region alone, 200 million shells and grenades rained down on the defenders, many are still lingering under the surface and dangerous - and the remains of scores of thousands of the fallen. In the postwar years the DDR had no interest in the remains of the fallen, especially  those of the Wehrmacht. The only military cemeteries and memorials were the Soviet ones. It was strictly forbidden to mention anything of that nature or even to go digging.
Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten

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Fragments: The form of a steel helmet gives the first clues to the identity of the remains, every bone or teeth a further information.

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A grave was discovered in the woods around Halbe (Brandenburg), 75 years after the end of WW2.  Joachim Koslowski went to investigate and found the grave, carefully uncovering it. The Erkennungsmarke was found - but this was "mysterious", as the back of it was stamped "Deutsches Reichsheer", the soldier was from 2./ Pionier-Ersatz u. -Ausbildungsabteilung 23 and his bloodgroup was "0", his age around 40 years.  It took some time to positively identify him, Hermann Klein, who had settled in Zeuthen before the war.
It was explained also that in the final days of the war, old material stocks were re-used, which explained how this identity tag with "Dt.Reichsheer" came into use, it was from unused stocks. Reichsheer was changed in 1935 to "Deutsche Wehrmacht". Hermann Klein had no direct next of kin, just the grandson of a sister. Originally a request was made by his wife to the "Suchdienst des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes" in Munich in 1952, but she died shortly after, and Hermann Klein remained missing till 2019. He was then re-buried in the Waldfriedhof Halbe along with other war victims three months later. Over one million German soldiers from WW2 are still missing.
Report from January 2020.

 

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  • 1 year later...

Recently in Russia

 

 

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Recent finds in Poland. According to EU Laws these will probably be destroyed by the authorities

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Wow, its hard to imagine the amount of items still in the ground from the previous conflicts. 

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Yes, and it is a shame that objects like these are wilfully destroyed through ignorance and prejudice.

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  • 5 months later...

Erwin Kowalke

 

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  • 1 month later...

Grabungen nach erschossenen Wehrmachtssoldaten in Frankreich haben begonnen

https://www.gmx.net/magazine/panorama/grabungen-erschossenen-wehrmachtssoldaten-frankreich-38535716

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Auslöser der erneuten Suche war der Bericht des 98 Jahre alten ehemaligen Widerstandskämpfers Edmond Réveil aus Meymac

 

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Gemeinde Ostrów Mazowiecka

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Volksbund birgt einmillionsten Kriegstoten in Litauen

Bundesarchiv Internet - Volksbund birgt einmillionsten Kriegstoten in Litauen

 

Erkennungsmarke des in Kelmé/Litauen geborgenen Kriegstoten

Erkennungsmarke des in Kelme/Litthauen geborgenen Kriegstoten

Es ist ein Meilenstein in der Arbeit des Volkbundes, ein trauriges Jubiläum und doch ein Erfolg: Heute haben die Umbetter des Volksbundes Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. nahe Kelme, Litauen, symbolisch den einmillionsten Kriegstoten seit 1992 in Osteuropa ausgebettet. Das Bundesarchiv, mit dem der Volksbund eng zusammenarbeitet, hat den Toten identifiziert.

 

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