German Army relative

[maple_leaf_eh]

Good question!

In her situation, she better have more than a family story "that my uncle was in the German cavalry in WW2" to work from. Names, birthday (or year), rank or officer/NCO, home state, place of capture, place of imprisonment, date or year of release, etc. Otherwise, she will have to research through several million soldiers' records! Being a POW will greatly narrow the search, but without specifics, she might not find much.

The Germans in WW2 were a notoriously thorough military. I have been told there are Bundesarchiv personnel records down to a man's platoon strength and rifle serial number up to the end of the war. I suggest your friend should contact the archives through the German Embassy. Granted, their diplomatic and military attaché system is focussed on current events, but they are the national representatives and ought to be able to forward communications.

As far as language goes, I suggest she write in English and they reply in German. If the communications are electronic, good administrators will be able to work in either language. There are on-line translators which will get the gist of the message across. Some (all?) records may exist in German script which will be more challenging to translate, but the internet is a big place with lots of helpful websites and forums.

Good luck!