German Army relative

[David Dunlop]

Ryan.

Your friend can try the German Archives on line as well at:

Bundesarchiv.de

This is their English language site and is quite comprehensive. A bit of a mix of on line data and traditional archives, but constantly expanding and you can email them in English with no problem.

The more information available about the relative the better. To find more information about birth, they might want to consider Ancestory.Com for a while. Maybe a friend subscribes and can help them out.

If the person was married trace those records as well. They often show parents names and where they lived, all of which can help when tracing Service Records. Did he emigrate from Germany after the war? If so, a search of travel, immigration and citizenship and census records from the country of arrival can also help flesh out the family history.

David

[David Dunlop]

Another possibility would be a search of POW records.

These used to be held by each nation, but have now been consolidated by the Red Cross. Your friend should be able to request a search if proof of relationship can be established to the satisfaction of the Red Cross.

Information can be found on the web site of the International Committee of the Red Cross under their Archives Division and Research Services.

If he was a prisoner of the British Army, might also be worth checking the National Archives in London. Copies of the POW files might have been retained there as well as being forwarded to the Red Cross.

David

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Ryan.

...

The more information available about the relative the better. To find more information about birth, they might want to consider Ancestory.Com for a while. Maybe a friend subscribes and can help them out.

...

There is a surprising amount of personal detail on those sites. People keep finding new data to fill in the fields. That might be a good first stop, before trying to ask the Archives for a particular file and finding out there are 37 Johann Schmidt's born in 1925 and enrolled in 1943.

[Ryan]

Cheers guys, excellent ideas.