ss002d6252 Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 Others with an interest in the German Army may already be aware of this, but an amazing collection of digitised war diaries and other documents from WWI has been put online. This is part of a joint project called Geheim! (Secret!) to make available German material held by the Russian Federation. The digitisation and search functions seem to be excellent, and I'm just going through the collection now in the hope that it will include some of the records lost during WWII: http://tsamo.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/2-deutsche-beuteakten-zum-ersten-weltkrieg-im-zentralarchiv-des-verteidigungsministeriums-der-russischen-foderation-bestand-500-findbuch-12519 Enjoy! John I wish I understood German as there must be loads of interesting things hidden away in these archives. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 It's not just the German, it's the handwriting. Who needs Enigma? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 Hi John. Chris Baker posted them earlier in the year. Lucky you being able to read them at all. there must be some fascinating information in there? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 Good to know someone else spotted them - even if they're hard to make sense of. I'll get out my German dictionary. Thanks, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 It's not just the German, it's the handwriting. Who needs Enigma? John What's the difficulty? I like the kurrent and sütterlin script. Some of the stuff is very interesting. Most of it is related to the Eastern Front though (as this probably interested the Russians more), although there are some Western Front things there as well. Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 Hi Jan, I wish I could say that! I haven't found many Germans who could read it, so I've got no chance. All the best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depaor01 Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 Hi Jan, I wish I could say that! I haven't found many Germans who could read it, so I've got no chance. All the best, John Befriend a German over the age of seventy. A former Kinder Transport chap helps with mine. It was taught to that age group in school. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 Actually I met one former German soldier who could read the old handwriting, and asked him to help me with some letters. I discovered he was a WW2 veteran who had been in the Afrika Korps and saw Rommel in person. After that we had so much to talk about that the letters were forgotten. Maybe next time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 I had not been back to that site since Chris first posted about it but just found a relation of mine in their files! http://tsamo.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/364#page/1/mode/grid/zoom/1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 I had not been back to that site since Chris first posted about it but just found a relation of mine in their files! http://tsamo.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/364#page/1/mode/grid/zoom/1 Are all those pages from the one record ? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 I had not been back to that site since Chris first posted about it but just found a relation of mine in their files! http://tsamo.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/364#page/1/mode/grid/zoom/1 Quite some file... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 23 October , 2015 Share Posted 23 October , 2015 Quite some file... Indeed. And considering I have a terrible time with the old script, it may be a while before I understand what this actually is. All I know is that Paul is a distant cousin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted 29 October , 2015 Share Posted 29 October , 2015 Here's a transcription for scan 12/326 (page numbered 8.); I'm fairly certain it's correct:Bescheinigung.Der Unteroffizier Stern befindet sichseit 7. 4. 08 zur Ausbildung als Zahl-meister-Aspirant bei der unterzeich-neten Kasserneverwaltung. Deshelbewird für soweit vorgebildet erachtet,daß seine Kommandierung zur Regiments-Bekleidungs-Kommission erfolgen kann.Diedenhofen, den 28. September 1909.Kasserneverwaltung III/135ReinhardtZahlmeister Indeed. And considering I have a terrible time with the old script, it may be a while before I understand what this actually is. All I know is that Paul is a distant cousin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 29 October , 2015 Share Posted 29 October , 2015 Here's a transcription for scan 12/326 (page numbered 8.); I'm fairly certain it's correct: Bescheinigung. Der Unteroffizier Stern befindet sich seit 7. 4. 08 zur Ausbildung als Zahl- meister-Aspirant bei der unterzeich- neten Kassenverwaltung. Derselbe wird für soweit vorgebildet erachtet, daß seine Kommandierung zur Regiments- Bekleidungs-Kommission erfolgen kann. Diedenhofen, den 28. September 1909. Kassenverwaltung III/135 Reinhardt Zahlmeister Correction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted 29 October , 2015 Share Posted 29 October , 2015 Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 29 October , 2015 Share Posted 29 October , 2015 Very interesting....thanks all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginnevra Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 My German is also limited to college courses (low level too) and old German characters are challenging, but if you have a jpg file of what you want to transcribe, this site https://www.newocr.com/ will convert your document to text and it will be easier to translate. You have to select German - Fraktur as the language - any other selection won't give you a good result.I am not sure if it will transcribe handwritten documents. I have used it only for printed pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 My German is also limited to college courses (low level too) and old German characters are challenging, but if you have a jpg file of what you want to transcribe, this site https://www.newocr.com/ will convert your document to text and it will be easier to translate. You have to select German - Fraktur as the language - any other selection won't give you a good result.I am not sure if it will transcribe handwritten documents. I have used it only for printed pages. Hi Ginnerva, I shall give that site a try...many thanks! -Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceF Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Wow, what a file on Paul Stern - 326 pages! And what it includes: school certificate (page 6), CV (page 31) other certificates or maybe better characters (?). A real treasure. But I have great difficulties to read this type of handwriting, too. Have too little practice. Christine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginnevra Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Hi Ginnerva, I shall give that site a try...many thanks! -Daniel Y.a.w. Daniel It is useful for the http://des.genealogy.net/and their Verlustlisten that lists WWI German soldiers that were wounded or killed as well as for other printed documents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam_s Posted 16 April , 2016 Share Posted 16 April , 2016 I heard from a very reliable historian that a large number of WW1 German records were taken to Russia at the end of the Second World War. This historian told me that people are now able to access these records. Is this true? Has anyone ever accessed records in Russia? Thanks, Cam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 16 April , 2016 Share Posted 16 April , 2016 Some of them are online already: http://tsamo.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/2-deutsche-beuteakten-zum-ersten-weltkrieg-im-zentralarchiv-des-verteidigungsministeriums-der-russischen-foderation-bestand-500-findbuch-12519 I would love to know more about the scope of what they have and what their plans are for making them available online, as they have in the case of these records. I am cautiously optimistic! -Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 16 April , 2016 Share Posted 16 April , 2016 There is an earlier GWF thread called "Huge collection of German documents", with comments about using the website. http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=223939 Cheers Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam_s Posted 16 April , 2016 Share Posted 16 April , 2016 If only I spoke russian... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 16 April , 2016 Share Posted 16 April , 2016 Well, from what I have looked at, you don't need Russian really. It all seems clickable - but I have only glanced at a few KTB and one or two maps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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