Paul Weber, U-boot captain?

[knittinganddeath]

I am looking for information about Paul Weber and his service during the war. Everything that I have found out about him so far comes from Norwegian books and newspapers. They just printed what he (or the police) told them about himself, and while it's a great story I was hoping to confirm some of the details.

 

The reason that he appears in Norwegian newspapers is because he smuggled alcohol between Germany and Norway after the war, during Prohibition in the latter country. He was arrested in 1925, by which time he was able to speak quite good Norwegian.

 

Supposedly he was a U-boot captain or commander during the war, but I can't find any confirmation.

 

His family was probably either from Leipzig or the Hamburg/Altona area. The Norwegian press generally found Hamburg more credible as a place of origin given its seafaring history and the fact that he often captained ships himself. In addition, his company -- Westholsteinische Fischerei, also known as West Holstein Fischereigemeinschaft and Westholsteinische Fischereigesellschaft -- was headquartered there.

 

He had a brother, Martin Richard Weber, also a smuggler, whom the press called "hand-grenade thrower."

 

I've searched for both Paul and Martin Richard in the regular Verlustlisten and Geheime Marine Verlustlisten but don't have any way to connect potential matches to these particular men.

 

Thanks for any help. 

[AOK4]

Hello,

 

I can't find a Paul Weber in the Ehrenrangliste either...

 

Jan

[charlie2]

He doesn‘t get a mention in any of the 5 volumes of „Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten“ from the German Naval Official history.

 

Charlie

[GreyC]

If he ever commanded a submarine they will know:

http://dubm.de/

Best,

GreyC

[knittinganddeath]

Thanks Jan, Charlie, and GreyC. Sounds like the story is probably too good to be true, which is not surprising but still a bit disappointing.

[GreyC]

The fishing company you mentioned was actually registered at Altona for a certain time. Altona belonged to the province of Schleswig-Holstein then, and only from 1937 on to Hamburg, the neighbouring city.

GreyC

[knittinganddeath]

Thanks GreyC, that helps make sense of things. The Norwegians, who seem to have been somewhat in awe of the sheer scale of his operation, described the company as a "spritrederi" (hard liquor shipping company) instead of the usual "skipsrederi" (regular shipping company).