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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

WW1 German soldier; my wife's Granddad


Majordecor

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I refer to Bernhard Alfred RATAJCZYK, born 4.3.1895 and died 28 5 1980. He

> and his wife lived at 56 Burgstrasse, Lippstadt for many years and I knew

> them both.

>

> Herr Ratajczyk served with the German Army during the First World War and

> I have two photographs of him. He does not have any medal ribbons to help

> with the identification of his unit, but one of the photographs shows a

> group of soldiers standing in front of a makeshift building with two signs

> visible. One says \"Gechaeftszimmer Division\" and the other looks like

> \"Campzimmer Kriegsgerichte\".

>

> I am researching my late father in law who fought in both World Wars in

> the British Army. His wife (Inge) is still alive and lives with us. She is

> 80. Her husband was 32 years older that she was and they met after WW2

> when Colonel Major was Military Governor in Lippe-Detmold. She was his

> secretary and simultaneous translator.

>

> It happened that Inge\'s father and Inge\'s husband were of nearly the

> same age. Her husband fought in France between 1915 and 1918 and we

> believe that they were involved in battles very close to each other to do

> with the Kaiser\'s Spring Offensive, 1918 around Ypres.

>

> If it helps, Herr Ratajczxy won an Iron Cross sometime during WW1.

>

> I would very much like to know as much as possible about Herr Ratajczyk\'s

> military career and hope that you can help in my research.

I should tell you that I got the following reply from Nat Archives in Germany...

Dear Mr. Major,

there was no "German army" in those times but armies of the German single states (except navy). I suppose that Bernhard Alfred RATAJCZYK belonged to the Prussian army. Military personal files of the Prussian army got lost during World War II, except military hospital records of wounded soldiers.

Regards

Im Auftrag

Klaus-D. Postupa

Anyway, here are the photo's in the attachment... (on the group one, he is second from the right).

George Major.

PS For photo's, please see Topic 'Soldiers'.

Attached File(s)

Opi_photos_2.doc ( 58k ) Number of downloads: 21

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try having a look at the website www.volksbund.de, which is the german war graves site. I know your man survived the war, but they may offer advice on where to get info about him.

Also, there's several non-political websites devoted to the study of the imperial german army. put a note up on their forums for advice. I'm no expert, but there you go. I recently got the papers of a German soldier in my family who died, and they were very useful indeed.

Andy M

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If I read your message correctly your man would have been listed among the Prussian state records. These were destroyed or as rumor has it confiscated by the Russians after WWII. Eityher way there is nothing left to look through. If he was from Baden, Bavaria, Saxony or Württemberg there is a chance of finding something but only with a great deal of time and money.

Do you have any record or indication of his regiment, unit, etc.? This would be the best help of all, otherwise you will probably never really find out about his experiences.

Ralph

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First of all, do you know if he was an enlisted man, or an officer? If the former, your chances are probably slim.

Do you know where he lived in 1914? Would narrow the unit issue considerably.

Amazingly, my 1934 Lexicon does not list a Lippstadt. There is a Lippe, about a 600 sq. mile state in western Germany, whose major city is Detmold. If a city in Lippe was renamed, Lippstadt might be it. I even think I have heard of Lippstadt. Can someone chime in and tell us where Lippstadt is? A western Germany location is better; my family's farm is now in Poland, and the Poles even smashed all the headstones in the cemetary, and probably would not be helpful about research about family or land ownership, and probably threw out the records. (I am not trying to dump on the Poles, who suffered terribly in the 20th Century, and other centuries); just giving an example of how the availability of information details vary widely by specifics of location. Germany is not like Britain, where the last invasion was the Vikings (a good thing too), and parish registries sit undisturbed by shellings, rapine, and firebombing for hundreds of years. For example, Hamburg, I am told, has no records from 1926 to 1944.

I go on about this, as some or all German cities had/have directories of residents; I found out a lot about my grandmother from the Hamburg directory for about 1912, her then husband, his profession, other children I never heard about, etc. Finding her address on my father's dog-tag, I made a cold e-mail to the Hamburg City Archives, and a staffer poked about for about two months doing research for me. A great kindness.

When were they in Lippstadt? Pre-WW I, the 1930's, post-WW II? These distinctions are important, as to possible data sources.

If he got the EK I it would be important, but as for the much more common EK II, about 7,000,000 were issued, one wag saying that about the only way one could be avoided was suicide. If he was a OR and got the EK I that would be a really big deal, and he would likely be mentioned in his regiment's history. If we figure out his regiment, we probably can find out if there is a history; however, their availability is spotty; they are expensive, there are inexpensive copies of some floating about.

Bob Lembke

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If I read your message correctly your man would have been listed among the Prussian state records. These were destroyed or as rumor has it confiscated by the Russians after WWII. Eityher way there is nothing left to look through.

A couple of years ago the Russians returned a large quantity of Belgian records, which the Germans had carried off in 1940 and they had taken to Moscow in 1945. I think I'm right in saying that they are also in the process of returning captured records to Germany.

Bob,

Lippstadt is in North-Rhine Westphalia, near Paderborn.

Mick

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Dear Bob, Mick, Ralph and Andy.

Thank you for your time and information.

I'm trying to find out more about my man. If I find anything significant, may I get back to you?

Regards,

George.

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With George Major's approval, we are moving this discussion to the sub-fora Soldiers, and the thread Two Family Members on Opposite Sides, which is basically the same discussion. That thread has photos posted, and useful information found in this thread has been transferred to that thread.

Bob Lembke

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am wondering with the name ,if he was from origanaly ,Silisea as he would fall under the Prussian

State ,as that state had a revolt post WW1 he may have moved to Lippestadt.

just an observation ,I can not see the pics so I am t a bit of a disadcantage.

Mark Giroux

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