German war Soldbuch
Used for 6 years throughout the entire war.
Very interesting document issued days before the eruption of hostilities.
Though the document in this article is not a travel document, it is still an important testimony to the plight that shook the world for 6 long years. The holder of the document was able to find himself nearly in every major stepping stone of the war, being placed practically in every major battle field or rather major turning points of the war, starting with the invasion of Poland in September of 1939 and France the following year. A year later he would join the massive forces that prepared themselves for the invasion of the USSR in 1941, seeing action on the Eastern Front for 2 long years then reassigned west to the Balkans and lastly, the last year of the war ending up in Italy. As mentioned earlier, he served for 6 long years and I personally find it a miracle that he was able to survive for such a long period of time. One can only imagine what he saw and what he felt. There is a mixture of admiration but also disgust, since he was part of a war-machine that ended up in destroying nations and responsible for the death of millions.
German Soldbuch number 143 was issued to 24 year old Josef Hein on August 27th 1939 at Augsburg. Though I am not that familiar with Soldbuch’s or Wehrpass’s (personal “ID” issued to soldiers upon enlisting, the first was actually carried by then during their service and “saw action” with them, where as the latter was kept by the units, at the records department and amended accordingly when changes were made, such as of moving to different units etc).
What I was able to understand, and will write it here briefly, that he took part in nearly every major event of the war, finding himself at every important battle field during the war years, amazingly completing his 6 years (!) of service up to the beginning of 1945, February.
For historians and Holocaust researches, this Soldbuch is also an important document because his unit, or division, the 1. Gebirgs Division was his first unit upon enlistment days before the outbreak of war in 1939. The unit saw some major action on the field throughout the war and went through major changes as well, as the war progressed, not in favor of the Germans as we now all know.
The division was active during the invasion of Poland in 1939, and here it becomes important and interesting indeed: we can assume that most likely his unit took part in some of the first war-crimes of the war, when at Przemyśl local Jews were put into forced labor work after being rounded-up. The Division was also noted for further acts of crime during the war, when moved to other locations, such as Yugoslavia and Italy.
We can summaries some of the known war-crimes committed then by the Gebirgs Division:
- Poland – assaulting and placing Jews into forced slave work at Przemyśl;
- Yugoslavia – operation Case Black POW’s & civilians captured and shot;
- Albanian village of Borovë – burning of houses and murder of civilians;
- Greece – murder of villagers in Mousiotitsa & Lyngiades.
Another important location on the Eastern Front, during the invasion of the USSR on June 22nd 1941, Operation Barbarossa, when members of the division captured the large city of Lvov and discovered thousands of victims murdered by the NKVD shortly before the fall of the city. The discovery led to massive pogroms committed by the locals on the local Jewish population, supported by the SS and Einsatzgruppen units who stood by and watched as they were murdered.
Josef saw action in 3 divisions during the war:
- 1939-40 – 1 Gebirgs Division in Poland & France;
- 1941-44 – 387 Infanterie-Division in southern Russia (formed in 1942 and fully destroyed in 1944 during fighting in Romania).
- 1945 – 8th Mountain Division in Italy (being part of the Mountain Artillery Regiment 1057).
I believe that further research is called for, and welcome advise from fellow historians and collectors, since this is truly a unique relic from a past long gone but with implications being felt even today – World War II. Again, though not part of my core interest and collecting, it still would find a good place among my collection due to the Holocaust connection it may have. I recently began to search and collect ID’s issued during the war, mainly German (SS) and occupational ID’s as well. An important part of our lives is remembering and preserving the past, not forgetting it but always walking forward as well.
Have added images of this document and others that came with it.
Thank you for reading “Our Passports”.
