Unknown dog tag ; what is this unit please ? :)

[Gagarin]

Hello,

Wow. A friend of mine found this dog tag in a flea market.
It's a german erkennungsmarken for sure, but what about the unit ? It's quite hard to read it. A real mess..
If anyone has a small idea about what it could be.... it's great

Danke !

[Gimmie]

Maybe it sounds stupid but it looks almost like it was re-used judging from the different thicknesses of letters and the fact that it kind of looks sanded/worn down?

Regards,
Bas

[BlackCat1982]

Hello,

Wow. A friend of mine found this dog tag in a flea market.
It's a german erkennungsmarken for sure, but what about the unit ? It's quite hard to read it. A real mess..
If anyone has a small idea about what it could be.... it's great

Danke !

It is a Romanian tag, not German.

[Gagarin]

hmmm.. romanian.. I didn't think about that but yes, I guess you are right.
Thanks

[vitharr]

This is a standard WW2 Romanian dog tag. The info on the disc are: Matr. = personal ID number (i.e - 132), Ctg. = contingent (so the bearer was drafted in 1935) and Reg. = regiment. 6 V may come from 6th Hunters Regiment (Regimentul 6 Vanatori). This regiment was involved in the 1941 massacre of Jews in Iasi.
Best regards and nice find
Sever (Romania)

[Jan S]

... and you are lucky - most of these Romanian tags are being found "blank" - visibly they were filled in with pencil only, not stamped, and the details disappeared....

[Gagarin]

Thanks to have shared your knowledge.
So, this dog tag comes from the romanian "Regimentul 6 Vanatori". Interesting. I checked on internet and I read that the Vanatori were actualy the "elite" unit of the romanian army. They were in Iasi during the pogrom. Horrible. Anyway, it's hard to find informations about these hunters in english.
Do you know where this unit was fighting during the war ?

[vitharr]

Yes, the 6th Hunters Regiment was an elite unit of the Romanian army. In 1940 they had their garrison in Balti (today Republic of Moldavia) and after the Soviet ultimatum in the summer of 1940 they withdraw in Iasi where they were responsible unfortunately for many killings of Jews (at Stanca, Sculeni and Popricani - where a mass grave containing women and children was discovered in 2010). Many of the officers belonging to this regiment were convicted of genocide and war crimes (col. E. Mateias, cpt. I. Stihi) after the war. Unifortunately the name of this unit will be always linked with the sistematic extermination of jews. They did the same operations also on the Eastern front, killing jew prisoners in Odessa and in other places.The unit belonged to the 14 Infantry Division (commander -gral. G.Stavrescu) that saw heavy fighting in Bessarabia, Odessa and Stalingrad.
Best regards
Sever (Romania)

[Gagarin]

Thanks a lot for all these precious informations Sever !
I'm actually quite sad to see that this ID disc belonged maybe to someone who was directly linked to the holocaust. God only knows what horror scenes this relic saw...
Are you an historian ? You are well informed !

[vitharr]

I'm glad I could help. I am actually an archaeologist but my hobby is WW2 period. Some colleagues of mine excavated the mass grave from Popricani where 6 Hunters Regiment executed Jews. They did not find any items related to the soldiers except the bullet cases (Romanian made, marked 1939 and 1940, for Czech rifle VZ 24). Also, many of the victims had their personal belongings buried with them, a sign that they were not robbed afterwards.
As you said, who knows what has this dog tag seen and whom did it belong. It would be nice to find out the name behind the ID number
Best regards
Sever (Romania)