WWII German letters

[pod25]

Hi, my first post !

I have a question about some letters I found, a bit of history:

Back in the early 90's I worked as a antique furniture restorer. My boss imported a load of chests, the chests came in from Holland. My first job was to clear out all the rubbish, strangely nearly all the chests still had contents.
Some of them were full of old news papers and one chest (the gem) had news papers from WWII. While pulling the papers out of the chest, a few letters fell out from with in, 2 were still in the envelopes and 1 was not.
It was the envelopes that caught my attention, they had the swastika on them and were dated 1942.
The writing was unreadable.

I kept the letters for several years, then one day I decided to do something with them, I had them translated at a great cost to my pocket ! It turned out they were written in the old German scroll, no longer used today, it took a proper expert to translate them, hence why it cost so much.

The contents of the letters were from a German officer writing to his loved one. He mentions the war a lot and was posted on the Russian front line before being posted to the English Channel. He mentions the English getting a bloody head and also mentions Hitler a couple of times.

Since having the letters translated I have made it a mission to not only find out what happened to the officer but to also find a direct descendant of the officers girl friend so I can return the letters.

I have the officers military number, but have no clue how to use it so I can trace him.

I think I found what part of Germany the girl friend lived, but I lost all my data after a major computer crash, but I am pretty sure she lived in East Germany.
I did have some photo copies, but I may have lost them too, but I am still looking.

Any help on how to trace both officer and girl friend would be great.

You can ask any questions about the letters, envelopes, dates and where the letters originated from.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

When you mention the "Officers number" do you mean the Feldpost number found on the ink stamps? I can help with these.

I suspect your quest might prove impossible, due to the passage of time and records being closed to all but direct family, but good luck! I think your best bet would be to write to a local newspaper in the area where she lived.

Cheers, Ade.

[pod25]

Thanks Adrian.
In my past research, I did learn that most of the East Germans do not speak English, it is not part of there education.

Some of my past research is now starting to come back to me and yes, it is indeed the Feldpost number.
I have also found some of my past research. I learned that the officer who's name is Erich RoBburg (English translation) it could also be Erich Rossburg and his Feldpost number places him in the Luftwaffe 5th Regiment Signallers based in Norway at that time.

I'm still trying to find more of my past research.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Keep us posted!

[pod25]

I have decided to pursue Elli Kührt (the girlfriend), then hopefully trace forward from there, which will hopefully lead me to her family.
So far I know the following:

Elli Kührt lived in a small village called Hoyersdorf.
After some lengthy research today, I can only find 1 person by the name of Kührt, a Paul Kührt, who lived in Hoyersdorf in 1931 and he was a chair maker and home owner, presume married !
My letters are dated 1943, so hopefully if he was married, he already had children ?

From there, I have hit a brick wall !

[pod25]

Hopefully this link will work. One of the envelopes.

[pod25]

I've still hit a brick wall tracing any person by the name of Kührt in the town of Hoyersdorf

I'm now back to looking for anything on the soldier.

His name is Erich Roßburg. His Feldpost number is L37081

[pod25]

The Feldpost number relates to the following:

(2.1.1940-27.4.1940) Air News Agency z.b.V. Wiesbaden,.
(28.4.1940-19.9.1940) Air News Agency S 1/XVII,.
(8.9.1943-22.4.1944) 11.12.1943 Air News Agency E 72/XI,.
13.1.1944 deleted,.
(25.11.1944 War) 16.3.1945 infantry Schallmeß troop 98.

Am I to presume that if a number was deleted then reused means the regiment was wiped out ?

[Adrian Stevenson]

This was not always the case, numbers were rotated around due to security concerns.

Cheers, Ade.

[youthcollector1]

Can't help pod but have to say what a noble thing to do! Good luck, I will have my fingers crossed for you. If only others were more like you.....