Waffen SS - KZ - Camp Ternberg

[Sam500]

Hey,
I'm new to SS postcards and mail.
I've added this card to my WW2 collection recently, nice and clear cancellations.
Looking for more information about it and the sender, I've never heard about the Ternberg Mauthausen camp before so I assume that the card is rare.
Attaching a link and a pic of the card.
Looking forward to hear your opinion

Satellite Camp Ternberg | Mauthausen Guides - Mauthausen Komitee Osterreich

Back : SS postcard — Postimages
Front : Backside — Postimages

[Finngaill]

Hi Sam. Here is good guide for upload photos to this forum. As photos behind of those links will disappear at some point and this thread will become pointless.

Visual Guide to Upload Photos

[Willmore]

Hi Sam.

As mentioned, using outside photo hosting is forbidden because once the link expires the thread becomes useless.

I have uploaded your photos, but please refer to the link that Finngaill kindly posted for future reference.

Kind regards,

Will

[Sam500]

Thank you, next time i will use the option you mentioned

[BlackCat1982]

I don't know much about the Ternberg work camp, but it is tantalising to try and decipher the name of the SS Rottenführer on the card. What might his fate have been?

[Willmore]

It looks like it was sent by -
SS Rottenführer K. Duderstadt
SS Lager Ternberg
uber steyr o. d

To -
Frl (Fraulein)
Dorli Langer
Linz/Oberdonau
Stifterstraße 29

Karli is mentioned in the letter, but I don't know if it is a first name or a nickname.

Duderstadt seems to have been one of the 174 sub-camps and external kommandos of Buchenwald/Dora-Mittelbau.
The List of the Camps

[Sam500]

Thank you very much for the response!
His name seems to be Karl Duderstadt or Biderstadt...
Is it possible to check somehow what might his fate have been? / What was his future service like?
There were only 45 guards in the camp, do you think he was one of them?

[BlackCat1982]

There is a Karl Duderstädt born Leipzig in 1908 listed on the Volksbund fallen database, however his rank is listed as Obergefreiter and he was on the Eastern front, so this cannot be him.

[Willmore]

Hi Sam.

I have done a quick translation of the letter, but some bits don't look right to me. The * are words I am not sure about, so if anyone can correct any mistakes then please do!

Meine Liebe Dorli!

Die besten Grüße und ein gesundes
neues Jahr wunscht
dir von Herzen dein Karli.
Erhielt auch deinen lb*. Brief
Antwort folgt am Abend, gelt?
Habe am Silvester - Abend dienst
ebenfalls Neujahr. Was begimst*
du an beiden Tagen, nechtest*
du eventuell wieder einen
kleinen Ausflug machen,
nochmals* tausend Bussi dein Karli

My dear Dorli!

Best regards and a healthy one
wish new year
Yours from the heart, Karli.
Also got your lb*. letter
Answer follows in the evening, right?
I'm on duty on New Year's Eve
also new year. What are you starting*
you on both days, next*
you might have another one
take a little trip
a thousand kisses your Karli


Unfortunately I think it may be impossibly to identify him with the limited information available. To add to what BlackCat has posted, We know his initial is K and Karli is mentioned in the letter and I did find a Josef Karli who was a member of 3./SS Aufklärungs Abteilung SS-'Div Reich'. His Erkennungsmarke is listed as 499 - 1./SS T. I. E. II (which I think would be Totenkopf), but he was a Schütze, not a Rottenführer.

Full name: Karli, Josef
Birth date: 14 Sep 1921
Birth Place: Semtur
Military Rank: Schtz
Military Unit: 3./SS Aufkl Abt SS-'div Reich'
Death date: 21 March 1942
Death Place: Reschehalowo

Kind regards,

Will.

[Sam500]

Thank you so much for the translation.
I agree with you that the information is limited.
However, the camp was a really small one. (45 guards)
I wonder if the Mauthausen museum has the information we need...