Need help finding owners of family document.......

[ChrisW01]

Like the subject line says….

This piece of memorabilia was stolen and recently recovered.



Please refer to this link Alberta RCMP look for owner of WWII German army passport - Calgary - CBC News and contact the RCMP number in the news piece if you have any information so this memorabilia can be returned to the family.

[carpediem]

I guess by passport, they mean Soldbuch, and they are most likely aware that these are bought and sold on the internet and elsewhere. They are also likely aware that the individual who owned it may not have been related at all to the soldier who carried the Soldbuch. If a family member reported it stolen, then there would be no need for the public plea for help. A very odd news story.

[BlackCat1982]

Not given much to go on. He was taken POW given the fact the red crayon with his POW number, so may have ended up in Canada or US anyway (unless this was bought elsewhere).
Going on his probable age, he will have served in WW1, therefore we can locate where he came from - if they showed his birthplace. But realistically this may have been through several owners before the thief. Of historical importance to family? maybe if they are interested in history, which I would always hope but many are not. Hope it gets back to the right person..

[hucks216]

They could always send it to WASt in Germany who might be able to locate surviving relatives or archive it with the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of others.

[BlackCat1982]

Yes for sure WaSt will have records for him, so would the ICRC.

[HPL2008]

Clearly the police only know that the Soldbuch was stolen, but not from whom.

Personally, I think it is far likelier that the previous owner was a collector than a family member of Franz Laue, but who knows?

In any case, just for the sake of accuracy, Laue was neither an "army officer" nor a "non-commissioned officer", but an army official [Beamter] of the medium-grade career [mittlerer Dienst].

[hucks216]

It seems that the owner has seen the news report - he is a member of the GMIC Forum. He bought it (I don't know when even though I originally sent the sales link to him - shows how much I remember!) and it got lost in the mail and he lives not that far from the police station in the article.

[hucks216]

The Soldbuch has now been collected by the person who bought it - 6 years after it got lost in the post on its way to him!