Wehrstammbuch - Communist Party member and deserter.
Article about: Hello everyone. Here is a Wehrstammbuch and related paperwork to Hermann Thunig, who served in various units as a krankenträger. As usual please add anything you see or give any corrections
Wehrstammbuch - Communist Party member and deserter.
Hello everyone.
Here is a Wehrstammbuch and related paperwork to Hermann Thunig, who served in various units as a krankenträger. As usual please add anything you see or give any corrections where necessary, it’s appreciated!
Hermann Thunig was born on 5th of September 1904 in Rosenhiem, Oberbayern. He was a roofer (Dachdecker) by profession, his religion is noted as Protestant and according to the information on his first personal data sheet, he had married sometime between his registration for military service in 1937 and the 26th of May 1942.
It is recorded in the Wehrstammbuch that he undertook seven years Volksschule, three years Fortbildungsschule. Along with this, Schwimmer (Swimmer), Bergsteiger (Climber) and Skifahrer (Skier) are noted in the occupational, technical or sport related qualifications section.
Rosenhiem police records extract, with following details.
15.4.1932, Amtsgericht Rosenheim, wegen eines gemeinschaftlich begangen[en] Vergehens des Diebstahls, 1 Woche Gefängnis.
30.12.1933, Amtsgericht Rosenheim, wegen groben Unfugs, 5 Wochen Haft.
Thunig wurde 1930 als Mitglied der K.P.D bekannt, er hat noch im November 1933 abfällige Äußerungen über den Führer und Reichskanzler gemacht und wurde hierwegen bestraft (1. oben 2.)
April 15th 1932, Rosenheim District Court, for a jointly committed crime of theft, 1 week in prison.
December 30th 1933, Rosenheim District Court, 5 weeks imprisonment for gross mischief.
Thunig became known in 1930 as a member of the K.P.D ‘Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands’ (German Communist Party). In November 1933 he made derogatory remarks about the Führer and Reich Chancellor and was punished for this (1. above 2.)
Statement with identity photo attached confirming the issue of a Wehrpass dated, 15.10.1937.
Two statements of non Jewish decent dated 1941 and 1942.
Two personal data sheets. On one of these dated 6.12.1944 it is noted that he deserted (Fahnenflüchtig) from Hauptverbandplatz Tomislavgrad while serving with 2./Gebirgs-Sanitäts-Kompanie 118.
From 21st of May 1942 to the 13th of August 1942 he underwent basic training as a krankenträger (stretcher bearer) with a Mountain Troop medical service replacement unit, (Gebirgs) Sanitäts Ersatz Abteilung 7 based in Schliersee, German. After which he served as a stretcher bearer from the 14th of August to the 10th of October 1942 with Hochgebirgs Marsch Bataillon z.b.V. 8, which was a high mountain special duties unit.
From the 14th of October 1942, to the 30th of November 1942 he served with Infanterie Regiment 42 of the 46 Infanterie Division, which was active in Caucasus region of Southern Russian. It was during this time that he was injured by a bullet and hospitalised at Reservelazarett Ebersbach/Sachsen. He was at the Reservelazarett from the 19th of November 1942 to the 10th December 1942 and while convalescing he received the wound badge in black on the 7th of December 1942.
From the 19th of January to the 5th of February 1943 he was with 1./Sanitäts Ersatz Abteilung 7 and then from the 6th of February 1943 to the 1st April 1943 he was with 3./Sanitäts Ersatz Abteilung 7. Both of these medical replacement units were based in Miesbach, Oberbayern.
After his time with Sanitäts Ersatz Abteilung 7 he joined the 718 Infanterie Division on the 2nd of April 1943 (This Division had just been renamed 118 Jäger-Division), where he served with 2./Gerbirgs Sanitäts Kompanie 118, which was the medical unit of the Division. According to an entry on his second personal data sheet, he deserted on the 6th of December 1944, while his unit was based at the Tomislavgrad field hospital.
14.10.1942 - 30.10.1942 - Einsatz Rußland
2.4.1943 - 6.12.1944 - Bekämpfung der Aufstandsbewegung im serbischkroat Raum und den dalmat Inseln.
14.10.1942 - 30.10.1942 - Deployment Russia
2.4.1943 - 6.12.1944 - Fight against the insurgency movement in the Serbian-Croat region and the Dalmatian islands
This is pure speculation on my part, but did he became disillusioned with the war because of his political leanings or did some other unknown factor play a part in his desertion, could he have been the victim of partisans and simply met with an unknown fate. I have checked both the Volksbund and available casualty cards, but nothing has come up, so maybe someone could suggest where I could find information concerning soldiers that are considered missing in action.
Tomislavgrad -
Also known by its former name Duvno is a town and municipality located in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It mainly covers an area of the historical and geographical region of Tropolje.
Tomislav's City’ named after Tomislav, who assumed the title of chief or king of the Croats in about 924. After the arrival of the Slavs in the 7th century the Roman name of Daelminium gave way to Županjac from župan ‘ruler’ of a župa ‘territorial district’ in the early Slav period. The present name was adopted in 1925, but in 1945 this was changed to Duvno as part of the onslaught on Croat nationalism. Following Bosnia's independence in 1992 the name was changed back to Tomislavgrad. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view...9580897-e-9270
While researching the Wehrstammbuch, I found information on a man called Ewald Thunig and wondered if he is related to Hermann Thunig?
This is probably the best source of information I have found so far on Ewald Thunig himself -
Born on December 15, 1897 in Straubing, eldest son of seven siblings in a master tailor family; Apprenticeship as a carpenter, volunteered in the military in 1915, served as a soldier first in Russia, then in the wars of position in Flanders, and returned in January 1919. He joined the KPD in 1919, was arrested in July 1924 and spent five months in prison. Temporary UB manager in Rosenheim, from January 1928 to May 1929 as a full-time employee in the district office of the KPD in Munich. From November 1930 he was a student (under the name German) at the International Lenin School in Moscow. Then teacher at the Reichsparteischule in Berlin-Fichtenau, from October 1932 editor at the "Neue Zeitung" in Munich, where he worked with Willy Grimm and wrote under the pseudonym Otto Thomas (who died in 1930). Arrested on March 19, 1933, Thunig was one of the first inmates of the Dachau concentration camp, from which he was released in July 1938. From 1938 to 1942 he was a carpenter in Rosenheim, then conscripted, and was under Gestapo control until the end of the war. 1945 Housing consultant in Kolbermoor, he followed Richard Scheringer as State Secretary to the Bavarian State Ministry for Food and Agriculture on January 5, 1946. After only a few weeks he left there (spoke of a breach of trust by the KPD-BL in relation to him), and worked in his profession for a few more months. In October 1946 he was district chairman of the Bavarian trade union federation in Rosenheim; he held this position as DGB chairman until June 1963. Member of the KPD until the ban in August 1956, member of the SPD from September 1957. Ewald Thunig died on July 26, 1991 in Rosenheim.
Ewald was born on the 15th of December 1897 and Hermann Thunig born on the 5th of September 1904. The seven year age gap doesn’t seem out of place for siblings, for example my sister is 16 years older then me.
Ewald Thunig was a carpenter and Hermann Thunig was a roofer, so both ‘could’ be linked to the building trade. Although I believe Ewald was involved in organ making and then parquet flooring.
Hermann Thunigs father was called Ewald - Father’s will often name their first born son after them.
Both men had fathers who were tailors.
Both were KPD members.
Both were jailed in 1933 for offensives related to their political persuasion.
Common sense -
All of these similarities are very tenuous, added to this Hermann Thunig was born in Rosenhiem, Oberbayern and Ewald Thunig was born in Straubing.
I’m very interested to hear opinions and any help or suggestions (good or bad) are very welcome!
There are 10 men from 1 and 2 Kompanies of Sanitäts 118 listed as missing with Red Cross, he is not among them. 6 of them disappeared in Yugoslavia.
Thanks blackCat I really appreciate it!
With him not being on the Red Cross list of missing soldiers and the Fahnenflüchtig (Deserted) entry on the data sheet, could this mean he was apprehended after he deserted I wonder?
If he had been caught by the Feldgendarmerie they might have been a note of it. Many went missing this way I expect, and most could expect no quarter by any side if caught. I recall seeing a sequence of photographs that showed POW's being executed in Yugoslavia at the wars end.
It is unfortunate that there is nothing noted other then the deserted entry, so it may well remain a mystery.
Very true, it was a particularly brutal conflict in Yugoslavia and I’ve read a few accounts of the fate of German soldiers and collaborators at the hands of partisans.
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