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Red Cross records for WWII POWs

Red Cross records for WWII POWs

Posted: 21 Feb 2015 8:22PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi,

I'm trying to find information on my grandfather's military service during WWII. Paul Loffler, he was born in Poland, but his family had German heritage, so he was conscripted into the German military after Poland was invaded. Sometime after 1943 he was captured by the Russians. The Red Cross informed my grandmother of his capture. So, I'm wondering if the Red Cross (I assume International?) might have records of the prisoners reported to them, or camps they had contact with? Has anybody here ever tried this avenue of research?

I know about the Bundesarchiv, and intend to contact them, but many people have talked about the loss of records during the war, so I'm trying to find additional avenues to pursue.

Thanks,

Teresa

Re: Red Cross records for WWII POWs

Posted: 22 Feb 2015 9:45PM GMT
Classification: Query
If your family was advised by the Red Cross of his capture, then they would have the record for him. They have approximately 36 million individual cards on POW's from WW2. It can take quite a while to get a response from the Red Cross, but luckily they have most of the records. However, the International Red Cross had closed the archives for conservation work since January 2014. They should be reopening it sometime soon for research requests. I would suggest contacting them to see if they have a date yet when they will start to accept requests-
https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/other/0...

https://www.dd-wast.de/en/home.html
Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) is the German government office for military records and information on German troops who were missing in action or PoW's.

Re: Red Cross records for WWII POWs

Posted: 25 Feb 2015 6:36PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thanks so much for your response. I'm thrilled to have another viable avenue of research on my grandfather's military experience. I followed your link and saw what you were talking about concerning requests. I'm disappointed that they aren't taking general requests (however those requests had a year to a year and a half response time, so it's not like I've lost a speedy opportunity). I may still go ahead and contact them about how much longer it will be before the archives are reopened. I suspect they are currently being digitized (like was done with the WWI archives) and will be reopened when they are searchable online. That will be very exciting.

I will certainly follow up on the Deutsche Dienststelle. Thank you for pointing out my error/confusion. I was thinking of the website you referenced when I posted. Don’t know why I called it Bundesarchiv, when my quick search just now clearly pointed out that they’re two different things.
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