German war memorial website - 3

[Richard T Eger]

As noted above, I took the discussion with Jaap Woortman off-line. Here is the ensuing exchange of questions from me and Jaap's informative responses. I've deleted unrelated material from these e-mails.

..........

Richard to Jaap, 1 Sept. 2024, 9:19 A.M.:

Dear Jaap,

I'm probably just not doing it right. Here's what I am doing.

1. Go to www.volksbund.de

2. Clicking on "Gräbersuche"

3. Under "Suchen Sie nach der Grabstätte Ihres Anghörigen!" clicking "...zur Onlinesuche"

4. Entering

Nachname: Seidel
Vorname: Wilhelm
Geburtsdatum: 8.9.1919
Todes/Vermisstendatum: 20.2.1945

and clicking on Suche beginnen

5. This brings me to 'Fragebogen zur "Gräbersuche online"', which I filled out as follows:

Vorname: Richard
Nachname: Eger
Straße/Nr.: 505 Cypress St., Apt. F
Land/PLZ/Ort: DE/19973/U.S.A.

checked "Geschichtliches Interesse"

and clicked on "Zur Ergebnisseite"

6. This leads to "Vielen Dank für Ihre Unterstützung"

7. Click on "Suchanfrage ausführen", which leads to "Gräbernachwies des Volksbundes", but no information on Wilhelm Seidel.

Obviously, I'm not doing this correctly. Would you please give me a tutorial on how to do this right?

...

Warmest regards,
Richard

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Jaap to Richard, 1 Sept. 2024, 11:28 A.M.:

Dear Richard,

Your problem is first the date.
You have to fill in 08.09.1919 and 20.02.1945.
Secondly your knowledge on the German language.
I did the same thing as you did.
The system tells you that your search was unsuccesfull.
Then I gave it only the family name and his first name and this gave me a list of 58 candidates.
I checked all the persons and there was no one with a fitting birthdate or date of decease.
This means that the Volksbund has no information online of this person, but if you want still more information please send a message to ..............etc, etc.
If you want more information please contact me!

...

Jaap

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Richard to Jaap, 1 Sept. 2024, 12:24 P.M.:

Dear Jaap,

...

The word is: witnesses.

Actually, my search was a trial balloon, as I was looking at one of the clearer grave marker photos at Kaltenkirchen. I wrote the birthdate to you incorrectly. It is 8.9.1916. I just ran this on the Volksbund site again, with the dates in the format you showed, but still no luck, which really seems odd with photo in hand. Beside Seidel, I was trying to confirm the following:

Theodore Macherour (spelling?), b. 26.9.1919, d. 30.3.1945.
Friedrich Coezilius (spelling?), b. 6.1.1912, d. 30.3.1945.
Hans Werner, b. 12.1.1921, d. 15 or 13.2.1945.

What I have are color laser prints of photos where the names and dates aren't all that clear. These were provided to me by Manfred Boehme and I'm supposing they all flew Me 262's. I'd like to confirm the names, dates, and any circumstances about their flying Me 262's and regarding their deaths. Now, I'm not anxious enough to chase down the Gen.Qu.-WASt-Aachen route, but thought I might get a quick readout from the Volksbund site, as, obviously, I know they are quite dead. Nor did Magnus list of aces turn up anything. Got any ideas for a quick search?

...

Warmest regards,
Richard

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Jaap to Richard, 1 Sept. 2024, 2:35 P.M.:

Dear Richard,

You can do two things.
First send an e-mail to the Volksbund. See left side of the opening page. It says "E-mail eintragen".
If they have to do something for you, I think they will charge you. You better ask if and how much they will charge you first.
Second possibility send a letter to WASt.
You can also send a tracing request, see their website, but they will charge you about $6,50
My advice: send a letter. It will take some time for them to answer your question.
When I look at your questions, I think you will get the best suiting answer from WASt.
Their "Namentliche Verlustmeldung" of these persons will contain almost all information you are looking for.
From the Volksbund you only can receive:
Name,
Date of birth,
Place of birth
Rank,
Place of decease.
But perhaps you can give it a try.

...

Wish you good luck at WASt and some patience. You will need that.

Jaap

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Richard to Jaap, 1 Sept. 2024, 4:32 P.M.:

Dear Jaap,

...

As for the names, I got them through Manfred Boehme, with whom I have corresponded for 2 years. I was trying to save having to write him and ask about these fellows that he had sent me grave marker photos of, but guess that can't be avoided. I'm sure he'll know and I won't have to deal with the Volksbund or WASt. I was just trying to get an easy read before going that route. It was just that I was getting stalled on the Volksbund site and, if I was having trouble, then others might, too, especially as we send people there from LWAG. It was one of those "Darn it, this should work." situations.

...

Warmest regards,
Richard

..........

How did I end up getting my information? I called Manfred Boehme and we had a lengthy talk.

Regards,
Richard