Finding Lufftwaffe members
 

Hello,

I have just joined your Forum. I have a personal connection with this topic as my mother was a Lufftwaffe member from 1943-1945. She was posted near Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, in May 1945, when the American forces arrived. She managed to escape with a number of other Lufftwaffe members, and was captured by Americans with her other colleagues. She has told me hardly anything of what occurred during and after that, and I don't think she will - healthwise, not in a position to.

Is there any way of finding out more detail about what happened to these people who were captured and their story after that.

Thanks very Much.

Re: Finding Lufftwaffe members
 

I would say that at the end of the war, there were many, many thousands in captivity and the chances of finding anything on a non-combatant like your Mother would be slim. If there is any paperwork in the faamily's possession, this might help

Re: Finding Lufftwaffe members
 

hello ursula,

if your mother was an air force helper, I would make an inquiry at the "Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)":

https://www.dd-wast.de/de/startseite.html

but an answer can take up to a year!?


regards
ghostwriter

Re: Finding Lufftwaffe members
 

WASt has now been transferred over to the Bundesarchiv and this is the new page to use to send in search requests:

https://www.bundesarchiv.de/DE/Conte...rsbezogen.html

Your mother was lucky to have been captured by the Americans as many many Germans in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war (and their Czech helpers) were caught and murdered/executed (depending on who caught them) by the Czechs. The book 'Savage Continent' by Keith Lowe covers that episode as well as other outbreaks of regional fighting in post-war Europe 1945/46 and the BBC produced a documentary about it based on the book and using archive footage.

Re: Finding Lufftwaffe members
 

that's right ...

but the original weblink still works,
just with the reference to the "bundesarchiv"!? ;)