Hptm. von Bothmer

[Larry deZeng]

Any thoughts or prove of this good idea?

Only to confirm the hypothesis, Jaap. Most everyone has one or more middle names, including myself. Quite often, a first son will be given the same first name as the father, but the family and friends will use his middle name to avoid confusion with the father. This is exactly the situation in my case.

So Dietrich was probably Dietrich Philipp von Bothmer; Dietrich being his legal and official first name but everyone who knew him called him Philipp which, in effect, was both his middle name and his nickname.

L.

[Jaap Woortman]

Larry,

I agree, but would it not be 'normal' that in the files of the VDK all his christian names should be mentioned?

John, René send me this morning the transcription of the NVM.
Duisburg 07.11.1940 02:00 Uhr.,
Stab III.NJG 1 Hptm. Grp.Kmdr. Dietrich von Bothmer III.NJG 1 Ekm. 69022/1, Geb. 25.11.1912 Hanover,
Grablage: Ehrenfriedhof Duisburg, Duisburger Chaussee.

There is something strange about this NVM. Place of death: Duisburg.
When I take 'Falkenjahre' page 198 and I qoute:"Philipp von Bothmer traf am späten vormittag in Deelen ein und schilderte mir beim Mittagessen, was sich zugetragen hatte. Vorsorglich war ihm von meinem Stab schon ein Hotelzimmer besorgt worden, und dorthin schickte ich ihn nun....."
I cannot image that Stab/NJG 1 had organized a hotelroom in Duisburg.
Arnhem would make more sense to me. I think. Strange.

Jaap

[Larry deZeng]

Larry,
I agree, but would it not be 'normal' that in the files of the VDK all his christian names should be mentioned?

Strangely, all the Christian names appear in their Luftwaffe officer personnel records but not in the Luftwaffenpersonalamt officer assignment orders or in the BA-ZNS/BA-MA Karteikarten. The latter two just give the official Christian name, e.g., Karl or Karl-Heinz, Siegfried or Siegfried-Otto, etc., followed by the surname or last name. So if you had a Dietrich Philipp Adolf Bernhardt von Bothmer, the "Philipp Adolf Bernhardt" would only appear in his officer personnel records folder.

As for the VDK specifically, I will defer to others on that question because I rarely use VDK and therefore I am unfamiliar with their policy.

L.

[John Manrho]

Jaap,

If Von Bothmer committed suicide at Deelen he would have been buried at Arnhem and not in Duisburg. In a sense it is already strange that he was buried in Duisburg, most of the time (at that time period) KIA were stil heimatüberführt....aiiii... I see now that his home address was at Duisburg too...so nothing strange about being buried in Duisburg (as long as he died there....).

J.

[Jaap Woortman]

John,

Burial place seems logical, but I can hardly believe that Duisburg was the place where he committed suicide.
Can you see who signed the NVM? Falck?

Jaap

[John Manrho]

Major Friedberg (Major beim Stabe) signed as stellv. Gruppenkommandeur.