FOLD 3

[RT]

I found it , thks

[RT]

But only one card pop-out, seems that you are better apprieciated than me, by FOLD 3, John

[Laurent Rizzotti]

I have discovered the German death cards on fold3 this month, when work pressure allowed me some time back to my hobby (WWII research) and find them a very useful tool.

My pattern search:
1) search the family name first.
2) if there are tons of replies, add a filter on the death date. Don't type the date directly in the search box, it does not work, but click on filter, choose date, then death date and put your date. You can use the year ("1941"), the month ("Feb 1941") or the full date ("24 Feb 1941")
An issue with the date filter is that for all three cases above, fold3 will include in his query all losses just listed with the year or the year and the month as date of loss (and there are a lot: for example, il you search for the date "24 Feb 1941" without any other criteria, fold3 returns 1151 cards, either listed on "24 Feb 1941" or "1941". Add the criteria "25 Feb 1941", and fold3 adds 118 cards. Remove "24 Feb 1941" and fold3 now shows 149 cards less. So you can estimate that 24 Feb 1941 has around 150 entries (it is not a perfect count, I don't know why), 25 Feb 1941 around 120 and 1941 or "Feb 1941"without day around 1000.
3) if the name returns no replies, try to filter with the day of death, and try to type the unit in the search box. Fold3 will propose you units. For example, still for 24 February 1941, if I start to write "Staff" for Staffel, unit proposal will include six flying units with various writings (3./NJG 2, 3./606, 1.(F)/120, 1./KG 40, 1./KG 30, 12.(St)/LG 1 in classic form.... not the ones you find on fold3). If I launch the search with staffel, i alos found airmen from 8./KG 3 (8 Staffel Kompfgeschw 3, 8/Staffel Rampfgeschw 3).
4) the trick given above to check the Volksbund database is useful. Try to filter with the birth date, or the birth place
5) if nothing succeeds, you can type the day of death, order it by name and scroll down to find your man

The base is not complete, especially for 1944 and 1945, but still I managed to find almost all the men I searched between 1939 and 1943. Actually there are more men for these years in fold3 than in Volksbund.

Also, fold3 is editable: you can correct things, or add annotations. Your comment will appear as alternate data, and are searchable.


Example of search for Hptm Mahrenholtz of Stab II./KG 30 lost on 9 April 1940:
1) a search with Mahrenholtz returns one card, "Mahrenholtz, Gustav-paul". By reading the card, you can see that the first name is Siegfried, as in Volksbund, while "Gustav Paul" was added later with red ink, not replacing the first name, but rather as middle names. So I added a correction to the name
2) I search various combinations with unit, birth date and birth place, but found no other card for this guy, John you are better than me for fold3
3) but by searching "Stab III" and "Death date: 09 Apr 1940", I found Mahrenholtz and three other men of "Stab III./KG 30", presumably his crew:
Uffz Siegfried Werner Otto Constabel (note: a date of 6.7.1940 is added to the card, and a grave is indicated, so possibly this was the date his body was found or buried after being found)
Uffz Heinz Ulbritch (two cards). Both say he died at 1900 hrs, and was buried on 1 June 1940 (one adding he was found the day before)
Lt v Res Ullrich Zahn. Death place listed as "Vundfluz Vordsce Westl Hettand Znoischan 1830 U 1900", corrected in "Feindflug Nordsee Westl Jütland zwischen 1830 u 1900" by me.

PS: for some units, especially in latter years the unit is not given but his FPN. To translate it into an ID, you can search on the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz website: http://193.159.223.62:8081/vbl/Feldpostnummer/FPN.aspx

[RT]

Interesting !, need some time to refresh , but efficient, Ullrich is the right name , it is noted that in Bruhe near Tyboun... angeschwemmt

[rof120]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

(...)

Also if someone doesn't show up as Hans, try Johannes; similarly Fritz/Friedrich, Alois/Aloysius etc.

YES.

Jochen (like Marseille or ...Prien) = Joachim - Heinz (like Guderian) = Heinrich - Toni = Anton

I certainly don't know them all.

German guys certainly know more.

[John Manrho]

Remi/Laurent,

Yes, in the list you will see ONE hit for Marenholtz, as Gustav-Paul. If you look at that card specifically and put it on the screen you can go "forward" with the arrow -> and you will discover there are two more cards....now for Siegfried. As long as the cards are "in line ref sequence number" you will have only one hit in the search. If another card is on another location (not in line with sequence number) you see more hits in a search. Bottom line, If you have the card: go forward and backward to see if there are more of the same guy. In many many cases I found 4 -5 cards on same guy, sometimes with additional information.

John

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Originally Posted by John Manrho

Remi/Laurent,

Yes, in the list you will see ONE hit for Marenholtz, as Gustav-Paul. If you look at that card specifically and put it on the screen you can go "forward" with the arrow -> and you will discover there are two more cards....now for Siegfried. As long as the cards are "in line ref sequence number" you will have only one hit in the search. If another card is on another location (not in line with sequence number) you see more hits in a search. Bottom line, If you have the card: go forward and backward to see if there are more of the same guy. In many many cases I found 4 -5 cards on same guy, sometimes with additional information.

John

Thanks, i had not noticed this. Actually I have found cards with following numbers, but maybe when I searched not the name but something else (or the cards follow each other, but not with the same name, like Greve and Grewe). Finding all cards for same man can be interesting, as each can have details the other has not (or readable details...).

[John Manrho]

Yes, different cards for same man. This is caused by different sources. Sometimes the unit reported him as vermisst (card later changed in gefallen), but also cards of units who buried or reported the find (angeschwemmt). This way multiple cards for same guy but different level of information.