Johannes Rudolf(ph) Ziegler, Biography help

[billyj1138]

Good afternoon,

I'm trying to piece together some of my mother-in-law's family history. I'm a bit stuck with regards to her father.

What I know, and this is all that she really knows, is that during world war 2 he fought for the Germans. She has heard that he was with the SS but I have no real validation for that. She was also told that he had been captured and died while being held by the Allies. Again, I have no real validation other than what she had been told.

His wife, Sofia Ziegler, had been taken by the Russians and was in one of the labor camps for I believe 7 years. She's still with us, but she's not very comfortable discussing the details as it's too much for her emotionally.

Is there anyway or any ideas on what and where I should go to research this? I believe either he or his father was American born, and from Ohio, I'm not sure if that would help.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Bill

[SNM]

Hello Bill,

so i guess your wife is of German origin as well as her grandfather.

In 1943 the "SS Abkommen"( SS treaty) was signed between Nazi Germany and Romania. After that almost every Romanian with German roots was able to quit military service in Romania and join German forces. All these men became members of the Waffen-SS, not the General SS. Of course there were cases in which men deserted, because there was no legal way to join German Army. But that was before 1943 and these men had also the possibility to join the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine or Luftwaffe (landforces, Navy and Air Force).

To get closer information abou the man please write to

Deutsche Dienststelle WASt in Berlin, Germany

Nearly every information about German soldiers is collected there. But you need to tell them the date and place of birth as well as his full name. Also be patient because answers will take up to 12 months and will cost you about 15 Eur (20$). The site seems to be down at the moment but i am sure that i will not take long till it will be online again.

Be sure to ask them everything at once such as documents of his imprisonment, his soldbuch and any other original records as a copy for you. You can ask them about the units he had been member of, his dogtag, injuries and hospitals, medals and decorations he got as well as the ranks. Also

If you like i can search my sources for the name of the person. If you don't want to publish it in the forum feel free to send me a message. Do you have a picture of him in unifom?

Best regards

Bernd

This post has been edited by SNM on July 06, 2010 01:33 pm