German Genealogy Pointers,  Tools

Finding German War Dead

If, like me, you seek relatives who fought on the German side of a war, you might have experienced difficulty in finding information about these forebears.

One of the most useful online services I have encountered in this area is the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (link below).  It is through the wonderful efforts of the Kriegsgräberfürsorge that I have been able to find information about two of my great-uncles, who lost their lives in WW1:

and three cousins who died in WW2:

To quote the Kriegsgräberfürsorge site:

The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. is a humanitarian organization which is charged by the Federal Republic of taking care of registering the German war dead abroad and to ensuring that it is updated and monitored. The German Public Alliance advises relatives of war grave care, supervises public and private sites, supports international cooperation and assists within the sector of war grave care and fostering the engagement of young people in the last resting-place of the war-dead. […]

Acting within the scope of bilateral agreements, the Volksbund started their work within Europe and Northern Africa, being responsible for 824 war gravesites in 45 countries with about 2.4 million war dead soldiers. More than 9,000 volunteers and 582 salaried employees fulfil the various activities of the organisation today.

After the political revolution within Eastern Europe the countries of the former Eastern Bloc were included in the work of the Volksbund. Approximately three million German soldier’s had lost their lives in the eastern countries in World War II. i.e. more then twice as many as the rest of the war gravesites in the West which brought the Volksbund immense challenges not least that more than 100,000 graves were difficult to find, had been destroyed, had been overbuilt or had been plundered. Regardless the Volksbund took care, repaired and constructed more than 300 cemeteries of World War II and the 190 grounds out of World War I in Eastern, Central and South Europe. There are 54 central cumulative cemeteries. Approximately 673,000 war dead have been reinterred.

Hopefully this organization will be helpful to you in your search(es).

ManyRoads Creator, Professional Genealogist, Family Historian, ManyRoads Podcast co-host, Old Guy and most importantly 'opa'