Where and how to find a soldier who died in World War II?

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Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 is a terrible grief, which still wounds from bleeding.In those terrible years, the general loss of life in our country is estimated at about 25 million people, and 11 million - soldiers.Of those "officially" considered dead about six million.

In this case, it is believed that someone somehow knows where he died and was buried in their native people.All the rest - the missing / stolen captured and returned from it.Statistics terrible.Not only that we have lost so many soldiers there, we still have no idea where half of them!Be that as it may, the relatives of the dead and missing not despair and continue to search.What they praise.

But how to find a soldier who died in World War II, especially in the event that no decent experience with this you do not have?In this article, we gathered the most common recommendations, which, however, can help you in this difficult matter.By the way speaking, found the remains of German soldiers are recognized in Germany about the same algorithm.Of course, adjusted for a more accurate and complete information archives.

Things to consider

Firstly, just tune in to the hard and diligent work.According to the Interior Ministry, only in 2004 in Russia were missing at least 40 thousand people!Think about these numbers: in the digital age, the total track of credit cards, tickets for trains and planes, people "manage" to disappear in a truly industrial scale.Many of them were never found.

Now, think about how difficult it is to find a man who disappeared in the midst of military action (especially in the beginning of the war).So do not despair, experiencing the first difficulty.

where to start

you must clearly know the name, surname and patronymic.So how to find a soldier who died in World War II is very easy, you have to remember these details very clearly.Try to remember: not whether a person has the habit of somehow alter your name or last name?It happens that because the soldier could not find a few decades, until quite by chance did not recall that Elisha called himself Alexei Prokofy in the hands of the clerk turned to Peter ...

If the name of the person at the hearing could be perceived incorrectly,looking among all more or less suitable options.Thus, the carrier may be Perevoshchikov.In short, to find the soldier of WWII is very difficult.

Other initial information

also need to know where and when he was called a man.Typically, this data is relatively easy to find.If there is at least some letters, postcards, official documents of those years, which was referred to the part in which the soldiers fought, collect them all.Put on the map, trace the route of a military unit, refer to the official sources.So you can find a soldier of WWII, with only the most general information.

course, is difficult to say when the person died, from which the letters stopped coming: it is possible that just sboila postal service, and the soldier was alive for several months, during which part of the time to go through many hundreds of kilometers.But in some cases, such a search yields results.

Pay special attention to the fact of the severe injuries.It is known that wounds from a lot of people died.As a rule, they buried them in graves care in the vicinity of the hospital.Sometimes the fact of burial documents preserved, and sometimes - not.Simply put, if the last letter of the soldiers came from the hospital, when a man wrote about his injury, it is possible that he died there.

Alas, in this case, would have upset you: seek such burial place is very difficult.We'll have to delve into the archives and keep track of the specific military field hospital.Firstly, it is a very long and difficult.Secondly, the guarantee of success is small.And further.The most common health graves of soldiers buried en masse, often in the same underwear.No medallions, no marks on the map ... So often you can expect except more or less the exact place of burial.

arm

Oddly enough, but this information is often attached to the most recent value.Attention!Before you find a dead soldier in World War II, as closely as possible to find out in what was the army he served: information about the victims are kept in different archives.To summarize.At first you need to find out the most basic information: Full name, date and place of recruitment, the number of parts, which served as a soldier, as well as at least an approximate date of his death.

are looking for on the Internet

In recent years this area became very popular, but much hope for it is not: there is no common database, various sources of information, derive from the archives of the military units, and so on. D. However, it's worth trying.If any data you have found, do not despair: contact the owners of the resource, describe your problem.In the case where they work directly with documents, specialists may well know some nuances or to give useful advice, up to aid in your quest.

So (theoretically) possible to find a soldier by the name of the Second World War.Of course, the greater the likelihood of success in the event that the name of this one was quite original.Otherwise it will have to sort through hundreds of options.

Also, do not forget to visit the sites dedicated to genealogy resources archives.Sends a request to the Ministry of Defence: it is possible that there are at least some information about where and when served as a soldier before his death or disappearance.And further.For the accuracy of the information on these sites one is not responsible.There is no guarantee that the data will be valid.

way.Before you find a dead soldier in World War II, try to find out anything about his colleagues.It often happens that people who were killed in one day, buried in the same place.And about some of these data to the family income, while other relatives remained in complete ignorance of the fate of their relative.

Try to reach like-minded people who are also involved in the search for their relatives who fought in places or the same part.However you prefer to coordinate efforts: someone may search on the Internet, while the rest will be engaged in the archives.

Memory Book

Almost every local museum contains information about the soldiers, and intended victims.In areas in which the front line, often in these documents can be found a list of names of soldiers who died and were buried here.Also pay attention to the monuments they also come at a granite stele on which are engraved the names of the soldiers who died during the liberation of a particular locality.

Paradoxically, but these data are often much more detailed than what the information from official sources, it is currently.Remember that the memory book has almost every more or less large city.Refer to people in the city-wide forums that if anyone of them has access to this document, it could check that it contains the sought information about your relative.This is how you can find a soldier by the name of the Second World War.

Requests archives

some reason it is believed that all of the information about the victims are kept in the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence, but it is not.If your relative served in the Navy in the naval aviation or some coastal services, the information about it to be found in the archive of the Navy, located in Gatchina.

hardest thing happens in cases where the person belonged to members of the various parts of the NKVD.Their archive is located in Moscow, at the State Military Archive.But part of the information on employees of the NKVD and SMERSH still classified, so the likelihood of issuance of such data is very low.Anyway, find the grave of a soldier from the Second World War special parts is impossible.

It is difficult to find the fact that the family is not always aware of the specifics of the real life in these parts.Often, the documents are served in conventional infantry units, but they were fighting in a completely different area.

To get information about the soldier from these archives, you need to write (it is highly desirable to print) a letter, which sets out a summary of the soldier his name, rank ... In short, all the basic information.The letter is required to make a clean envelope and stamps, as this will speed up receipt of the response message.

If you do not know the rank of the missing, or you have reason to believe that he could be given the rank of an officer, write follows6 "Please check also information on 6.9 and 11 department."The fact that these sections of the archive stores information on all military titles and ranks.Just be warned that the financing of this institution is very stunted and because the response from it is quite possible to wait up to six months or longer.

Simply put, when the best available opportunity to personally visit the archive and already there to ask all your questions.Of course, to find a soldier by the name (if you have no other data) so unlikely to succeed, but if you have more information, the chance of success is great.

analysis of the results of the query to the archive

should be understood that even in war losses actually recorded in sufficient detail and information they sent to storage.The central headquarters of each of the regular reports on irrecoverable losses, and were specified in the reports lists of names, rank, date and place of death, information about the family and the place of burial.

If a soldier assigned to the category of missing persons, this means that for some time he had been absent in the arrangement of parts, and his search for that (theoretically) would take 15 days, yielded no results.A lot missing in the initial period of the war.This is due to the fact that while many parts have been completely destroyed, and all their documents were lost or deliberately destroyed during the retreat command.

Note that to find a soldier missing in this case is almost impossible.It remains only to search for regional and local memory books.

Important!Very often it happens that a man, wounded and lags behind its part, after lying in the hospital, fighting in another part.At this time it came from the first funerals.So it often happens that the living relatives are not proved, the person actually "disappeared."Try again search among veterans' organizations all over the CIS.Often relatives are soldiers, "who died" a long time ago.

man was discharged, he realized that he had nowhere to go, so stayed in a place that he liked.More recently, one family found his grandfather, who was considered dead a long time ago (two funerals), but since 1946, lived quietly in Estonia.So it does not hurt to contact the local authorities of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic and so on. D. In general, to find a Soviet soldier who was killed in the territory of these countries, it is very difficult.

Possible answers from the archive

Thus, from the archive in response to your request may be filed once the four possible answers:

  • most desirable option when coming information Full name fighter, his rank, unit,date and place of death, the place of burial.

  • report, which contains a military unit, and the date and place of missing.

  • may act answer, stating alleged place of loss (the first months of the war), and presumably the number of the military unit, which often has been received from relatives on the results of the survey (part number was postmarked the last letter, if it isIt was).

  • message about the complete absence of data on military personnel in the files of irretrievable losses.As we have already said, this is due to the death of a soldier in the first months of the war, when part of the reports are simply not sent due to its complete destruction.

if you had the first two options, then consider yourself lucky: from now on, you can arm the cards and look for the resting place of your ancestor (at least tentatively).This is how you can find the burial of a soldier of WWII.

other cases

These include a death in the hospital (as already mentioned), the death of a German prisoner, or the likely release of a soldier out of it with the subsequent check by the NKVD.

If you have a suggestion that the soldier died of his wounds in a hospital, you must send a request to the Military Medical Museum (more precisely, its archive).If the last letter contains information about the injury (with the words written by others, for example), but there is no information on the treatment, it is necessary to arm guides and maps and to find out what specific military field hospitals operated in those places.

In the case where you intend to capture a soldier, you should also send a request to the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense: at the moment there is kept a little more than 300 thousand cards of soldiers who died in German captivity.Maybe you're lucky.

Many wonder about where to find the missing soldier PDA?PRA in this case - a private matter amnestied, or more precisely, "filtered" fighter.The fact that the soldiers released from captivity checked NKVD.If the reason to find fault with it was not, it is often the individual documents are not drawn up.In all other cases, the duplicates of the cards should be available in the archives of the FSB.

Here's how to find a soldier who died in World War II.We hope that our advice even in something you have helped.