Nazi Conscription/AWOL Records (German, find, search, world)

[hamellr]

The other day I was idly thinking about my recently deceased GIL. He's had some tantalizing stories about his time in WWII, but countinously declined to talk about much of his time in the war or give specifics. But he'd say things like "Oh, we were in the Alps and found a cave full of Roman Wine Amphora that were nearly 2000 years old. But we didn't get to taste the wine before being pushed out by the Germans"

He was the son of minor nobility in Yugoslavia. We do not know if he joined the Yugoslavian army willingly, or was conscripted, but we do know that within a year he was conscripted into the Nazi army. He would have been about 18-19 at the time, and had to drop out of University due to the war.

Somehow, somewhere, he went AWOL and joined with the British. Where he spent the remainder of the war as a military truck driver in England. After the war he worked on a bomb disposal squad in England, before immigrating with his German wife and child (on a Polish Passport no less!) to the US in 1952.

We know that a lot of the Yugoslavian records were destroyed by the Russians after the war, including the paperwork involving his title. And due to the Communist's remaining members of that side of the family disappeared, either literally or figuratively due to lack of communication. The family "castle" was also destroyed by the Communists and turned into a Red Square, which sucks hugely as it had originally been built in 1420 by the Ottoman Empire as a messenger rest station.

In addition, we know that his German (may also have been from Austria,) wife was a member of the Nazi Party at some point, but we do not know when or how she made it to England. But it had to right around or even before the official end of the war, as their daughter was born in early 1945.

So I have lots of possible hooks for documentation, but no clue where to start on European records. We are planning a trip with in the next two years to travel to Yugoslavia and his home town to start searching for relatives, or even people who "knew of" the family. And would like to have some documentation to pin point things.

[ArkansasSlim]

I cannot help, but I really, really appreciate you sharing your story. There are lots of helpful people on this Forum so hopefully some one will jump in here with lots of help. Good luck in your quest.

[suzy_q2010]

Hamellr, do you know whether he was naturalized, either in England or the US? That might be something to look for.

[daliowa]

I suggest starting with what you know and work slowly back in time.

I agree that naturalization records are a great source of info. Copies of all post-1906 U.S. naturalizations are held by the Federal gov't. This site gives instructions on requesting naturalization copies.
USCIS - Genealogy

If you know where the naturalization took place you might get copies from the local court at less expense.

Also try searching Moving Here - 200 years of Migration to England This is a database regarding people moving to the U.K.

www.familysearch.org is a good place to search for world-wide records.

You might find them listed on an incoming passenger manifest. www.ancestry.com is a good resource. They have manifests from the 1950's. Ancestry is a subscription site, but many libraries offer it for free on their computers.

Let us all know how your search is progressing.

[bjh]

Frankly, you will probably find the grander claims are just that, claims.

[hamellr]

Thank you all for the help, I'm examining the links now.