DP Camps in Germany - B

Babenhausen Kaserne http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/babenhausen.htm near Darmstadt in Hesse, used as a repatriation camp for German soldiers and a refugee camp for Slavic Freedom fighters and refugees fleeing the Soviet takeover of their homeland.

City archive: Stadtarchiv Babenhausen
Anschrift: Burgmannenhaus,
Postanschrift: Stadtverwaltung,
Postfach 1109, D-64824 Babenhausen,
Tel. (06073) 602-0

Hessen digital archives dealing with World War II
http://www.stad.hessen.de/DigitalesArchiv/anfang.html?http://www.stad.hessen.de/DigitalesArchiv/nachkriegszeit/uebersichtnachkriegszeit.htm

"The war was not over, but the great increase in the numbers of prisoners of war was seriously slowing the advance of the American armies. The 106th Division was chosen to handle the influx of prisoners. The Old Guard was given responsibility for camps at Buderich, Limburg, Budesheim, Ditersheim, Mainz, Siershan, Lagstadt, Hergeshausen, Babenhausen, Rheydt, Darmstadt, and others. Literally hundreds of thousands of German prisoner and Russian displaced persons were fed, clothed, medicated, interrogated, classified, and released after April 1945. In the following year, the 3d also assumed responsibility for all Civilian Internee camps in the 7th Army area, a staggering 19 installations, holding 50,000 people, including hospitals, Friendly Witness Barracks, and SS compounds. In all, the Old Guard administered, fed, clothed, and guarded or protected 1,050,000 people in camps scattered over a large part of Germany for a year." from: Military District of Washington, US. Army. http://www.mdw.army.mil/OLDGUARD/history/HardTimes&WW.htm

RE: My father's footsteps
Hello Olga
I am researching my father's history. He left Latvia sometime in 1944 and ended up in Babenhausen Germany in a displaced persons' camp. He came to Australia in 1948 after marrying in Babenhausen. I am trying to find answers to how he would have come to Germany. How did the German army evacuate itself from Latvia in 1944. If he was in the Latvian Army or a partisan group would the Germans have taken Latvians with them or would he have made his own way to Germany and if so how?
I visited Latvia last year and visited a large German war cemetery near where he grew up so I am guessing he was in the middle of the last resistance against the Russians. Also he had ten brothers and sisters and I am wondering why he was the only one to find his way out of Latvia. Eddie Ozols / Mt Annan NSW Australia

Dear Olga, I am researching information on my dad, from Saouglinscheim in Augsburg, Germany in 1949. He obtained foster parents by the names of Anton and Maria Daxenbichler in Bad Aibling. In 1952 he came to the United States. My father's name on his birth certificate was Schibko; his mother's name of Klassen, both from Ukrainia. Thank you very much. Stacy Campbell

Dear Olga,
I would like to trace the IRO Children's Village - Bad Aibling. Rosalia Kiszka, Roman Catholic, resided at Flossenburg, Stanislawa Kiszka who was born in 1946 in Flossenburg, UNRRA lager.Do you know the Roman Catholic Parish for Flossenburg? Anyone know about the Kiszka family in Stryj - Galizien (Galicia); 1846-1912. Death certificate shows Greek Catholic.Any suggestions or information you provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Bruce B. Miller

http://www.muenchen-flughafentransfer.de/aibling.htm

City website: http://www.aibling.de/

Herausgeber:
Stadt Bad Aibling
Marienplatz 1
83043 Bad Aibling
Tel: +49 8061 49 01-0
Fax: +49 8061 54 26
Email: rathaus@aibling.de
Internet: http://www.bad-aibling.de

2/15/007 Mrs. Kaczmar,
In 1948, my father, Konstanty Proniewicz, was transferred to the IRO Children's Village here as an unaccompanied minor, where he attended school and was processed for transfer to the US in 1950. He also received First Communion as a Catholic here, though I have no baptismal records of him. His original ethnicity and religion are unknown, though probably Polish or Belarussian and Jewish. Any information on this location would be greatly appreciated. Max Monclair http://maxmonclair.blogspot.com

2/10/06 Hi
My parents came to the USA in 1952 from a Displaced Persons Camp located in Bad Canstadt/Stuttgart, Germany. I'm interested in info. Thank you J. Michael Deigan

City archive: Stadtarchiv Bad Kissingen
Promenadestr. 6 97688
Bad Kissingen
Tel: 09 71 - 807-140
Fax: 09 71 - 807-149

http://www.badkissingen.de/Home/Leben%2Bin%2BKissingen/182.catid/

Hello!! You really have done a great job with your web site and it has helped me understand the beginnings of the aid to refugee programs in post war Germany. Unfortunately, my research is oriented more towards the IRO and in particular, the Headquarters of that organization located in the German town of Bad Kissingen, 1947 - 1949. Can you point me towards any archival sources that discuss this part of the refugee story?

I have seached the web and found very little in detail, the book The International Refugee Organization written by L.W. Holborn is often mentioned. I have yet to locate a copy. The Hulme book, The Wild Place, discusses much of the pre - history to the period I am researching, however, it ends just where the IRO story seems to begin. Can you help me out?? Robert A Stefaowicz

Follow up:

To the best of my knowledge, Bad Kissingen had no camp for displaced persons of any size for any duration. This is not to say that something may have existed for a few months following the war, just that in comparison to the major camps, there was nothing of note.

The Wild Place by Hulme: the book gives a great account of DP Camp at Wildflecken, approx 35 kilometers NW of BK. Hulme's book ends just as the story of the IRO in BK begins. Here is a link if you have not visited this very good site: www.dp-camp-wildflecken.de/pictures.htm

The former German Army Barracks called Mantueffel Kaserne, located just north of Bad Kissingen, was the home of the Headquarters of the International Refugee Organization that was trying to organize the relief efforts for DPs in the post war period. The American Army was there from 1945 - 1947, then they departed for a few years, that left the area free for the IRO, part of the start-up United Nations. The US Army returns to Manteuffel Kaserne in 1951 and remains until 1991. When the Army moves back to BK, the IRO departs and I believe they considered the DP problem essentially solved by 1951. See my web site at : http://www.eaglehorse.org

I have very little on the IRO period. But my site is a good source for information otherwise about the town in the pre and post war years. In particular, see the Home Station folder and the " Hidden Stories " sections. They give you an idea of what was going on in the middle and late 1940s in BK.

The activities of the IRO in the town are largely a mystery to me beyond the fact that as the organization headquarters, it clearly would have processed a lot of paperwork. Bob

I, too, am interested in any research on the dp came at Bad Kissingen. Alexandra T. Gibson

Franziska Blum-Gabelmann
Altes Pförtnerhaus im Schlosspark
Raum Dessauerstrasse 49
55543 Bad Kreuznach
stadtarchiv-bad-kreuznach@t-online.de

www.stadt-bad-kreuznach.de
Telefon: 0671 920 77 86
Telefax: 0671 920 77 92
stadtverwaltung@bad-kreuznach.de

"in April 1945, 884th Anti - Aircraft Artillery unit crossed the Rhine at Bingen, having previously administered and policed Bingen and Bad Kreuznach districts. Unit first encountered serious problems - looting, crime - with roving DPs in the Bad Scweppenhausen and surrounding areas."Submitted by: Alan Newark from www.onwar.com

Bad Lippspringe, #3145, L. Niedersachsen (British zone)

Bad Mergentheim (US zone), Lithuanian

Lithuanian women learn dressmakers' trade in DP camp Bad-Mergentheim
Photo from Hearken Then Judge by Juozas Pasilaitis, submitted by Frank Passic

Bad Nauheim, north of Frankfurt a/M

After World War II, I was an American Officer in charge of publishing Tygodnik Polski and Maly Polak for the 800,000 Polish Displaced Persons in Germany. My editorial office was in Bad Nauheim. I had a Polish major as my chief editor and two Polish women officers in charge of the Maly Polak, a tabloid we used as a book in the camp schools. Upon my return to the United States, I found that all the records of the names of those individuals and the members of the Polish Military company, which distributed the papers in three zones of Germany, were destroyed by a fire where the records had been stored. One of the woman officers was named 'Hanka'. The names of the editor and the other lady officer escape me. I was a captain in the US Army. I would appreciate any information any one may have on any of the people involved. I was most appreciative then and am more so now. Vincent (Witold) Zubras

Hello Olga, My dad, who died about 10 years ago, was suppose to have been running a DP camp while in the US Army. My brother tells me that the best he can figure out from the materials that he has from my dad was the camp was in "Bad Oeynhausen" in Germany. Any info contact: Andy Iserson Thanks.

Reply from Olga: As the war to came to an end, the British soldiers came upon a terrible sight: 60,000 humans in Konzentrationslager Bergen-Belsen, most have hardly the strength to be pleased about the arrival of their rescuers. In the next months, 13,000 humans die of malnutrition, weakness and typhoid fever. 6000 inhabitants, displaced persons, former KZ prisoners and forced laborers were accommodated in barracks near the city, and an undestroyed the health spa became the British headquarters.

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Fri, 26 Sep 2003
Dear Mrs. Kaczmar
There was no DP camp in or near Bad Oeynhausen!!!
The information on your website is a VERY bad translation of an German newspaper article appearing in the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung". The original German text (URL: http://www.neue-oz.de/_archiv/noz_print/medien/2001/09/krieg_fr.html) is a review of a TV documentation about the end of World War II in Germany. One scene of this film illustrates that all 6000 (German) inhabitants of Bad Oeynhausen were evacuated and in housed baracks outside of the town while the spa was converted into the headquarter of the British forces in Germany. Another scene of the film shows a DP camp in Osnabrück. The "Konzentrationslager Bergen-Belsen" (concentration camp Bergen-Belsen) was situated in the so-called "Lüneburger Heide", a heathland south of Lüneburg. (Bergen is a village in that heathland, and NO mountain.) Yours sincerely,
Vinzenz Lübben M.A. (Stadt Minden, Archiv)
Kommunalarchiv Minden
Tel: (0571) 97220-12
Fax: (0571) 97220-11
Email: v.luebben@minden.de

Bad Rehberg, #276, Land Niedersachsen (British zone)

Bad Reichenhall (US zone), Jews (Careful:There is a Bad Reichenhall in both Germany and Austria.)

Bad Reichenhall is a spa town, and administrative center of the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Salzburg in a basin encircled by the Chiemgauer Alps (including Mount Staufen (1,771 m) and Mount Zwiesel (1,78m)).

On April, 25th of 1945, the area was bombed by allied forces, 200 people were killed. The town centre with many hospitals and the train station was nearly totally destroyed, the barracks didn't suffer any damage. After World War II the area was under American military governance (1945-1948)

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration Archives Record Group: PAG 4 Box 26: Area Team 1070: Bad Reichenhall

City archive: Stadtarchiv Bad Reichenhall,
Street addres: Stadtverwaltung, Rathausplatz 1 und 8, 83435 Bad Reichenhall,
Post box: Postfach 1140, 83421 Bad Reichenhall

City web site: http://www.bad-reichenhall.de/en/Home/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Displaced_Persons_camp

Email inquiries:

Dear Olga,
I went through your web site looking for information regarding Bad Reichenhall DP Camp (in which I was born) but couldn't find any. Do you have access to information about this DPCamp? Ze'ev Sharon, Kiriat Ata Haifa Israel

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Olga, I'm looking for information on Feldafing, Bad Reichenhall, Korbach and Ludwigsfeld. Thanks. S.Bycko

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After the war, we spent 5 years in various DP camps in Germany before we migrated to Australia. I was born in DP camp Hohenfels, Bad Reichenhall. Thanks so much, you have a great site, love coming back to check it out. Maria Nolan / Australia

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Dear Olga,
I am looking for a possible relative. His name is H. Binder, who was looking for me [his cousin] on June 7 1947 at Dabrowa Gornicza in Poland. His address in 1947 was Bad Reichenhall UNRRA Team 1070 , Kibuc Borochowa. I think that he was born around 1909. If you have any information on file that might help me find family it would be very much appreciated. Thanking you in advance, Chave / Italy. Fax # Jerusalem 02 6411189
Email: melchave@netvision.net.il

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On 9/6/10

Seeking information on JOSEF LONKA - b 1920 Warsaw - family from Kaluszyn - Poland. Son of Yankel Kopel and Genta/Bella nee Epelbaum.
 
Until a few months ago it was presumed that only one child of Yankel and Bella survived the Shoah, however documentation has surfaced showing that Josef did survive, was in several camps and finally was at 1L / 68 Bad Reichenhall, US Zone - 1946-1948.
In February 1948 he made application to go to Palestine - however he never arrived.
 
Does anyone know of any office/organisation etc. that would have information regarding those people who applied to go to a country but for whatever reason never actually went.
 
Any information on Josef Lonka would be gratefully appreciated.
 
Thank you. Shana Tova to all.
 
Patricia Wilson (Israel) wilsonettess@yahoo.com

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Bad Salzschlirf, Jews

To Whom It May Concern,
I am looking for information about the Jewish displaced person camp which existed from 1946 until 1949. I already wrote a book about the Jewish life in my hometown Bad Salzschlirf and during that research I came across this DP camp, but couldn't find any information. The comunity in Bad Salzschlirf says that there are no files or general information though about 1000 Jews lived there. Maybe you can give me some advise or help or know some adresses or emails where I can write to. I thank you in advance for your help. Anja Listmann / Germany

City archives: Stadtarchiv Bad Salzuflen Martin-Luther-Str. 2
D-32105 Bad Salzuflen
Tel: 05222-4839
Fax: 05222-400218
Email: F.Meyer@Bad-Salzuflen.de

Hello,
Here are the original Military Government for Germany Temporary Travel Document in lieu of passport for stateless persons and persons of undetermined nationality." There is a stamp from the IRO, British Visa section and also Canada. Place of issue was Bad Salzuflen. Alexandra T. Gibson / Canada

Bad Sassendorf

Bad Windsheim

City archives: Stadtarchiv Neustadt an der Aisch
Rathaus, Postfach 1669
91413 Neustadt an der Aisch

7/9/05
Olga, my husband is Ukrainian and was born in a dp camp in Germany in 1946. We need a copy of his birth certificate, but are unable to locate which camp it was. His Baptism Certificate shows Windsheim akr Uffuheim Bayerm. Someone who knew his parents said he was born in Wetsheim. I couldn't locate anything for any of these names. Is there anything I could do with this limited information? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, BODNIOWYCZ@aol.com

City web site Click on English translation of city history

Email to the city recorder (Standesamt) riss@bad-wurzach.de

City offices: Stadt Bad Wurzach
Marktstrasse 16
88 410 Bad Wurzach
Tel.: + 49 (0) 75 64/ 302-0
Fax: + 49 (0) 75 64/ 302-170
Email: stadt@bad-wurzach.de

Official home page: http://www.bad-zwischenahn.de/

Municiple offices:
Am Brink 9
26160 Bad Zwischenahn
Tel.: 04403/604-0
Fax: 04403/604-444
Email: gemeinde@bad-zwischenahn.de

Chronological history of Bad Zwischenahn http://www.hotel-rosmarin.de/inhalt/geschichte.html
City information: http://cities.eurip.com/stadt/bad+zwischenahn/

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2/23/05
I was born in Germany at the camp but came to the United States a few months after birth. My birth certificate is registered in Bad Zwischenahn but I can't seem to find their location. Al Grunas

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7/17/07
My Father, Aleksander Markus and his mother Janina Markus, both of Poland, Zofia Schurik were registered at Bad Zwischenahn. If anyone has any information about this camp, please write Mark Norek events@lifesanadventure.com.au

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City Archive: Stadtarchiv Baden Baden
Küferstr 3
76530 Baden Baden

"Life was more full of hope for the displaced persons from the former German territories in the East and the refugees from the Soviet Zone (by 1951 there had been 1,005,666). From 1945 to the end of 1950 they flowed into the country in several migratory waves, initially almost only to the American Zone, then through resettlement also into the French Zone. (By 1961 the count of new citizens, particularly because of refugees from Middle Germany, rose to 1,620,428." quoted from: http://www.pantel-web.de/bw_mirror/history/bw328_e.htm

History of Baden: http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/BAD-WUE/hist.html#Hist-B

Baldersheim, Ochsenfurt - Aub is on the Gollach River, not far from the border of Baden-Württemberg. Aub is divided into three parts: Aub, Baldersheim, and Burgerroth. Aub website: http://www.stadt-aub.de/

Municiple offices: Rathaus, Hauptstr. 42
Zimmer 2 - 4, Erdgeschoss, Tel. 97-25
Email: a.fuchs@stadt-ochsenfurt.de

Baldersheim City website: http://www.baldersheim.de/

1/28/09

My mother was taken from her home in Przemysl, Poland in 1943 and insured at the "Allgemeine Ortskarankenkasse" Marktheidenfeld; Hasloch.  She was registered in Hasloch where she was forced farm labor at Bernhard Verchs.  Later she was in Baldersheim, a rural district of Ochsenfurt, resided in house number 62 and gave birth to my sister.  Then she was in a DP Camp Schweinfurt and in 1946 in a DP Camp Weiden/Oberpfalz.  In 1947 she left Camp Weiden for Amberg.
 
My father was  arrested in Radomsk.  In 1943 he was sent to Aushwitz.  Then in 1943 he was sent to Gusen and in 1943 to Mauthausen, 1943 Weiner Neudorf.  In 1945 he was liberated from Mauthausen and he was in DP Camp Schweinfurt, on and in DP Camp Weiden/Oberpfalz. Then in 1947 he left DP Camp Weiden for Amberg, Belguim.
 
Neither my mother nor my father ever talked about this time.  I found out these dates through the Red Cross and Holocaust Tracing.  Both of them are now deceased and there is no way of finding out any more information about this time.
 
Can you give me any suggestions about who I can contact or hire to try to find out about my mother's life in Germany during her forced labor and my sister's birth there? I would appreciate any help you can give me.

Your site is fantastic.  You are doing a wonderful job.  It is amazing how many people are looking into the past.
 
Thank you. Helena Stange hstange@cox.net

Balondorf (U.S. zone)

Bamberg has it own page; (U.S. zone), Ukrainians, Latvian, Jews

Bährendorf #1233 (British zone) Schleswig Holstein region

Barum, #2911, Land Niedersachsen (British zone); Poles, Balts

Bavaria general research not a camp, but lots of research help; Bavaria is called Bayern by the Germans.

Neuschwanstein Castle which was the inspiration for Walt Disney's theme castle

City archives: Stadtarchiv Bayreuth, Maximilianstrasse 64, 95444 Bayreuth

City library: Stadtbibliothek Bayreuth, Luitpoldplatz 7, 95444 Bayreuth

University library: Universität Bayreuth, Zentralbibliothek (central library), Universitätsstrasse 30, 95447 Bayreuth ----------------

Dear Olga,
My family and I were in DP camps in several locations after the war: Bamberg, Bayreuth, Fraundorf and Ansbach. Where can I locate more information about the camps? Thank you, Hedy Ziemba

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Hello Olga.
I was wondering if you could assist me. I am trying to locate information pertaining to Austrian PWs that were held after WWII in the Bayreuth area. I believe they would specifically have been in Bindlach just north of Bayreuth. I have aquired two sketches of a 9th Army Air Force (AAF) Sergeant that are dated 1945 and just outside Bayreuth.

I was stationed there in the 80s and collect items from there. I thought these were interesting just because they were from there and that I have a few other items of the 9th AAF which I knew were at the base in Binlach just after WWII. Upon receiving the sketches, I realized that they were drawn according to the signature by an Austrian PW and it also references two other Austrian PWs. One sketch also references the Sergeant favorably which leads me to believe that this Sergeant must have had a good relationship with the artist as well as the others. It is written on the back of one of the sketches, "Our good Mr. Olson", who is the Sergeant in the sketch. I would like to find this artist if possible. I was wondering if you could tell me where to locate lists or archives with the names of the PWs from Germany and the different areas so that I might discover where this gentleman might have been released or taken. I have just begun my search and will contact Bayreuth as well. I plan on going back this year so I hope to see what archives they might have at that time.

The artist name is Karl Lindken. I cannot help but wonder what happend to this man and his friends. If you know where I might find links to PW or POW art that would be wonderful as I have not found much thus far. Thank you for any help you might provide and great job on the website. A lot of time and effort has gone into it. I salute you. Patrick----------------