Hans Steinmetz : PoW in UK

Hans Steinmetz was a German pow. He lived and worked on my Grandfathers farm near Coningsby Lincolnshire around 1945/46. I have attached a photo of Hans and a note he wrote to my grandfather, I assume after he returned home.
I would like to trace his family or at least find out a little more about Hans. What rank was he, what regiment, when/where was he captured? I look
forward to any replies.

 

I am not an expert on POW Camps, but looking through the forum Home Front there is a sub-forum for POW camps. See: UK PoW Camps

Needless to say Hans S. does not appear on this site before today!

In one thread I found this and with my emphasis in bold:

See Post 4 in: Info request re 692 Longtown, Cumbria

It might help to identify the nearest POW camp.

Then identify if a local history group exists, either for Conigsby or the county. Contact with them can help sometimes.

Note that as the end WW2 against Germany approached there were hundreds of thousands of POW in the UK. Once they were screened, to identify hostile / troublesome / war crimes suspects and in view of the lack of labour many POWs were released to work on farms.

Good luck!

 

I could try to trace the family in Germany. The story reminds me of another German POW from Chemnitz.
Any hints from which town or area in Germany he came from?
Stefan.

 

You could always make an enquiry with Swiss Red Cross in May…..

Requests for information about people held during Spanish Civil War or Second World War: Quarterly limit reached

You need to fill in an online questionnaire. You’ll likely have to put down a few don’t knows but ICRC ought to be able to trace a record on the details you can provide. Once you have his POW details (they’ll give you a service number etc) then you could make an enquiry with German army archives .


Steve

 

Hi Stefan. I’ve since discovered the photo was handed to my grandmother by Hans before he left England. It is dated 26/11/46. My father who was 11 at the time always said they were surprised Hans had never been in touch and wondered if he could have been killed in a train crash in Germany returning home. Research suggests there was a train crash in early December 46 but we’re only guessing he may have been a victim?

 

Hans is sporting a (in english) "General Assault Badge" on his breast pocket.

badge, special, German, General Assault Badge

Not sure about his medal ribbon, still looking.

Good luck with all your research Neil, keep plugging away.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Steinmetz looks like it's not too uncommon a family name in Germany Neil.

A long shot (very!) but from only a couple of years ago there's a Tim Steinmetz mentioned in this German Reservists Armed Forces association site. It may be worth giving him a shout (only if you wanted to of course) via the association as he may be interested in helping to find out more given the name connection (just maybe).

Link here: Erweiterte Kreisvorstandssitzung der Kreisgruppe Celle – Mehrfach ausgezeichnet! - Reservistenverband

Pdf version attached below.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

ive scanned the photo of Hans again, hopefully the badges and medal are clearer than original

 

Thanks for that Jim, I’ll have a look at Tim Steinmetz’s site, maybe get a translation, my grasp of the German language is not good!

 

If the date on the photo is close to when he left, Hans was one of the earliest prisoners to leave a British POW camp post war. These started in August 1946. As releases were first in first out, he was captured earlier on in the war. . Hans is army. Therefore my guess is he was captured in North Africa, possibly but statistically less likely, Italy and transported to Canada or the US in 1943. The US and Canada emptied and closed their camps Jan-June 46 and at least 30,000 from Canada and well over 100,000 (can't remember exactly) arrived in Britain, boosting the POW population to 402,00 in August before the releases in Britain began. The earliest men released August/September 1946 were 1939 captures, and virtually all of the early war captures arriving in Britain were Luftwaffe/Kriegsmarine, and went to Canada.Hardly any German soldiers in British custody anywhere until Rommel in the Desert in 1941, and they were kept in Egypt except the very senior officers brought to Britain for intelligence reasons, like General Von Thoma. Hans beautiful English may also be a sign of his US years.

 

Dear Neil, I have finally managed to attach the pdf version (above in post #8) of the website I linked to, and text within is in English.

In 2021 Staff Sergeant Tim Steinmetz was chair of the branch.

Hopefully he is still around in some capacity, and would hopefully be interested due to the Steinmetz name.

Plus, the native German members of WW2 talk are always a great help and will with luck look at your thread. They will likely have much better suggestions than mine!

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

It appears there was a Rev. B. Steinmetz who was the Chaplain Fifth Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, Territorial Force at their barracks on Halton Road, Coningsby. This may be a pre-WW! entry. Found using "Steinmetz" + "coningsby". probably a coincidence.

There is a map of POW camps in Lincolnshire, but not one at Coningsby. Hopefully your geography of the county is better than mine! See: PoW Sites in Yorks, Humber and Lincs

 

Phew, that can really be very difficult
Only name and rank are not enough for a request to the WASt. You would at least need the date of birth.
Unfortunately, uniforms and decorations are not my speciality:

His EKII is unfortunately not very informative, they were a dime a dozen, same for the wound Badge....

If it was the general assault badge, then he did not belong to the infantry, but to an affiliated branch of the armed forces (assault artillery, assault engineers, tank destroyers, etc...).

Since he wore the Eastern Medal (Freezing Meat Order) and was taken prisoner by the Western Allies, I think a transfer to Italy in 1943 is most likely. (From 1944 onwards, the bulk of the PoW remained on the continent).

If he did not make contact after returning home, he could have lived in the former GDR, where it was not advisable in the 1950s to send letters to the imperialist class enemy without being suspected of espionage (especially if you were a highly decorated soldier). In extreme cases, the latter circumstance could have landed him even in a "special camp" of the NKVD.

 

I looked at the Lexikon der Wehrmacht, but no Hans Steinmetz. I will also check TimSteinmetz from Celle
Stefan.

 

No luck with the Celle Phone book.
Steinmetz is not an unusual name in Germany though.AS Itdan wrote: we need the place where in lived in 1946.
Stefan.

 

I have sent Mr Steinmetz an e-mail via the Reservists' Association
Let's see if there is a response.

 

Unfortunately my grandparents, who may have known where Hans was from,passed 40:years ago. I’ll ask my dad, who was 11 when Hans left to see if he can recollect.
My dad confirms he was from East Germany!

 

Checked with my dad and he’s pretty sure Hans was held at the pow camp at Moorby, Lincs initially.