Hello,
The shot through contents of the wallet of SS Untersturmführer Kurt Krause who got KIA on March 19 1943 in the trenches of the Leningrad front was sent home to his family.
About ten years ago a friend of me bought it from the family on German ebay; it has been part of my collection since 2008.
Kurt Krause a mechanic from Hamburg volunteered for the Waffen SS on October 22 1938, he was accepted but because of the German conscription laws he first had to perform his RAD service.
On August 26 1939 he was mobilized and joined the Bau Btl (construction battalion) of the 225 Infantry Division, a Hamburg based division.
- Because of the German conscription laws their was a limitation on the number of German nationals that could volunteer for the Waffen SS to perfrom their consript service time.
In September 1939 the Waffen SS expands and more German nationals can be accepted as volunteers; now Kurt Krause can also join the Waffen SS and at the end of September 1939 he started his basic training with the SS Germania regiment of the SS VT division.
He fights in the Westfeldzug with the 7th company of the SS Germania regiment (he fought in my neighbourhood against the French).
For his service in the Westfeldzug he gets the Infanterie Sturmabzeichen and in May 1941 he was sent to SS officers school in Tölz.
After 18 weeks of training he got his officers commision in the Waffen SS, in September 1941 he rejoins his old regiment that was fighting in Russia as a part of the famous SS Wiking division.
On November 19 1941 he was hit in the chest by a mortar shell fragment for which he was hospitalized, when he was recovered from his wound he got transfered to the Freiw. Legion Flandern, the Flemish Waffen SS volunteer unit.
Most likely he wasn't very happy, to say the least, about his transfer!
SS Germania members not only considered themself to be elite soldiers in the German army but also in the Waffen SS; also they had no high esteem for foreign volunteers that were able to join the Waffen SS because the standard for enlistment was lowered.
German Waffen SS officers that were transfered to these "foreign legions" saw there transfer as a kind of punishment, a limitation on their career.
While he was fighting as a platoon commander with the Freiw. Legion Flandern in the trenches around Leningrad a bullet grazed his head on January 20 1943.
On March 19 1943 his luck was up....
His SS VT driving licence.
On his picture he is wearing an early SS VT uniform.
The shot through contents of the wallet of SS Untersturmführer Kurt Krause who got KIA on March 19 1943 in the trenches of the Leningrad front was sent home to his family.
About ten years ago a friend of me bought it from the family on German ebay; it has been part of my collection since 2008.
Kurt Krause a mechanic from Hamburg volunteered for the Waffen SS on October 22 1938, he was accepted but because of the German conscription laws he first had to perform his RAD service.
On August 26 1939 he was mobilized and joined the Bau Btl (construction battalion) of the 225 Infantry Division, a Hamburg based division.
- Because of the German conscription laws their was a limitation on the number of German nationals that could volunteer for the Waffen SS to perfrom their consript service time.
In September 1939 the Waffen SS expands and more German nationals can be accepted as volunteers; now Kurt Krause can also join the Waffen SS and at the end of September 1939 he started his basic training with the SS Germania regiment of the SS VT division.
He fights in the Westfeldzug with the 7th company of the SS Germania regiment (he fought in my neighbourhood against the French).
For his service in the Westfeldzug he gets the Infanterie Sturmabzeichen and in May 1941 he was sent to SS officers school in Tölz.
After 18 weeks of training he got his officers commision in the Waffen SS, in September 1941 he rejoins his old regiment that was fighting in Russia as a part of the famous SS Wiking division.
On November 19 1941 he was hit in the chest by a mortar shell fragment for which he was hospitalized, when he was recovered from his wound he got transfered to the Freiw. Legion Flandern, the Flemish Waffen SS volunteer unit.
Most likely he wasn't very happy, to say the least, about his transfer!
SS Germania members not only considered themself to be elite soldiers in the German army but also in the Waffen SS; also they had no high esteem for foreign volunteers that were able to join the Waffen SS because the standard for enlistment was lowered.
German Waffen SS officers that were transfered to these "foreign legions" saw there transfer as a kind of punishment, a limitation on their career.
While he was fighting as a platoon commander with the Freiw. Legion Flandern in the trenches around Leningrad a bullet grazed his head on January 20 1943.
On March 19 1943 his luck was up....
His SS VT driving licence.
On his picture he is wearing an early SS VT uniform.
