Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a fantastic genuine WWII German Soldbuch, issued to Otto Hollatz, a Luftwaffe Senior Sergeant who was a member of Light Flak Battalion 1005, which operated flak guns mounted on trains. This is a unique soldbuch as it is a replacement issued in December, 1945 while Hollatz was a Prisoner of War. It helps trace his time as a POW from 1945 until the end of his captivity by the British in 1947.

Along with the book we received a very nice summary of Hirsch's service extracted from the book, translated from the original German. It also includes pertinent information from historical records of the units he was in. It reads:

“Otto Hollatz was a luftwaffe senior sergeant born in Bremen in 1916. His final luftwaffe unit was Light Flak Battalion 1005, raised in August 1944.the battalion used light flak guns mounted on trains and operated in central and eastern northern germany: western lower saxony, saxony-anhalt, berlin, frankfurt am oder, and potsdam.

This soldbuch is a duplicate, issued in December 1945 while Hollatz was a prisoner of war (note the swas. In the unit stamp on page two is absent). Pay during his time as a POW, from Sepetmber 1945 through the spring of 1947, is record on pages 20-21. A complete Luftwaffe issue of clothing is recorded on pages 12-13, along with several blankets and rubber boots. His POW number below his promotions to sergeant in April 1944 and Senior Sergeant in September 1944 on page 1. A british stamp for his discharge as a prisoner of war status in 1947 is found on page 23, where home leaves are usually noted.”

Overall condition is good and many pages have handwriting or ink stamps, meaning this has some excellent further research potential. These are exceptionally rare and difficult to find with this much information!

More on the German Soldbuch:
The Soldbuch served the soldier as a personal identification document in wartime and as an authorization to receive pay from his own or outside pay-stations. In addition, it was identification for rail travel, detached service, leave, and for receiving mail. The Soldbuch was always carried by the soldier on his person in a tunic pocket. Leaving the book in one's baggage or in one's quarters was not permitted. The careful preservation of the book was in the best interest of the owner. The Soldbuch had to be kept in an orderly fashion. The owner must see to it, that all changes in pay due to transfer or promotion are immediately entered by his responsible duty station. The Soldbuch was an official document. Entries were only to be made by a Wehrmacht duty station. Making unauthorized changes is punishable as falsification of official documents. The loss of a Soldbuch was to be reported as soon the loss is discovered to the holders unit or duty station, and the issue of a new Soldbuch will be requested.