Walter von Lewinski

[Harrier]

Hello,

Does anyone have any information on a Walter von Lewinski, awarded "La Cruz blanca del Merito Militar de I clase" as a "Kapitan d.H."?

I have his award certificate and would like to know about him. I know that von Lewinski was the original family name of the famous Erich von Manstein and wondered if there was a connection.

Many thanks!

[Guest Rick Research]

Post a scan, please.

I cannot imagine what on earth "d.H." could possibly be. "d.Anything" suggest GERMAN rather than SPANISH for rank designation, so is it

Kapit?n with the Umlaut over the a?

In which case, the only thing that comes to mind MIGHT be (though I have never seen this) Captain of Merchant Marine (d.Handelsmarine?)

I've got a genealogy of TWO of the many branches of the von Lewinski (genannt von Manstein) tribe, going back to their common ancestor in the 17th century, and do not find anybody with that first name.

[Harrier]

Rick,

As always, you are right on top of this area!

I will try to post something soon. I am technologically challenged........

The Kapitan does have the umlaut.

Thanks!

Harrier

[Harrier]

I truly have no idea how to do this...........

[Guest Rick Research]

Too tiny to blow up and get anything but smears.

Are you sure that is an "H" and not an "M?"

Not that changing the letter advances anything... I find no Imperial Navy Walter von Lewinski, nor a Reichsmarine/Kriegsmarine one. Not in the 1935 Wer Ist's, or the 1908/09 Orders Almanac (some Merchant Marine Captains were ancient).

[Harrier]

Sorry. One day I will figure it out.

It is an "H".

The document is in its original old frame marked:

Kurt Bookhagen

Kunsthandlung

Bilder-Einrahmung

Stettin, Monchenstr. 31

Fernsprecher 32380

[Guest Rick Research]

"d.H."... "Stettin"-- it's got to be Handelsmarine...

which makes this VERY interesting, since he received a "military" Cross in its war merit form.

I forget the names of the civilian ships bombed alongside the "Deutschland" in 1937, but that may be a place to start tracking him down.

I find NO trace of him at all. Must have missed WW1, so mid/late 30s when WW2 started. Not a member of the Naval Officers Association (MOHeV) after the war, which doesn't prove anything. There was a traditional rabid bias against merchant navy officers in the German regular naval officer corps.

My 1950s genealogy is of only two branchs of the family, and omits people already then dead who had no surviving spouse or children as a matter of course for all families covered.

Your Walter seems to have fallen through these cracks in at least my sources. I have the fates of every German merchant SHIP in WW2, but no merchant marine officers names from then.

[Harrier]

Thanks anyway! Your expertise in this area is simply wonderful.

Best,

Harrier

[Uli]

I knew Walter von Lewinski personally when i was a child....he took me to he Port in Hamburg and told me stories from his live.. but i passed away since many years....