Tool for deciphering Militärpass?

[IrishGunner]

Has anyone made their own tool to help with deciphering Militärpass?

I mean something that has translated the different sections of the document; the standard printed sections - not the written entries.

I speak German and can read the printed script fairly easily and am thinking of developing such a tool. But don't want to do work that maybe someone has already done and is willing to share. (David of www.militaerpass.net perhaps?)

I am also not talking about something to help decipher the hand-written script entries; that's a whole different story. Not easy in any case, but I am thinking with a tool that helps with the printed text, it makes laboring over the hand-writing a bit easier.

[Hauptmann]

I think this is an excellent idea and hope that it's either been done or can be. I took German back in college along with a lifetime of watching Hogan's Heroes, war movies/series, etc., so picked up bits and pieces from those as well. I'm not at all fluent as I had no one to converse with (oh if we'd had the web back then! ) and only wish I was as I'd then be happy to help out.

But not only with German docs (from both wars) but Soviet and those of the other Warsaw Pac countries I've always wondered about what the documents say as far as the printed sections. I used to ask folks who spoke Russian about Soviet docs... they'd give me the basics about what was written but when I asked about the printed things it was like "Oh that's just the usual stuff printed in such docs.", etc. And of course that didn't teach me anything or make me understand things any better.

I thanked God when Emily Caldwell Stewart came out with books on this subject as otherwise I was flying blind. But I'd love to see even more out there.

Dan

[IrishGunner]

I just googled Emilie Caldwell Stewart.

Wow; this book sounds exactly what I am talking about for WWI-era Militärpass.

"Wehrpass; 1994. This book was limited to 1000 copies. Soft cover and large 8.5 x 5.5 format, my reference book contains over 150 examples of original Wehrpass pages and beneath each reproduced page is a guide to what information is found on that page. My book helps you easily decipher Wehrpasses in your collection. Many of the examples were provided by the original German soldiers who were issued the Wehrpasses. Each page is fully described, translated and with codes deciphered. All branches of service are included. The back has a separate glossary of common abbreviations and medical codes found in Wehrpasses. This glossary cannot be found in any other reference book. Out of print."

I wonder how similar WWII Wehrpass are to WWI Militärpass? If this book would be helpful...

1000 copies; out of print. :banger:

Edited January 1, 2010 by IrishGunner

[Hauptmann]

Although you probably found this too if not I hope it helps. These are the books she's published:

http://web.me.com/emiliestewart/emilie/Books_by_Emilie_Caldwell_Stewart.html

And her site to email her:

http://web.me.com/emiliestewart/emilie/Welcome.html

Not sure exactly how similar they are. I do know her books occassionally show up on Ebay, etc. I found this on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Emilie-Caldwell-Stewart/e/B002VJPFVC

They also turn up in library collections. I'd suggest you try checking with your local librarian and see if they can find copies of any/all of these in the system and get them for you via the interlibrary loan system. Might be the best and cheapest way to get hold of some or all of them. I luckily purchased the one on Wehrpasses and Soldbuchs from her many many moons ago when it first came out. I only wish I'd purchased the rest of them.

I wish she'd consider the possibility of scanning copies (I'm assuming she kept a full set for herself) and putting them onto disc for purchase. It would be an inexpensive way for her to continue to make money on her works and would allow the rest of the collector community to have access to them.

Good luck!

Dan

[bob lembke]

I have about 35 Paesse and copies of say 15 others, plus a few Soldbuecher, mostly ones that came paired with the same soldier's Militaer=Pass. I have studied about 25-30 in considerable depth, mostly writing a 1-2 page summary of them. (A dealer/collector had about 12, and sent them to me, asking me to study them in detail and write the summary, and keep 2-3 of my choice. I did so happily, and was fascinated to see how they would sell with the paired summary, but was disappointed as he evidentally loved them so much that he did not put them up for sale, but kept them in his collection.)

But I have been aware from them for a good while, and have only bought 2-3 in recent years. I recently looked again at my father's Militaer=Pass, which I am delighted to have.

Addressing the original question, while being too lazy to actually pull out several and look at them, but rather fly on memory, it seems to me that the proposed effort might be more complicated than thought. I had often noticed, to my surprise, that the blank Militaer=Paesse were printed by private firms, not the Army or Government, and that they sometimes or always bore a number, like "Form Nr. 134", which suggests to me that they might have many different texts. I or someone will have to pull out several and just look at them and compare the text. (Mine are locked away in a safe place and would be a bit of a process to get to.)

I see that this thread mentions resources that I have never heard of, and will have to look into. These documents could provide a tremendous source of historical data, if there were cooperation between collectors. I even have the outline of an organization/agreement that might allow this to happen, but I am not so self-sacrificing to put a couple of years of my life into trying to get such a project off the ground, as I seem to be running out of them.

Bob Lembke

[Chip]

The idea of a database of Soldbücher and Militärpaße has been floated around before. One would have to pick a site for it and then ask collectors (who could decipher them) to add them to the list. It might be interesting to add Sterbebilder to the lists as well. Of course, it would be a huge and ongoing project, but if a template could be devised where one could just "plug-in" their information without too much effort, it might be feasible.

Chip