Soldbuch
Below are some scans of a German soldier's "Soldbuch" or identity papers that was captured by Staff Sergeant James Cullen, E Company, 36th Armored Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division.
This document consists of 24 pages, but only a few are shown here. Many of the pages in this Soldbuch contain no entries.
The cover of the Soldbuch. It is approximately 4-1/8 " X 5-5/8" (105mm X 144mm) in size. The cover is of a heavy paper, with a cloth tape along the spine.
The inside of the front cover, and page 1 of the Soldbuch.
This Soldbuch belonged to Grenadier (Private) Karlheinz Heckert.
Page 2 shows personal information about the soldier including his birthdate - July 22, 1927, Height - 1.75 meters (approx. 5 ft, 5-1/2 inches), face shape - oval, hair - dark blond, and eye color - blue. Page 3 provides a record of any changes to the information on page 1, including promotions and appointments.
Page 4 shows the soldier's current unit, and his previous units. If needed, this information is continued on page 17. Page 5 shows the soldier's next of kin in the following order: wife, parents, relatives, and fiancee. If the wife and parents are entered, no other entries should be made.
Pages 6 and 7 are a record of clothing and equipment issued to the soldier. Included is the unit issuing the clothing or equipment, and the date.
The descriptions of the information in this Soldbuch were taken from the book "Papers Please" by Ray & Josephine Cowdery, published by USM Incorporated, copyright 1996, ISBN 0-910667-36-5.
