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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: Salty on Wednesday 03 July 24 14:48 BST (UK)
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Trying to help a friend
He has two metal tags which are still joined together and both have the same information on each.
STALAG IVB
Nr 227576
They are wrapped in a bank note which is a 50 Mark I believe but has this writing on it.
Reihe
Reichsbanfnote
funfzig
Marf 50
Grateful for any help as to origins etc
Many thanks
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As you are probably aware Stalag (short for Stammlager) is the German name for an enlisted man's prisoner of war camp. Stalag IVB (http://Mühlberg) was located at Mühlberg near Dresden. The number 227576 will have been allocated to a specific soldier POW in the camp, and he can probably be traced through the ICRC records.
The writing on the bank note means the following;
Reihe = rank or row
Reichsbanknote = Reich [state] bank note (I think the 'f' has been misread, and is actually a 'k')
funfzig = fifty
Mark (not marf) 50 ie the denomination of the note. 50 reichsmark was worth around £4 / 7 shillings in 1940. If the POW had been working, for instance on a farm or other non-military related occupation, this may have represented his pay
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Andy,
Thank you for the reply. The lettering is as I have written, certainly looks like an f not k.
How does one get into the ICRC records please?
Tom
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Unfortunately the WW2 ICRC records haven't been digitized and so all requests have to be dealt with manually, and they only handle a fixed number per month, so it's something of a lottery. Start here: ICRC WW2 Request Service (https://www.icrc.org/en/document/request-information-about-individuals-detained-during-second-world-war-or-spanish-civil-war). If your friend has an idea about who the tags might have belonged to, it would be easier to search the National Archives using that name, and see if their POW records for that person match the POW number. I don't think you can search the TNA records just using that number. There's a useful video guide to using the TNA POW records here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WvD_mI9CvU
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I was wrong. You can search just using the POW number. This is what you get for 227576: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17897848
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Hi Andy,
That is brilliant thank you very much.
Unfortunately I have to go to a family funeral tomorrow so it will be Friday before I see him. I have feeling it is not a relative of his so we shall see.
Thank you
Tom
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Tom, I assume that the words on the note were handwritten. If so, then one style of script found in older German handwriting does have a K which looks like an F. See page two of this pdf for an example: https://cms-b-assets.familysearch.org/fc/1d/865daadf23b9270f0d67c643a099/old-german-script-handout.pdf