Large WWII Kriegsmarine Document Group of a One-Quarter Jewish “Mischling” Sailor who was Killed in France on June 30, 1944

The document group was removed from the Kriegsmarine offices in Paris by a American soldier who was a liberator of the city. The documents all relate to Kriegsmarine sailor Rudolf Alex Abramsohn of Berlin, who served in the Navy of the Third Reich despite the fact that he was 25% Jewish. The documents bear the handwritten notation of “Gefallen 30.6.44”, indicating that Abramsohn was killed in action on June 30, 1944, in the days following the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. The group includes Abramsohn’s Soldbuch (the personal service book that he would have carried at al times, and which would have been returned to the Kriegsmarine offices upon his death); his Fuhrerschein (military driver’s license); Abramsohn’s Kriegsmarine Fuhrungsbuch (the official military service book that contained a detailed history of a sailor’s service beginning with his enlistment, with details of his various postings and evaluations by his superiors. This book contains a one page biographical statement written and signed by Abramsohn himself); and his Gesundheirsbuch (medical and health record), together with many accompanying documents that are enclosed within the books. The Fuhrungsbuch has a notice pasted into the inside cover that was typed on bright paper so that it could not be missed. The document bears the declaration of “25% judischer Mischling[.] Darf nur nach Entscheidungg des Fuhrers befordert und als Vorgesetzter verwendet werden”. This translates to “25% Jewish mixed-blood[.] May only be promoted and installed as a superior on decision by the Führer”. The documents show expected signs of age and, in the case of the Soldbuch, the typical indications of having been carried by Abramsohn on a daily basis. However, all of the documents are complete, intact and legible, with the medical records even including a small chest x-ray film. A very uncommon complete set of World War II German service documents, more uncommon by virtue of the fact that they are Kriegsmarine, and made particularly significant for the fact that they pertain to a young man who was regarded as not being a true “Aryan” yet who fell in battle for Germany in 1944.