Erfurt 1918

[lugerholsterrepair]

good to go!

[mrerick]

Hi Daniel,

A belated welcome to the forum.

You mention your father's service in the German Abwehr.

Do you know much of the history of his service, and his connections that lead him to the USA after the war?

Much has been written of Admiral Canaris' connection to the OSS through Alan Dulles in Switzerland during the war. It would make sense that a serving Abwehr officer somehow connected to that would come to the USA after the war...

I'm glad that you're taking heed of the advice shared here about breaking numbered parts. If you search, you'll find a fair number of "threads of sorrow"...

[danielsand]

Originally Posted by mrerick

Hi Daniel,

A belated welcome to the forum.

You mention your father's service in the German Abwehr.

Do you know much of the history of his service, and his connections that lead him to the USA after the war?

Much has been written of Admiral Canaris' connection to the OSS through Alan Dulles in Switzerland during the war. It would make sense that a serving Abwehr officer somehow connected to that would come to the USA after the war...

I'm glad that you're taking heed of the advice shared here about breaking numbered parts. If you search, you'll find a fair number of "threads of sorrow"...

I have some replacement parts on order, and I will fit them to the weapon myself. I am not a trained gunsmith, but all my friends bring me their weapons to fix, if something is wrong. I never had any training as a machinist either, but I've been working on guns, cars, and motorcycles as a hobby, for the most of my life.

I was 14 when my dad was killed in a suspicious "car accident" on the border between Italy, and Yugoslavia. The accident was never properly investigated, or explained. I did not know that he was in Abwehr, until my half sister (from his first marriage) who remained living in Germany, showed me some pictures, documents, and memorabilia, back in the mid 90s. She (my sister) died in 2005 (she was 21 years older than me). My dad was 49, and my mom 41 when I was born. By the time I was old enough to care about the family history and such, most family members were dead, and my mom died in 78. When I learned that he was in Abwehr, I was pretty shocked. My mother told me (right after my dad's death) that he worked for OSS during the war.

I know the story of the family, about grandparents (both dead before I was born), uncles, aunts (all dead in the war), I didn't have any siblings (except my half sister), and because my parents had me so late in their lives, there was a big generational gap between me and my sister, and all the cousins.

My family name is fairly well known, but my dad changed his name upon arrival to the US (like so many others). He took his great grandmother's maiden name, and that's the name I carry to this day. Father's side of the family originates in Danzig, and mother's side in Wienna.

Another thing I remember,.......my mother told me (after he died) that he wanted to name me Daniel (esentially the Jewish name), to show his bosses at the time, that he is not an antisemite, or a Nazi (my middle name is old German name).

I wish I collected all the stuff from my sister in the 90s, but she died, and her son (who is older than me BTW!) never liked me, so we don't have ANY contact. As a teenager, he HATED the fact that I am his uncle (being few years younger), and detested the fact that I am an American. He is "artsy-fartsy" kind of guy (retired now, but spent his whole life in and around performance art theaters, first as an actor, then as a director).........we never had anything in common.

And that's about it. Nothing unusual. MANY European families are just like that. Two big wars, milions dead, and families get dispersed all over the world. I have distant relatives in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Italy, and Australia.