Hello,
Hopefully this is in the correct section. If not, feel free to move it. My name is James and I am a police detective in New Jersey in the United States. I need help with the toughest and longest investigation I've ever undertaken. Ten years ago, I found a bunch of old postcards (1907) at my mother's house. They were written to my great grandmother, in German, and were from someone in German Southwest Africa. My mother told me they were from an old boyfriend of my great grandmother's. What I discovered began one of the most satisfying investigations of my life.
Here is a link to the postcards as well as English translations:
http://s400910952.websitehome.co.uk/germancolonialuniforms/militaria/jcpostcards.htm (http://s400910952.websitehome.co.uk/germancolonialuniforms/militaria/jcpostcards.htm)
I discovered they were written to my GGM by her brother, Emil Hettich. Emil was a Schutztruppe soldier stationed in southern DSWA. At some point, he returned to Germany because I have another postcard he wrote in 1911 when he was in IR123 based in Ulm, Germany. However, he returned to DSWA by 1914 because he is listed in the 1914 address book for the Lüderitzbucht city and district, which included all the diamond mining towns.
http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~jensj/Slekt/Luderitz/LuderitzAdressbuch1914/LuderitzNamen1914.pdf (http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~jensj/Slekt/Luderitz/LuderitzAdressbuch1914/LuderitzNamen1914.pdf)
He is listed as a merchant (Kaufmann) for the Pomona Diamanten-Gesellschaft. In the 1926-7 colonial address book, he is again listed as a merchant out of Lüderitz, so he must have been there a while.
The trail stopped there for a while and grew cold, however, last month I stumbled upon some letters written to my GGM after WWII. They were from friends and family in Germany and thanked my GGM for the care packages she had sent after the war. They described the poor conditions in Germany and the hard winter, but one letter mentioned Emil. It said that Emil was fortunate that he was in South Africa and not suffering the same hardships. A German police officer friend of mine who shares an interest in DSWA (He wrote a book about the Schutztruppe Polizei in DSWA) put me in touch with some German colleagues of his in South Africa. These gentlemen were very nice and went to the archives in Pretoria for me. I was able to fill in the latter pieces of his life.
I discovered that Emil had moved to Johannesburg and became a South African national. He lived on Jeppe St and worked for Piel's Cold Storage, also on Jeppe Street in Johannesburg. I have actually made contact with the grandson of the owner and he said he recalls the name! Emil was a book keeper for the company. Emil became ill and died in the General Hospital on October 14, 1952 and is buried somewhere in West Park Cemetery.
Here is where I need your help. I was pointed towards your forums because I was told several of the older members or older family members lived and/or grew up in several of these mining towns (Pomona, Elisabeth Bay, Kolmannskop, etc.) I would love to communicate with anyone who may have lived in these towns and hear any stories related to them. Even if it is not directly related to Pomona or Emil I would love to hear and see what life was like there!
I am also interested to know if any of the company records for the Pornona Diamanten-Gesellschaft exist? National archives? Parent company? NAMDEB?
Does anyone know or have any address books other than 1914 or 1926/7 that might list Emil?
Finally, if anyone lives in or near Johannesburg, would it be possible to call the office for West Park Cemetery and get a plot location or other identifying info for his gravesite? I would like to get a photo of the gravestone, but I need this info to post on the website Billion Graves in hopes that a local volunteer will do it for me. I have sent numerous emails and the gentlemen who assisted me earlier have not been able to get in touch with the office. I have been told "that is Africa" but I have to keep trying. This has been a decade long investigation for me and I never thought I would discover this much. The answers are still out there.
Sorry for the long first post, but I am passionate about this search and I have met wonderful people all over the world during this time. I have conducted it completely online from the United States. I plan to visit one day and follow in his footsteps and I hope to have the trail complete by that time.
Thank you all in advance for ANY help or comments. I have more information that I can supply to anyone who requests it.
James
Oh I meant to mention that I found out about your forum from the webmaster of http://www.kolmanskop.de (http://www.kolmanskop.de). He had some personal memoirs on his site of someone from the mining towns and I asked him about her. He said that he learned about her from your excellent forum and directed me here :)
Jim
look under BUSH TELEGRAPH - kollmans tree and a church. there are info re kolmanskuppe and Pomone etc that might be of interest
Ok thanks... I did read a bit of that it was very interesting. I'd really love to communicate with someone who might have lived there... I know the chances are slim, but not impossible.
Thanks!
Jim
Really interesting read James. I searched the online directory for Telecom Namibia for the name Hettich. Sadly no results were returned...
Reading the article, the name Kaufmann jumps out at me.... Why? Well I know a Kaufmann family in Namibia, in fact Hannes is a school friend of mine and resides in Windhoek.... I have his email address somewhere and will pass it onto you...
I loved the pics on the postcards, lovely stuff....
Mr.V ..... perhaps when you talk to Aunty Anita again, maybe she might recall the name Hettich?
Me thinks this could become an interesting topic....
Wow Mike this is what you dreamed the forum would do bring back memories and link the old times with the new and create a archive for further information when we are all old and gone so our grand children read
Cheers
Alfred
Opitz, Pol.-Sergt., Sendlingsdrift
from: http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~jensj/Slekt/Luderitz/LuderitzAdressbuch1914/LuderitzNamen1914.pdf (http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~jensj/Slekt/Luderitz/LuderitzAdressbuch1914/LuderitzNamen1914.pdf)
listed above in JamesC posting
If that listing could relate to the police station at Sendligsdrift see attached photo
Dead end with Hannes Kaufmann, gave him a call after posting, his dad arrived here in SWA after WW2, a bit later than 1907.
On a bynote , interesting to hear that Hannes's father was WW2 mesherscmiet pilot....
:ciupa1:
Wow thanks this is gaining steam! I think Kauffman is just the German word for merchant... I don't think he had anything to do with the Kaufman family.
I'm sure that is the same police station. Thank you for the photo! This is really what I'm looking for. I'm trying to piece together this story, words and photos, for a book I want to write on my family history and give it to my parents and my children when it's done.
I would have loved to find Emil had children and I could find some long lost cousins but his info says he never married. Of course he still could have had children but I have no evidence of that.
Thank you everyone for your help, this forum is great.
Jim
Happy New year all. I'm still on this search. I don't have much new to report. I did find a military auction website that had a medal grouping for an Emil Hettich for WWII as a soldier of the Union of SA, but I'm pretty certain it would be very rare for a German to serve in the Union army in WWII unless he was anti Nazi. Also I think he would have been very old at that point.
I thought I would just reply to bump this back up to the top of the forum in case someone hasn't seen it. Any help or assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you to all who replied already.
Jim
James, genealogical research is well and active in South Africa, so please take "this is Africa" with a bit of a pinch of salt. Having said that, many emails go unanswered in South Africa (we still struggle with maintaining a consistent supply of electricity, so peoples idea of priorities are sometimes rather arbitrary).
To build up a very useful network (South Africa) I suggest www.eggsa.org (http://www.eggsa.org) (Genealogical Society of South Africa). At some stage you will find the required gravestone and other documents and tap into a network.
Also see our National Archives website www.national.archsrch.gov.za (http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za)
There are also other links that can be explored, such as historical interest special groups:
www.samilitaryhistory.org (http://www.samilitaryhistory.org):
See for example:
Military History Journal Vol 13 No 2 "FIRST ALLIED VICTORY The South African campaign in German South-West Africa, 1914-1915" by Hamish Paterson
South African National Museum of Military History
AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS IN THE GERMAN COLONIES, 1911-1916 The Fliegertruppe of the Imperial German Army Military History Journal Vol 12 No 2 - Dec 2001 by J O E O Mahncke Military History Society
You may also wish to ask the German embassy in Namibia how to track down basic info about their soldiers. Once you have some service number you can google that and probably find out more.
There are German cultural clubs that can also help.
I go to the archives in Cape Town every six weeks or, so if you need me to look up anything specific, let me know (title of document, shelf number etc – all at the archives website. Also check if its Cape Town or other branch – they usually charge about Rand 70 for an inter-branch loan). Copying is limited to 10% of the document if less than 50 years old (copyright law). Copies are 50 cents a page. Maybe you can write a more formal note about what you have ( a formal family history) so that I can ask the lady in charge for ideas.
Good luck
Regards
Mike Thurtell
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your reply. Please don't misunderstand my comment, I was simply relating what I was told when I was questioning why a city agency was failing to respond to numerous attempts to contact them. As for genealogy, I did contact one group on Facebook, I don't recall who, and they were no help. I have also reached out to numerous German societies, clubs and organizations. Most have been very friendly but provided very little help I'm afraid. My biggest problem is that I am in the US and very far away. I understand that strangers will not have the same enthusiasm as me. I do not mind paying for work done at archives, but even then its difficult to find someone. I appreciate your offer and I may take you up on that.
I have some specific item numbers from the SA archives that should allow you to look them up. I will also write up a detailed history of all I know up to this point. Do you have an email I can send this to you instead of the public forum? I'll PM you my email.
Thank you very much for your ideas, I'll check them out. Sorry I was delayed in writing you back, I have had a hectic week.
Jim
Hello Jim,
I do not have much for you, just a few thoughts.
Yes Kaufman is a merchant, but a kaufman in German literally means buyer, so could he not have been a diamond buyer for the company ?
I have a book from the 1970s (When I was two years in Oranjemund) called "South West", by Cubitt and Richter. It is mainly a picture book, but begins with 20 or so pages on the beginning of Namibia, the German occupation, the wars, the German troops and the battles.
Your man's title of Reier means I think rider. And there was a division of German cavalry mounted on camels !
If you are interested in this, and cannot easily acquire a copy of the book. I am entirely happy to copy the relevant pages on the computer and to email them to you.
Good Luck in your quest
Best regards,
Derek Bowett
Hi Derek,
Thank you for your reply. Yes Reiter means rider. I am familiar with the camel number Schutztruppe, however I know Emil was in the 5th company and that was not one of the camel companies. It is however listed as a MG company... machine gun, which in 1907 must have been pretty exciting.
I would love scans of your book if you don't mind. I'm a book lover and I collect rare books on these kind of topics. I'll PM you my email.
As for his work with the diamond company, you're right he could have been a diamond buyer. He was a bookkeeper later in south Africa so I just assumed he did that for the diamond company but he was listed in the 1914 Adressbuch for Lüderitz. For a short bio of the company it listed the top men and he was one of ten or twenty men. I assume he must have been fairly important to be mentioned, I doubt they listed common workers in this write up, but I could be wrong. That's why I'm interested in any documents about the Pomona Diamanten Gesellschaft as well, hopefully I'll find more on him.
Thank you all for your continued help. It's a long shot but one day I hope to visit!
Jim
Hi James
There is a detailed description about the Pomona Diamanten-Gesellsechaft in Gabi Schneider's book "Treasures of the Diamond Coast".
It starts on page 74.
Cheers
Malcolm
Hi Malcolm,
Yes I have seen that book. I borrowed a copy here in the USA with great difficulty! An excellent resource and I emailed the author who helped me some. She put me in touch with someone who facilitated obtaining the information I received about Emil's time in Johannesburg.
Thank you,
Jim
Hello all,
I have not posted here in a long time but my search has not stopped. I thought I would just revisit and bump this topic up to see if anyone there had any new info for me?
I hope everyone is doing well. Unfortunately I do not have much more info on Emil than I did back in 2015. I am still looking for info on his grave location inside Westpark Cemetery and a photo.
Jim