There and Back: National Archives

From Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (Regarding the Russian Revolution):

".....If you charged someone with the task of creating a new world, of starting a new era, he would ask you first to clear the ground. He would wait for the old centuries to finish before undertaking to build the new ones, he'd want to begin a new paragraph, a new page.

"But here, they don't bother with anything like that. This new thing, this marvel of history, this revelation, is exploded right into the very thick of daily life without the slightest consideration for its course. It doesn't start at the beginning, it starts in the middle, without any schedule, on the first weekday that comes along, while the traffic in the street is at its height....."

Friday, August 8, 2025

National Archives

The National archives in Bethesda, Maryland houses copies of the EWZ records captured by the US army at the end of World War II. These are the same ones housed in the Family Search Center in Salt Lake City. I didn't want to leave any stone unturned. Besides, I needed an excuse to visit Washington D.C., hopefully during a time when the weather was a little less repressive. This time, even though it was early May, the weather was still very accommodating. It also afforded me the opportunity to tour the National Mall and some of the Smithsonian Museums, then to knock off two more baseball stadiums - the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles.

Once I got myself acclimated to the facility and passed the exam which everyone had to take to obtain an annual pass (primarily do's and don'ts about security), I made my way to the floor where the documents were housed. I was first directed to where the Army records were kept, but soon found out I needed the next floor where the microfilm was actually housed.

Sadly, the staff there consisted of summer interns who had little knowledge (or interest) in helping me find the appropriate records, so I took it upon myself to search through the drawers throughout the room trying to locate what I needed. After I found the appropriate drawer, I spent the rest of the day poring through microfilm records. Although I did find a few records I had not seen at the Family Search Center in Salt Lake City, I did not find the treasure trove I was looking for. Of special interest were the "Lebenslauf" documents - essentially an essay written by the refugee describing his life's experiences. To date, I still have only the one document, from dad's uncle Wilhelm. Perhaps more time, or a more experienced assistant, could have turned up additional records.

The originals are in the German archives in Berlin. I think that would be worth the trip. In addition to EWZ, they would have German military records, of which I have only those from my dad. I would like to see if there are any for his brothers.

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Acknowledgements

My father was born in 1919 in Rohrbach, Ukraine and lived through the collectivizations, famines and World War II. Upon his release from an American POW camp, he found his family in a refugee camp in Germany. After stints in the coal mines of England and Belgium, he returned to Germany to start a family. Still afraid of deportation back to the Soviet Union, he decided to take his family and immigrate to America. Two brothers, one of which died in a Soviet prison, along with several aunts and uncles, were re-located to the far reaches of the Soviet Union, raised families, then later emigrated to Germany.

Despite the hardships he endured, my father always had a sense of humor and a positive outlook. It was him that inspired me to make this journey.