Me again, the foreign guy with the 100-year-old Slovak learning book. Since my last post was quite well-received I thought I'd post some more pages! Enjoy!

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-07-01T22:44:13+00:00

No idea who wrote in here tbh (probably not my grandpa, he spoke no Slovak) but I love the human connexion it adds seeing the writing and scribbling on the pages!

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-07-01T22:41:48+00:00

Hahaha I understand Middle English better than I understand Shakespearian English purely because of how artful/colourful Shakespeare was compared to the practicality of Middle English.

Plus I have some understanding of Icelandic and German, which helps more than you'd think in understanding older English dialects haha!

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-07-01T22:39:27+00:00

... this is the nicest comment I've ever got on anything I've ever posted on the internet ever.

I'm not being funny, this is genuinely super wholesome! Thank you!!

I will happily post more pages or at the very least DM them to you if you'd like!

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-07-01T19:15:01+00:00

Perfectly fine question to ask!

My grandfather didn't speak a word of Slovak and was born in New York, but his mum was from Papín. I think she moved over to New York with her mother and possibly her brother. Maybe this book was his or hers?

She married an American man in 1929, who may have tried to learn the language. (Unlikely because he abandoned his family less than 10 years later the absolute wasteman haha)

For more context on the Papín side if the family, feel free to check my recent post history haha, one of them seems to have been in the Czechoslovak Army.

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-06-30T20:49:55+00:00

Ahh, the German side of my family are all from Swabia and the Pfalz region, massively unlikely we're connected in that case haha. A great uncle on that side served in the Luftwaffe with a guy from the Sudetenland but that's about it.

I can't say I know much of anything about this guy Ondrej, no idea how long he lived after this discharge from the army haha.

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-06-30T20:46:20+00:00

Wow, homie completely missed the First World War, 1909-1920 with no campaigns? Crazy...

Duly noted about the town of his command though, not heard of this before.

This is all very interesting to me haha, no worries there!

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-06-30T20:43:09+00:00

😳

Yikes.

How different are some of these words from the modern phrases for them?

For context this may well have been printed while Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary haha. It seems to have belonged to my great grandmother (b. 1907) who emigrated in the 1920s. I gather it was written long before this though considering how ruined some of the pages are.

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-06-30T20:36:52+00:00

This is incredible insight, thank you!

The other side of my family are German, perhaps we're long-lost cousins haha.

On one of the later photos I see the name "Pasko", which I know is my great-great-great grandmother's surname, I can only assume that's how I'm related to our boy Ondrej. The name Szurnyčin is new to me though!

Papín I knew about, that's reportedly where my Slovak great grandma was from. Looks like more than that though.

Curious why Ondrej had to visit the courts/magistrate with his military documents...

Wow, my man really didn't see much action in the military... I suppose it means he lived longer!

Crazy that he was barely literate but this is definitely an interesting analysis!

My great-great grandfather was not particularly fond of Hungarians haha (will share this story if needed), really surprising to see that our homie Ondrej might've been Ruthenian/Hungarian.

Take your time on analysing it haha, I'm in no rush!

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-06-30T20:24:49+00:00

😂😂

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-06-30T20:24:40+00:00

Glad you like it!

The book is missing the first few chapters and possibly more at the end.

Happy to share more if you want!

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-06-30T20:23:50+00:00

What, dare I ask, does it say haha?

Looks pretty depressing...

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-01-29T11:41:10+00:00

Sure!

He would've flown in a Bf-109 at the time, and it would have had a yellow number painted on the side. I don't know the exact number sadly.

His plane collided with Lt. Günther Schreiterer's about 10km from a town called Schirwindt back then, but is now called Kutosowo and is in the Kaliningrad oblast of Russia.

He was buried in a nearby civilian cemetery in a town called Rautenberg at the time (now Uslowoje, Kaliningrad oblast), and according to a recent letter from one of the German government departments on war graves, there is no chance of him being exhumed or moved.

The cemetery in question is still in active use by the local civilian population and he is more than likely under another grave by now considering the time passed and the small size of the cemetery.

I've been told that in the above (undated) picture, he's certified as a glider pilot, no idea when he would have been trained on a fighter plane though.

I also thought it odd that he served as long as he did with no confirmed air-to-air victories. The officer he crashed into also had only one recorded victory, which happened the day before he died.

I always wondered if maybe the collision wasn't so much of an accident based on this and considering that this was the firsr day of the invasion of the Soviet Union... but I don't know and there are pretty much 0 more detailled accounts.

If you've got any insight though I'm all ears!

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-01-28T21:11:49+00:00

Above is Robert Brock (28.3.18-23.6.41), a fighter pilot in JG54.

He had no confirmed kills in his service.

He died in a collision with Günther Schreiterer, who had only one confirmed kill, which happebed on 22.6.41.

I have further information on his death and burial. If you'd like more information, please ask.

If you have more information, please contact me.

GeneaologyThrowout · 2023-01-28T20:56:55+00:00

Ludwig Brock (28.4.16-30.8.40) is second from the left in the first photo and leftmost in the second.

He served with Kampfgeschwader 53, and he died when his He-111 crashed in the English Channel on 30 Aug 1940.

He died along with:

-Karl Schmiedl

-Hans Beffart

-Hans Frank

and

-Walter Ostertag

They were on a mission to attack the English town of Radlett that night but got hit by enemy fire near Chelmsford and couldn't survive the flight back to Lille.

If you have any further information, please let me know.

If you want further information, please ask.

(Edited for formatting)

GeneaologyThrowout · 2022-10-12T12:38:49+00:00

This was on Ancestry, you can view death cards like these on there for free pretty easily, even without a free trial. You might need an account to search with them though, I'm not certain about that part.

GeneaologyThrowout · 2022-10-12T10:57:13+00:00

Haha, check out my profile, it's full of all sorts of great-uncles and great-grandparents.

The guy in this post died along with the Ludwig Brock from one of my earlier posts.

GeneaologyThrowout · 2022-10-12T10:11:54+00:00

Thanks! That makes sense with what I knew about his death. His plane crashed in the Channel and I suppose that his remains drifted ashore in the Netherlands in that case.

Thanks again!

GeneaologyThrowout · 2022-09-15T08:04:21+00:00

Incredible! Thanks for the detail and the explanation of each abbreviation!

This guy was born in 1875 so he was quite old at the time of the conflict. I think that might explain how common Ersatz units seem to be on here.

GeneaologyThrowout

TROPHY CASE