TO WORLD WAR II GERMAN LUFTWAFFE STUKA PILOT AND GERMAN CROSS IN GOLD WINNER LIEUTENANT HEINZ SCHMITT
issued notice received by Lt. Schmitt's
parents officially advising them of his
death in Russia. The address in the upper
left hand corner of this document is that
of the Armed Forces Information Office
for War Missing and Killed in Berlin.
Below that is a file reference number that
is to be used by the deceased's next of
kin in filing any claims or in writting any
follow up corespondence
Johann Schmitt, Lt. Schmitt's father,
who, as noted in the discussion of the
family's statement on the previous page,
was a Major in the Luftwaffe serving in
Russia himself when his son was killed.
More interesting is document's date of
17 March 1944, which is more than six
(6) full months after Lt. Schmitt's death
on 26 September 1943.
in which it was mailed, were both made
with a recycled, brown rag paper that is
fully consistent with late war German
industry standards. It is 8 1/4" inches
wide by 5 3/4" inches high and has one center crease, where it was folded before mailing. Roughly translated, it reads:
confirm the death of your son, Lt.
Heinz Schmitt. In keeping with this,
the Armed Forces Information Office
has caused a death certificate to be
filed with the registrar of the town
of Frankfurt/Main-Sindlingen. You
will shortly receive a copy of this
death certificate from that office."
in ink by a yet to be identified officer.
Infrequently seen due to its personal
contents, it is highly representative of
Germany's sacrifice in World War II.
