A Group Of Id Books To Homeland Flak Helper Erhard Heinze

A Luftwaffe Soldbuch, measuring 100x141mm, very fine condition with some scuffing and creasing, and four small holes in the front cover; a Wehrpaß (military passport and ID), measuring 105x147mm, extremely fine condition with some fraying and creasing; a German Labour Front membership book, measuring 105x151mm, very fine condition, with some damage to the spine, and the body of the book having come loose. The Luftwaffe Soldbuch is dated to December 23, 1944. The Wehrpaß is dated to January 20, 1944 and signed in blue ink by a Colonel and Commander, the name is indecipherable. The German Labour Front membership book includes stamps for the membership fees from April of 1942 to December 1944.

Footnote: Erich Erhard Heinze was born in 1927 in Wurzen near Leipzig, eastern Germany. The date is unclear, since every document gives a different month, either August, October, or December 11. He was a carpenter apprentice. In January of 1944, at the age of 16, he was drafted, but was deemed temporarily unfit and exempt from serving until January of 1945. In October of 1944, however, he was drafted again, and again deemed temporarily unfit, this time being exempt until the end of June of 1945. Since times were desperate, Heinze was still put to work for the military and made an anti-aircraft gunner in the 8th Company of the Training Battery of Flak Reserve Detachment 25 in Mährisch-Ostrau (modern day Ostrava, Czech Republic) on December 23, 1944. On January 1, 1945, he was assigned to the 8th Company of the mixed Flak Detachment, and on February 22, to the Homeland Flak Battery. Since his Wehrpaß doesn’t mention these assignments, he was probably given them while still in the HJ as a war auxiliary in the Luftwaffe, a so-called Flak Helper. This was a regular occurrence during the late war period. The difference in height given in Heinze’s Wehrpaß and Luftwaffe Soldbuch dramatically highlights how young he really was, growing 6 cms in the time span of 11 months between the issuing of the Wehrpaß and the Soldbuch.