Germany, Luftwaffe/Ss. A Wehrpaß To Luftwaffe Signals Obergefreiter, Later Ss-Totenkopf Guard In Kzs Mittelbau And Sachsenhausen

The Wehrpaß is dated to Zwittau (present-day Svitavy, central Czech Republic) on October 17, 1939. Measuring 105 (w) x 148 (h) mm, with light scuffing and warping of the cover, remains extremely fine.

Footnote: Josef Rössler was born on March 15, 1905 in Michelsdorf near Troppau (present-day Opava, eastern Czech Republic). He was drafted on September 2, 1940 and received his basic training with Luftgau Nachrichten (Signals) Regiment 8. Between November 1940 and July 1944, Rössler served in Luftnachrichten-Flugmelde-Regiment (air signals aircraft reporting regiment) 98, exclusively in the homeland area. He was promoted to Gefreiter (Lance Corporal) on April 1, 1941, and to Obergefreiter (Corporal) on November 1, 1942. In 1944, he was appointed to Luftwaffe Wachbataillon (guard battalion) B II for a short time, before being redeployed to the concentration camp of Mittelbau in the rank of SS-Rottenführer serving first in the Wachkommando (guard unit) and later in the SS-Totenkopf-Sturmbann (SS death’s head storm unit). Mittelbau started out as a subcamp of Buchenwald and later became its own concentration camp. Here, slave labourers were forced to dig tunnels into the Kohnstein hill which were used to house the development site of the V-2 rocket and the V-1 flying bomb. Rössler stayed here until the end of 1944. In 1945, he joined the SS-Totenkopf-Wachbataillon in Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp mainly for political prisoners. There is no additional information.