Alexander Weber

Thought I would start a proper thread for my Dad.

His name is Alexander Weber, and he is 89 years old. So far, I know he was in the 88th division, and he spent time in Italy. (I will update with more info as I get it.)

He was the youngest of 6 brothers who were in the war. He feels quite lucky because 1) all 6 boys came home and 2) he was at the tail end and thus didn't see heavy combat.

He remembers guarding German POWs. He says most of them were nice and well behaved, with only a handful being a real problem. They would see his last name and feel little more comfortable in trying to talk with him. He spoke a dialect of German Russian, so I'm not sure how well they were able to communicate.

One of his big brothers ended up in the same general area and managed to find him, surprising him by waking him up from a nap. I love when he tells that story ~ it's obvious it's a great memory for him.

He said he once decided to lie down for a quick cat nap next to a tank. The tank later fired, and he almost had a heart attack. Never did that again.

He says Truman saved his life.

Here he is. I think he is only 18 in this photo. He is quite the character now, so I can only imagine what he was like back then.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Yes. He was at that time from Chicago, IL. (Specifically, the Jefferson Park neighborhood.) He was born 2/16/27, the son of Russian immigrants.

I had access to Fold3 for a short period of time and couldn't find him.

 

Sounds like he treated the Germans well, otherwise they wouldn't like to talk with him. You don't talk with someone you don't like when you don't have to. Regarding his age. it seems that someone rewarded his human behaviour.

Can you ask him, what "German Russian" means or where it is spoken? Usually, some germans talk a lot of languages and often english, even back then.

All the best for him and thanks for his contribution to get rid off Hitler and his criminal entourage.

The tank incident is very funny today and i can imagine that he likes to tell this story :waving:

 

I'm having trouble too!

My parents have been looking and found some papers. I can't wait to get my hands on those. Mom thinks he was in the 349 Regiment, but she didn't sound too definite, so I'll have to look for myself.

Found this footage of the 349th. I'm gonna squint real hard and see if I can find him. (I'm kidding. Sort of...Okay, I might actually try...)

Thank you, by the way, for even looking. I'm certain you have better things to do, so I appreciate your generosity with your time! And it seems I shall remember your birthday now.

 

He said of the POWs, "They were nice. Only a handful of them were real Nazis. The rest were just there because they had to be there." Both of my parents are personable and easy, so I'm guessing Dad was a jovial 18 year old. Well. As jovial as one could be in such a situation.

Regarding German-Russian: His parents were from Russia, but they were descendants of Germans who moved to Russia and settled along the Volga River. (Dad says they were called "Volga Deutsch"). Their dialect was a mix of German and Russian.

When I took German for a very brief time in school, Dad knew the vocabulary, so perhaps he had some success in communication with the POWs.

Thank you for your kind words. As for the tank story, that's just one of several of his rather funny moments. He's a character.

 

There were 1.8 million Germans in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century, mostly hard working farmers. There were so many of them they got their own republic later (Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). Its capital was the city of Kosakenstadt.

 

The Volga Germans had to move behind the Ural when "Barbarossa" started. Stalin didn't treated them nicely at all and most of them left their homeland in the 80s and 90s. One of the almost forgotten tragedys during the war.

Helene Fischer, the most popular female singer in Germany by far, is a Volga German too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helene_Fischer

 

Maybe he remembers the name of the village/town they lived in Russia? Who knows what may have survived from their times there.
Of course they probably left because of the prosecutions but still it was their homeland.

 

He says the name of the town, and it kind of sounds like Krasnodar, but not quite. So I'm not sure if it is indeed that town, or if there was another one with a similar sound.

I finally have some paperwork! On his Honorable Discharge paper, it says:

Co L, 350th INF
Squad Leader, 745
SS W/RIFLE M1

He did mention Po Valley. He also said they had to keep the peace between the Italians and the Yugoslavians.

I'm slowly piecing this together. Thank you again for your help!

 

Let's try Krasnoyar - one of the first German colonies in Russia.

 

The booklet, 350th Infantry in Occupation is available online. Their Occupation duty was in Trieste.

There is also a history of the 350th Infantry which you may want to see if you can get through your local library. If they don't have it on hand, they may be able to get it on loan from another library.

The MtMestas website has a nice collection of official Regimental historical narratives and, more importantly, 3rd Battalion records. Company L was in the 3rd Battalion.

 

That's it! I thought because I couldn't find it on the map that perhaps he was just not remembering the name correctly. Good to know he was right on.

 

You all are wonderful! Thank you for sharing information with me.

How lucky I am that I found you guys, especially while my Dad is still with us. It's been a lot of fun discussing this with him. (He did mention Trieste too.)

 

So maybe this will be of use. There is a book The Volga Germans, Krasnoyar, Chicago, Everywhere Their Stories, Their Words, by George Valko about the Volga Germans of Krasnoyar.
He writes: "the book includes personal stories of Volga German family members in Chicago, Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan and Argentina.", and "also searching other Krasnoyar, Volga surnames including [...], Walt(h)er, Weber, Wi(e)gand, Werner, Zeitler".

 

Wow! Zeitlers married into our family.

You are the first person, other than my father, I have ever heard (or rather read) use the term, "Krasnoyar". Thank you for this link ~ I am excited to check it out.