Still working to recover. Please don't edit quite yet.

Henry Sternweiler protects war records

From Anarchopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

This article contains content from Wikipedia. It was deleted from Wikipedia

Henry Sternweiler (born in 1918 or 1919 in Ulm, Germany, died 27 April 2010 in Fairview Park, Ohio) was a United States lieutenant during World War II who saved millions of military records in Germany.[1] [2] He risked being punished for disobeying a direct order to achieve this.


World War II

Sternweiler was drafted into the United States army in 1942 and participated in D-Day plus 1.[1]

Saving the records

Following the war, Sternweiler flew to Germany, leading a team that processed 18 million military records.[3][4] Daily, they sent out 12,000 notices to families seeking closure or information. A few weeks later, he was ordered by the United States to destroy the records - however, he helped stall the situation and eventually the French seized control of the records, saving them.[1]

For his efforts, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on 7 December 2009 by Germany, the nation's highest civilian honor.[1]

Miscellany

He was discharged from the military in 1956 as a major.[1]

See Also

Wikipedia:Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) WASt translates to Armed Forces Information Office for War Losses (Casualties?) and POWs

References

Citations