From the archives: wartime documents, etc.

I came upon this 1902 certificate concerning my father's father's father, Karl Bauer (1880-1959). It certifies Karl's "honorable discharge" from the Wehrmacht (army) after service from 1900 to 1902. Evidently, Karl was a cannoneer, though the army designated him a "Musketier." 

This certifies Karl's service during the latter days and aftermath of "the Great War," from 1918 to 1919. Bear in mind that he was 38 years old in 1918. I have another document that seems to indicate that he served earlier in the war as well. My grandfather, Otto, joined the Wehrmacht at age 36 (in 1943).

This is a certificate of inheritance issued to my mother's aunt (Martha) upon her husband's death, of TB, in 1941. The official seal sports the German eagle and swastika.

The man who raised my mother (Edith) from 1934 until his death in 1941, was her uncle, Otto Hänfler, who worked as a potter for the famous manufacturer of porcelain, Meissen. Here are two pages of a book he kept in which he recorded important facts about his family. The handwriting is impressive, eh?

In Niagara Falls (Canada), evidently, marriage certificates were issued along with these odd "negatives," which feel like wax paper.

Here's the same document--my parents' marriage certificate (1953)--reversed and inverted.

This, of course, is my certificate of citizenship, issued in 1965.