Deutsche Jugend Romania Leistungsausweis, achievement badge and fate of the owner

Garry

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I came across this little achievement book and cloth achievement patch that belonged to a Volksdeutsche girl, Inge Hannenheim, from Hermannstadt in Romania. I thought I'd try to find out a little more about her because the book has the date 31.8.1943 which was one year before the tide turned and the Romanians began arresting local leaders in Hermannstadt. The first reports of rapes, robberies and murders reached the town a few days before the Russians marched in on the 7th of September 1944.

I found an entry for Ingeborg Hannenheim in GEDBAS showing that she was born on the 16th of August 1924 and that she died on the 3rd of April 1948 in the Ukraine. The place of death is given as Enakievo (Енакиево/Jenakijewo) in the Donets Basin. The account of the war in Hermannstadt shows that there was a mass deportation of civilians from Hermannstadt in January 1945 and that preparations for that had begun in October/November 1944 when the police registered all women aged between 18 and 33 and men aged 17 to 45.

The Germans had been running a labour camp in Enakievo until their retreat when it was taken over by Ukrainians. It is listed as Arbeitsbatallion 1008 and was operational between January 1945 and the 2nd of November 1949 holding a mixture of soldiers and civilians. There is an account by another Volksdeutsche woman from Romania who was sent there in Jan 1945 and she stated that there were many others from Romania so perhaps this is indeed where Ingeborg Hannenheim ended up becoming another name among the millions from all sides who didn't make it.

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