An SS-Soldbuch to Hungarian Volunteer in the 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division “Maria Theresia”

Date:1943; Size: 101x142mm; A rare SS-Soldbuch (pay book and ID) for 18 year old Hungarian German SS Volunteer Cavalryman Karl Hollnthoner – the way his name is spelled varies significantly throughout the book – who served in a medical company. He was born on February 22, 1925 in Ödenburg, western Hungary (Hungarian: Sopron), where prior to enlisting he worked as a plumber.

Hollnthoner initially served in the Training Company SS Grenadier Reserve Battalion 31 “East”, starting on November 1, 1943. After his training was complete, he was transferred to the 8th SS Cavalry Division, 2nd Medical Company in March 1944, and from there to the 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division, 1st Medical Company in July 1944.

When Hollnthoner briefly became part of it, the 8th SS Cavalry Division “Florian Geyer” was stationed in Hungary to occupy the country.

The 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division “Maria Theresia” was stationed in southern Ukraine. When the Soviet army advanced, the division was encircled during the siege of Budapest that began on Christmas Eve 1944 and ended in early February 1945 with the fall of the city. The division, as well as the division “Florian Geyer”, was largely annihilated during this event.

Apparently, Hollnthoner was one of the lucky few to escape, yet about five weeks later his luck ran out. Between March 18 and July 17, 1945, he spent his time in various military hospitals, being sent from one to the other without interruption, for being wounded. The code “31b” refers to a wound received by either a grenade, mortar, or artillery. The hospitals were in the northern German towns of Wilster, Wendorf an der Ostsee, Travemünde, and Lübeck.