Germany. A Post War HIAG Missing Person Report for SS Radio Operator at Budapest

Measuring 210x145mm, extremely fine condition with minimal scuffing and light discolouration from a paper clip. The missing person is SS radio operator Ernst Heise. The photo shows him in his SS uniform. The document is most likely dated to the early 1950s.

Footnote 1: ErnstHeise was born on February 11, 1926 in Gössbach. At the time of him going missing Heise served in the Regiment Staff of Cavalry Regiment 2 in the 22nd SS Cavalry Division “Ungarn” (Feldpost no. 17376 A). He has been missing since January of 1945. His last message was sent on December 16, 1944 from Budapest. Here the division was besieged by the Red Army over Christmas of 1944. Since Heise wasn’t able to escape before the siege, presumably he either died during the fighting or became a P.O.W. in a Russian camp, from which many P.O.W.s only returned as late as 1955.

The person looking for him is his sister, Agnes Wesselhöft from Bremen.

Footnote 2: HIAG (Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der Angehörigen der ehemaligen Waffen-SS = mutual aid association of former Waffen-SS members), founded in 1951, was a veteran’s organisation and lobby group trying to rehabilitate the SS legally, economically, and historically. On a federal level it was disbanded in 1992, yet smaller chapters continued to exist into the 21st century. Especially during its early years the organisation focused its efforts on the Kameraden-Suchdienst (Comrade Search Service), trying to find some 40,000 former SS members that were still missing.