Seeking Records of 4189th Labor Service Group

Dear Mr. Kunzmann,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We searched the World War II Operations Reports, 1940-1948 in the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1905-1981 (Record Group 407) and the Unit Histories, 1943 - 1967 in the Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter), 1917-1999 (Record Group 338), but were unable to locate records pertaining to the 4189th Labor Service Corps or the 4189th Polish Labor Service Corps.

Polish citizens who served with the U.S. Army during World War II and during the occupation of Germany and who were not officially inducted into the American Army were considered civilian employees by the U.S. Government. Official Personnel Files (OPFs) and medical information for individuals who worked for the U.S. government in a civilian capacity prior to 1954 are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis, P.O. Box 38757, St. Louis, MO 63138. Please include full name used during Federal employment, date of birth, name and location of employing Federal agency, beginning and ending dates of Federal Service.

We hope this information is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

Hello,

I am Raymond Zawalski, a former member of the Labor Service organization. Actually I was borne into the organization, since my Father was also a member since Dec 1945. I am also the informal Labor Service historian and I am currently helping three Groups in Poland, France and Germany to understand what Labor Service was all about. To answer the Question:

Unit activated 14 Mar 1946

moved to Heidelberg 27 Jan 1947

moved to Schwetzingen and Mannheim 8 Jun 1949

Deactivated 1 Jul 19566 per General Order, HQ USAREUR #96

I hope I could help. If you are Looking for further info, please let me know

Raymond

Hello Raymond,

I have a very similar question to the one posted in this thread as I am researching the history of my late father Stanislaw Stopczynski who was born in Poland on 29 September 1924 and died in London, UK on 11 September 1979.

I have recently come into possession of a US Army Certificate of Discharge dated 1st November 1947 which states that he was discharged from the 1917th Labor Supervision Company, APO 154. In the body of the certificate, it sates that he was in the 4155 Labor Service Co. (Polish-Civ)

• Where this unit was located in the US Zone of Germany after World War II?
• What was the function of this unit?
• How was this unit organised, i.e. how many platoons, company, regiment etc?

Any information which you can give me would be extremely helpful in tracing my father’s history.

PS I have a digital image of this document along with scanned photographs which I can upload when appropriate.

Thank You

Daniel Stopczynski

Good morning Daniel,

I am sorry for being late with my response, but Corona hit the family and the priorities had to be moved. Anyway this is what I found as a first glance:

The 4155 th Labor Service unit was originally activated on 30 March 1946 in Mannheim-Käfertal.  Camp Kosciuszko was the first Labor Service Training Center, where entire units were trained before deployment. Later the casern was renominated Taylor Barracks and was deactivated in 1995.

The 4155th LSU was then relocated to Kornwestheim on 11 April 1946. On 21 May 47 They again were moved to Ludwigsburg and were deactivated on 15 Dec 1947.

The mission was to guard POW/Arrest camps for Nazi personnel (Military and Civilian).

All Labor Service units were organized along military lines and units were assigned to Labor Supervision Centers (Equivalent to Battalions) and manned mostly by US Military, where as the LSU units were staffed by LS personnel only.

I hope I could help a little. Pleas do not hesitate and contact me if you need more info.

Have a great day

Raymond

Dear Jürgen,

I am sorry that I am responding so late, but Corona hit the family and .....

The 4189th Labor Service unit has an interesting history:

14 Mar 1946 activated at Mannheim-Käfertal, the official Labor Service Training Center

27 Jan 1947 Moved to Heidelberg

8 Jun 1949  Moved to Schwetzingen

15 Jun 1956 Moved to Mannheim

1 July 1956  Deactivated in Mannheim

mission of the unit was to guard US installations

Have a great day

Raymond

Thank you very much for this information Raymond.

The information is very useful in the research of my late father's live spent in Germany.

Best regards

Daniel

Hello Raymond,

I am also seeking similar information. I don't know if you are able to help or not, but anything would be a great help. My Uncle Henryk Rasala 21/12/1926/27 was employed as as Camp Guard at the 4071st Labor Service Company between 1946-48. Any information on this camp and where I might be able to obtain service records would be a great help.

Thank you so much,

all the best,

Edd

Edd

sorry for being very late, but I am running out of time.  I will try to find information and get with you as soon as possible.

Cheers

Raymond

Good morning edd,

here is some of the info I found:

4071st Labor Service Unit: Activated 14 Dec 1945 in Karlsfeld

                                           27 Sep 1946 transferred to Giessen Army Depot

                                           24 Oct 1948  Deactivated in Giessen. Personnel transferred to 4074th LSU

In August 1950 the unit was reactivated and manned with Germans and finally on 30 June 1964 the unit was finally deactivated by USAREUR General Order 212.

I hope that helps a little. Regarding the personnel records, I am working it but it will take some time.

Have a great day

Raymond

Hello Raymond,

I have a similar question to the previous ones. A family member was stationed at Vassicourt France, in the American Labor Service Company. He was from Czechoslovakia but registered as Polish. First he was at 4092 service then in 4507. He was employed between around 1951 (not sure when he started his service) until April 1959 when he died. Any information about the 4092 and 4507 labour service co and when I could get his service records would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!

Best,

Veronika