Hello,
I'm trying to solve a mystery in my family. To my knowledge, my grandfather was a police officer of the German Railway (Reichsbahn) and also leader of the local SA section of our village in the 1930s. He went to the war and served on the Russian front. I believe he did not actually fight but guarded trains. After the war, he was imprisoned by the allied forces and remained in a military camp in the town of Diez in Germany until 1948, which belonged to the Amercian Section. I assume it was a camp for denazification of former NSDAP supporters. All I know from my late mother and others of her age is that my grandfather never gave a reason for the long period of his imprisonment. He once told his godson that he believed to be mistaken for a different man with the same name who was a high ranking SA officer and member of the Nazi parliament.
I've done some research looking for records of the German "Spruchkammer", the tribunal that decided about many Germans with a Nazi past, but didn't find anything on my grandfather.
I'm wondering if there are records of the American Army on the internees, maybe even protocols of the accusations and interrogations? Furthermore, I assume that there must have been an affinity for the Nazi values, but it would be good to know the actual reason why he was kept in prison for three years after the war. After all, he didn't seem to be a higher ranking official.
I would be grateful if anyone had an idea on where to look for such records.
Thanks and kind regards,
Jochen
