From the Mailbox

Gustav Goldemann

A few months ago (August 2020!), I had sent off a search request to the Bad Arolsen Archives (International Tracing Service) requesting any information that they might have on my… let’s see… great uncle-in-law (I think)… Gustav Goldemann.

Gustav was the partner of my great-aunt, Johanna Catherina Knöffler. I wrote a blog post about him last September after finally being able to give a name to the man whose story our family knew so well but whose name had been lost to history.

This past week, I received an email from the ITS with the information they had been able to dig up on Gustav. Some of it is information that I’ve already found but there are a few new documents which I will have to peruse in detail.

Wolpe Family

For the last few weeks, I’ve been emailing back and forth with Wayne Chan, a data analyst at the University of Manitoba. He researches and writes historical pieces as a hobby. His latest piece was published on Wednesday January 27 which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The article covered the life of Hans Wolpe, son of Johannes (Hans) Wolpe, the Jewish businessman who got involved with Jürgen Ziebell in the Irish naturalization scheme.

Hans Wolpe led a fascinating life and while I’ve written a series of articles on his family (here, here and here), Wayne’s article fills in some blanks. He also tracked down a photograph of Beatrice Engers, the mother of Hans Wolpe, and former wife of Johannes (Hans) Wolpe. Beatrice and her daughter were sent to Auschwitz in 1942 where they likely perished. The death camp was liberated several years later by the Soviets on January 27, 1945.

R.W.G. Stephens & MI5

The second cousin (once removed) of Robin W.G. Stephens is submitting a request to MI5 for any information they might have on Stephens. Fingers crossed that they release some helpful information…

Spy Radios

Thomas Hoeppe and I have been emailing back and forth while I’ve been pulling together a guide to the front panels of the SE 88/5 and SE 92/3. I know virtually nothing about the spy radios… or radios in general, and wanted to at least have some understanding of what all the dials, knobs, buttons and sockets on the front panels were for! Blog coming out on Monday… My earlier blog on the spy radios can be found here, with a recent addendum…

Camp 020 Interrogators

I had a blog comment about one of the Camp 020 interrogators, Edward Brereton Goodacre. The commentator (anonymous) was looking for an historical manuscript/book that Goodacre had written in the 1930s. While doing a bit of a quick scamper around the genealogical sites and Google Search, I came across a bit more information about Goodacre, and his colleague Albert Daniel Meurig-Evans which I’ll be publishing in a blog post in due course. There always seems to be new information surfacing on the internet!