Riethmaier Family Collection
Karl ’ s cousin , Ernst Gebauer , headed to Germany in 1938 . This image shows a farewell group on board his ship in Apia harbour . People ( left-to-right ): Alfred Matthes , Kurt Stünzner at rear , sister Emma Gebauer , Uncle Robert Gebauer , Ernst , father Rudolf Gebauer , sister Linda Gebauer , mother Acey Gebauer , and brother Feodor in front .
Sadly , this would be the last time family members saw Ernst . In Germany , he was drafted into the army after the outbreak of war in 1939 . He married Elisabeth during the war years and had a daughter , Linda . There is uncertainty about when he died . The German War Graves Commission has an entry for an Ernst Gebauer that seems most in accord with his details ( or lack of details ). This has his date of death /’ date missing ’ occurring nearly four weeks after the end of the war on 28 May 1945 in eastern Germany / present day Poland . Ernst may have died while in Russian custody . There is also the possibility that he was in a small group attempting to head west to British or American occupied Germany when he was killed . Commission records state that his body could not be recovered . Accordingly , his name is listed in the memorial book at the Commission cemetery at Nadolice Wielkie , in Poland , rather than on a marked grave . ( Cemetery shown at right in 2012 ).
Descendants report that because Ernst was listed as missing , his father , Rudolph , never accepted the finality of his death . He always thought that one day he would walk through the door . http :// skmponz . pl / uroczystosci-na-cmentarzu-zolnierzyniemieckich-w-nadolicach-wielkich /? lang = en
German War Graves Commission records indicate that the following German casualties of World War Two were born in Samoa : Heinrich G . G . Angenheister , born 1915 ; Ernst M . Arps , b . 1912 ; Harald Baedecker , b . 1914 ; Kurt Baedecker , b . 1919 ; Wilhelm Goebel , b . 1918 ; Christian C . H . Osbahr , b . 1915 ; Paul Retzlaff b . 1924 ; Otto H . Sessous , b . 1913 .
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