Robert Martin Emil Pollack

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NSDAP
No membership of the Pollack family in the NSDAP could be established at the Federal Archives in Berlin (BArch).

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Education
Nothing is known about Robert Pollack’s schooling. The English language skills that were a prerequisite for his participation in Operation Greif were acquired by Robert Pollack in Australia.

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Robert Pollack’s mother, Frida Pollack, completed a questionnaire on 28.06.1943 for the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VoMi), Department Advisory Office for Immigrants. Mrs Pollack wrote that her son Robert had joined the Navy on 15.08.1942.
The Deutsche Dienststelle in Berlin has only two records in its files:

According to report dated 23.07.1943	Naval Flak Division 266	Naval artilleryman
According to report dated 30.12.1944	Panzer Brigade 150	Obergefreiter

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Robert Pollack. Source: Family collection

In 1943 Robert Pollack had to be admitted to the Naval Hospital in Emden. The reason was a right-sided inguinal hernia.
Which naval unit Robert Pollack came from is not known. Nor was it recorded to which naval unit Robert Pollack was discharged. Only the discharge date from the hospital is known: 18.06.1943.

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The Family History

The files of the Repatriation Office of the Foreign Organisation of the NSDAP from the holdings of the former Berlin Document Center (BDC) are held in Berlin. From these records, a considerable amount of information about the Pollack family can be gleaned.
The Pollack family emigrated to Australia in 1928. Robert Pollack’s father had a connection to Australia even earlier. He had already lived in that country before the First World War and was interned there during the First World War. After the First World War ended he remained in Australia. He briefly returned to his old homeland and met his future wife. Martin Pollack obtained Australian citizenship. When exactly this occurred cannot be determined from the questionnaire of the Repatriation Office. At some point, however, the Certificate of Naturalisation of Martin Pollack came into my possession. The document states that Martin Pollack was naturalised on 27.04.1936. Frida Pollack stated in the questionnaire that she had obtained Australian citizenship in 1936. Robert Pollack also held Australian citizenship. Robert Pollack later reacquired his German citizenship in Germany. Here too, more precise details are lacking.
On 28.03.1939 Frida Pollack, together with her son Robert, set out on the journey back to Germany. It was homesickness that drove Mrs Pollack back to Germany. She had originally intended only a visit to Germany, but it turned into years. The war prevented the two of them from being able to make the return journey to Australia.
What Robert did in Germany in the period up to his voluntary enlistment in the Navy on 15.08.1942 is unknown. Frida Pollack must however have given her consent for her son’s enlistment in the Navy, as Robert was not yet of legal age under the law at that time. After her return to Australia she received harsh criticism from her husband for this. In a handwritten curriculum vitae that Frieda Pollack had attached to the questionnaire of the “Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle”, Robert’s voluntary enlistment in the Navy still sounds very contrived: …“Out of love and conviction for the old homeland, my son has reacquired his German citizenship and enlisted as a war volunteer in the Navy on 15 August 1942”.
There was a final letter from Robert Pollack to his mother. In it he wrote that he probably would not return, that he would not get out of it. Unfortunately no precise details of the letter have been preserved; the letter was destroyed decades ago.

The Death Sentence of Robert Pollack and his Comrades

Death sentence from the trial file of Otto Skorzeny. Source: BayHStA, Dachau War Crimes Trials M1106.

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Federal Archives Department PA, formerly Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)
The personal index cards* for Robert Pollack held at the Federal Archives were examined by me in March 2021. According to a report dated 23.03.1945, Robert Pollack had been listed as missing since 23.12.1944 in the Malmedy area. The unit listed is Pz.Brigade 150, Commando Company.
Report dated 22.01.1948: “23.12.1944: Captured at Germont near Malmedy. 30.12.44 shot”. The burial location in Henri-Chapelle follows.
On 24.01.1948 it was reported that the Death Certificate had been sent to the next of kin (in Bremen). The death notification was sent to Bremen as the address of the parents was unknown.
On 30.01.1952 the reinterment was registered.
_{* Signature, see Sources.}

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Information from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva

(International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC)
The death certificate (RAD 95919) was fully completed. On this form, however, an apparent error was made, as the
13th Panz Regt is listed as the unit. It should also here, as with his six comrades, be the 13th Para Regt (Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 13).
In addition to the death certificate, the Red Cross in Geneva also sent me a letter from the “HEADQUARTERS EUROPEAN COMMAND, Office of the Provost Marshal Prisoner of War Information Bureau”. The letter dated 27.08.1947 contains 36 names, including that of Robert Pollack. According to its contents, 36 death certificates of the persons listed are being sent to the Red Cross in Geneva. At the beginning of September 1947 the death certificates were in place in Geneva.

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German Military Cemetery Lommel, Belgium. Photo: © Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers.