Rolf Meyer

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NSDAP
At the Federal Archives in Berlin (BArch formerly BDC), only the membership of Otto Meyer, the father of Rolf Meyer, in the NSDAP could be confirmed. The membership number is: 3028948. Date of entry May 1933. According to his relatives, his membership was based on business interests.
Otto Meyer was not politically active. His joining the party was not viewed favorably within the family at all.

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Education
There is no information available regarding the school education of Rolf Meyer. However, on a questionnaire intended for the Deutsche Dienststelle, the profession of merchant is given. Conrad Clef, Rolf Meyer’s uncle, completed this questionnaire at the beginning of September 1977.
The document contains additional remarkable information, more on that later.

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According to report dated 20.02.1941 and 07.08.1941	1. Kompanie Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon 209
According to report dated 20.08.1941	5. Kompanie Infanterie-Regiment 43
According to report dated 17.12.1942 and 09.01.1943	Marschkompanie Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon 202
According to report dated 20.03.1943 and 29.09.1943	Stabskompanie Jäger-Bataillon 6
According to letter dated 12.04.1944	1. Genesendenkompanie Jäger-Ersatz-Bataillon 17
According to letter dated 08.08.1944	Ski-Jäger-Ersatz-Bataillon 1
According to report dated 30.12.1944	Panzer-Brigade 150

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07.09.1941:…………………. Kriegslazarett 4/608 Riga	Kidney inflammation .	Admitted Discharged	From troop For further treatment, Kemmern
23.09.1941: Spa hospital Kemmern		Admitted.. Discharged	Kriegslazarett 4/608 29.10.1941 Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 43
20.03.1942: near Bardachjny (?)	Light wound Infantry gunshot wound left foot	Admitted Discharged	Unknown Transferred to main dressing station Surach (Surazh)
30.03.1942: Reservelazarett II Ulm / Donau	Infantry through-shot 2nd toe left .	Admitted Discharged	From hospital train 2612 22.05.1942 Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 45, Goldap (Poland)
29.08.1943: Near Kistinki (Kestnga) Russia	Lightly wounded artillery shot foot .	Admitted Discharged	Unknown Transferred to main dressing station
10.09.1943: Kriegslazarett 1/521 Finland	Shrapnel embedded right ankle, with injury to the foot joint	Admitted Discharged	Not recorded 26.09.1943 transferred via hospital ship
01.10.1943: Reservelazarett Riesenberg *		Admitted Discharged	From sick hospital Kemi 01.03.1944 Jäger-Ersatz- und Ausbildungs-Bataillon Arys

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*Note; the Reservelazarett Riesenberg was presumably Riesenburg (West Prussia), now: Prabuty. The town of Riesenberg is located in Austria

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The Family History
Rolf Meyer was considered missing from 23.12.1944. This was already communicated to the relatives, according to a report dated 24.03.1945, on 22.01.1945. Rolf Meyer reportedly did not return from a special mission in the Malmedy area.
The parents of Rolf Meyer ran a timber trade in Helsinki; the family was first registered there in November 1920. Rolf Meyer’s grandfather, Otto Meyer’s father, had also been active in the timber business in Rostock. When exactly the family returned from Finland to Germany, no one today can say with certainty. The last entry on the registration card from Helsinki dates from 01.01.1924. However, the registration card lacks any indication of the return journey to Germany. Within the family, a period around 1930 is mentioned. The Meyer family settled in Friedrichsgabe, Post Harksheide Kreis Pinneberg. Today, the town belongs to Norderstedt, Kreis Segeberg in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. Otto Meyer had a building materials shop there. The business was sold in the early 1960s. Nevertheless, one can still shop today at the “Baumarkt Otto Meyer” on Ulzburger Strasse. However, the business is no longer in family ownership.
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Rolf and Otto Meyer (R) listening to the presumably not so seriously meant explanations of Conrad Clef (L).
Source: Family possession.

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It was only at the end of 1976, beginning of 1977, that Otto Meyer learned of his son’s death. From Otto Meyer’s estate, there is a police report with a covering letter from the Belgian municipality of Welkenraedt. The letter is addressed to Otto Meyer and dated 7 February 1977. It states that the German soldiers no longer lie in Henri-Chapelle but have been transferred to the German War Cemetery in Lommel. Now Otto Meyer had sad certainty about his son’s death, and knew where his son was buried. Together with his brother-in-law, according to family accounts, he visited the grave in Lommel. There he is also said to have learned something about the failed military operation in the Ardennes. On 14.06.1977, Otto Meyer suffered a fatal heart attack at Hannover Central Station, in Intercity 181. His wife Thilla followed him into death voluntarily one day later. She never learned of her son’s death. Otto Meyer had not been able to bring himself to tell his wife of the death of their mutual son. After Otto Meyer’s sudden death, his brother-in-law Conrad Clef carried out further research. In the estate of Otto Meyer and Conrad Clef, there were several other remarkable documents. These documents and some photographs were entrusted to me by the relatives.
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American death certificate. Source: In the author’s archive

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The most remarkable document from the estate is undoubtedly the death certificate, issued in the name of Rolf Benjamin Meyer. This death certificate from the International Red Cross in Geneva was probably also the reason for the correspondence with the municipality of Welckenradt. Conrad Clef’s continued search for answers had a reason. Something was not right with the death certificate. How Otto Meyer came into possession of the death certificate, no one today can say. The document differs from the others by the missing RAD number. The document therefore did not pass through the Red Cross, since all other documents have such a number. However, it is also not a usual copy, since Major Steiner’s signature is in blue. We know today that the military unit is incorrect; it should have read Kommandokompanie der Panzer-Brigade 150. Normally, these documents were issued for deceased prisoners of war. How could the Americans have known the birth details or the address of the relatives? According to the death certificate, Rolf Meyer was found dead in Germont (near Malmedy). For everything, there might still have been plausible explanations, for example a wallet in which the data were found. But one point must have caused all alarm bells to ring loudly for Otto Meyer and Conrad Clef. The two knew immediately that the document did not correspond to the truth. Therefore, Conrad Clef felt compelled, after the death of the Meyer couple, to continue the research. On 12.08.1977, a notary from Bremerhaven certified a copy of the death certificate. That was thus a few weeks after the death of the Meyer couple. Conrad Clef sent a personal questionnaire of the Deutsche Dienststelle signed on 09.09.1977, together with the certified copy of the death certificate, to Berlin. The certified copy of the death certificate is still there today; the original document from Otto Meyer’s estate is now, along with other documents from the family’s estate, in our archive. It is a fortunate circumstance that the questionnaire has been preserved together with the death certificate.
On the questionnaire, after the first name Rolf, it states: “only this one”. The explanation for this is provided by Conrad Clef on the back of the questionnaire (below). There the probably most important reason is given as to why Conrad Clef had continued the investigations.
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Questionnaire. Source: © Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers.

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The letter of 08.08.1944 from Pilsen was the last sign of life from Rolf that his parents had received. Had the hidden message from Rolf not been on the death certificate, there would presumably have been no further investigations by Conrad Clef after the death of the parents.
One might only have learned many years later that something was not right with the information about Rolf Meyer’s death. Some time ago, the family came across a book. It was apparently a book dealing with the Ardennes Offensive. As is so often the case, photographs of captured commando soldiers are shown. One of the images shows two prisoners of war in thick winter coats, with two armed military police officers standing to their left and right. The relatives immediately agreed. The prisoner on the right is: ROLF MEYER. It is just as well that his parents did not know that picture.
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(Left) Rolf Meyer and his father Otto Meyer. Source: Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers. (Right) In the photo on the right, Rolf Meyer is wearing a moustache; his appearance, his way of posing — albeit unintentionally — is unmistakable. Added to this is the same pair of glasses he is wearing in the other photo.

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Schmidt, Billig and Pernass
The photo was taken shortly after the capture of the three.
The best proof that the two in winter coats (Schilz and Meyer) are NOT Schmidt, Billing or Pernass.

Source: The National WWII Museum New Orleans / Signal Corps US-Army.

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Rolf Meyer together with his mother in front of the Mercedes-Benz 170V Cabriolet.
Just barely recognisable on Rolf is the dimple in the chin which is more clearly visible on the
US Army photo. Source: Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers.

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With this we have now made a start on identifying photographed German prisoners of war of the US Army who fell into the hands of the American military police in the course of Operation Greif. Since the prisoner on the right is Rolf Meyer, the question of who stands next to him must also be solvable. We can considerably narrow down the circle of possible persons. The answer, however, will still have to wait.
Report of the US Army

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NARA 498:245:box1283:folder December 12-31 1944. Source: NARA Washington USA of National Archives Washington (NARA)

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Source from the literature
“Frustrated in its tactical and long-range sabotage and espionage missions, the 150th Panzer Brigade sent seven of its members in U.S. uniform, on foot, behind American lines with the mission of locating a U.S’. artillery battery near Geromont. Through conversations with the gun crew, the seven were to secure information concerning positions and intentions of the battery. The American artillerymen proved poor hosts and poorer quiz contestants, and the seven spies were detained and taken to the 30th CiC Detachment. This detachment rushed the group to the 301st CIC with the same speed with which the alert soldiers of the 117th U.S. Regiment had delivered the captives to them .
More information was gained concerning the Eisenhower assassination plot. Naval Sergeant Horst Goerlich said that he had heard Hardieck discussing the plan, which included the dropping of parachutists near Paris to aid the expedition. This statement added impetus to the threat since unconfirmed reports of parachutist droppings near Paris had been received on 20 December, three days before.
Acting Corporal Rolf Benjamin Meyer, alias Lt. Sammy Rosner, also substantiated previous versions of the plot, adding that the alleged assassins would have Nipolit, a plastic explosive, and specially manufactured poisoned ammunition.
Goerlich, Meyer and their five associates were executed on 30 December, four days after their sentence by a U.S. Military Commission. All seven had been members of the Einheit Stielau.”

History of the CIC, John Mendelsohn

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PWI Report
In the PWI Report NO. 7 24/25 Dec 1944 of the First Army, the incident is only briefly described. The men with whom Rolf Meyer was travelling had been assigned to the “communications* destroyers teams” of the Einheit Stielau. The men, however, were not equipped accordingly and were therefore deployed as scouts on foot. They were to go to a US unit near Géromont, where they were to talk with the American soldiers and gather information about the positions and plans of this unit. Promptly, the Germans were captured by the Americans.
* By the word communication, the Americans mean any kind of communication — including roads or bridges in the broader sense.
Federal Archives Department PA, formerly Deutsche Dienststelle Berlin (WASt)
The central index card*, of the central personnel file of the WASt, of Rolf Meyer was inspected by me in March 2021.
After the missing person report in 1945, nothing happened in this case at first.
After the Deutsche Dienststelle in Berlin received Conrad Clef’s request, it began to research. On the index card, 2 entries were noted. On 22.08.1977 and on 12.10.1977, letters from Conrad Clef with documents arrived in Berlin. It is mentioned on the card that the father of Rolf Meyer had learned that his son had taken part in a special operation with US jeeps and uniforms. It is also mentioned on the index card that it was known that this enterprise had failed. On the occasion of Conrad Clef’s enquiry, the American prisoner of war records were consulted and translated. These documents today raise more questions than they provide answers. Also the strange Death Certificate of “Rolf Benjamin Meyer” is mentioned on the card. The origin, however, remains in the dark. Apparently there was a grave card for “Rolf Benjamin Meyer”. The date of the reburial in Lommel is unknown. It can now be ruled out that the parents of Rolf Meyer had learned that their son had been executed. How the rest of the family received this sensitive information can only be guessed at. Some will have thought that it was good that the parents no longer learned of it.
_{*Signature personnel index card, see source reference.}
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The two letters, which are merely translations from English, raise more questions than they provide answers. It would have been very helpful to find the American source of the letters; however, all our attempts have come to nothing. Source: Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)
OMGUS stands for: Office of Military Government for Germany. It was the highest American administrative institution in Germany. The OMGUS files are kept at the Institute of Contemporary History in Berlin and Munich. On enquiry, however, they were unable to provide further assistance.

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Information from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva
(International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC)
The International Red Cross stated in writing on 22.04.2010 that no death certificate in the name of Rolf Meyer is held in their archive. This is presumably also the reason why the German authorities were initially unable to inform the family of Rolf Meyer’s death. However, it has also not been clarified whether the death certificates always passed through the Deutsche Dienststelle or possibly were also sent directly to relatives. In any case, however, a copy should have been found in the Red Cross archive.
A copy of the certificate present here was provided to the International Red Cross in Geneva.

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