tracing a long lost grandfather in germany....

[namechangeforobviousreason]

am a longtime regular poster.

my father is adopted. his natural father is a german man. he was in the foreign legion after world war two and i have his name, birthdate, place of birth and foreign legion rank.

how easy would it be to trace him. in all likelihood he is probably dead. but i'm haunted by the knowledge that i have blood relatives in germany right now.

my father has given his permission for me to trace his dad, but because he hasn't done it himself, i'm alert to how difficult this situation is.

any help or advice appreciated.

I tried to trace my German grandparents years back, I cant remember exactly how I got the info, but the German embassy in London were really helpful. I think I ended up writing to the council of the place of birth for info, and they sent a birth certificate. Sorry it is all a bit vague but it was ages ago and my memory is shocking! Good luck.

thanks!

anyone else?

There was a fantastic thread a little while ago by Desiderata (I think) who had a book she wanted to return to its original owner's family. There was some amazing research done by various MNetters who managed to help trace this family.

I'm sure some of the posters and info in the thread would help you but I'm afraid I don't remember any more details about it. Hopefully someone else will though.

I do know that 'The Samaritans' do traces for lost relatives, but I don't know if they can help in Germany.

oi desiderata....over here!

Found it!

bump