German WWII Wehrpass Military Service Pay Book

A Wehrpass, the standard German military identification and service record book issued to personnel of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. The cover bears the printed national eagle and swastika emblem above the title "Wehrpass" with a blank panel for unit designation. The opened personal-data page carries a photograph of a young man, stamped with eagle-and-swastika seals of the Wehrbezirkskommando Juelich, along with his handwritten signature and personal details including the name Mingers, Christian, born 11 April 1911 in Teveren, Kreis Geilenkirchen, with parents' names and occupation recorded in the printed fields.

Such pay books were issued to every German soldier, recording personal data, military postings, training, and campaign history, and today serve as a genealogical and historical record of an individual serviceman's career.

The Wehrpass was the standard identity and service document issued by German military district commands (Wehrbezirkskommando) to reservists and servicemen from 1935 onward, distinct from the Soldbuch which soldiers carried on active duty. It recorded a man's personal details, physical characteristics, civilian occupation, and liability for military service, later being updated with training, unit assignments, and campaign participation as his career progressed. The Wehrbezirkskommando Juelich, whose stamps appear here, was the district recruiting and administrative authority responsible for registering and mobilising men from the JuelichGeilenkirchen area of the Rhineland. Such documents now provide a traceable genealogical record of an individual serviceman's background and military path through the Wehrmacht.