Military Church, Army & Pensions Records

Dear Mr. Bandemer,
   it's a little bit difficult to answer your questions without any
   additional information about your Great-Grandfather.
   Was he a volunteer or a professional soldier or did he serve an as a
   "draftee"?
   As a man from Neu Reischwitz, County Neustadt / Westpr. - I assume that
   he lived there when he went to service, he belonged to Recruiting area
   of the 8th (Pommaranian) Infanterie-Brigade which was responsible for
   the draftiing of the presonnel not only for the both regiments of this
   brigade, but also for a part of the Armycorps-troops/II. Armycorps and
   the divisional troops of the 4 Division. So there is a great number of
   units, which he could have served in: Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery or
   ingenieurs, and later on in the militia ("Landwehr"). If he was a
   lucky young man, he might have been elected for the guards.
   So, without any further information abuot your Great-Grandfather it
   would be a hell of work to look through the military-church records of
   the different garrisons - especially if you take into consideration,
   that there will be nothing to be found, if not he married during his
   service.
   As an enlisted man, concerning the then valid regulations, he was
   drafted 20 years old in 1861 and served 3 years in active service, than
   he was transferred to the reserve for five years and afterwards to
   the "Landwehr" - a kind of militia-also for five years and the to the
   "Landsturm" (also a kind of militia) until he was 42 years old. In this
   case he took part in the three wars you mentioned, as a Soldier of the
   reserve in his former regiment. I have to ensure you, that there is no
   August Bandemer within the records of the dead and wounded Soldiers in
   1866 and in 1870/71. There ist only in 1870/71 another guy "Bandemer":
   Musketier Johann Carl Bandemer from Labuhn, 8. Comp. / 8 (Pommeranien)
   Infantry-Regiment Nr. 61 was slightly wounded at his hand during the
   battle of Dijon, Jan. 21th 1871. May be, this is a brother or a cousin
   of your August Bandemer.
   By the way, there were no units of the II. Armycorps envolved in the
   German/Danish war 1864, only units from the prussian Corps of Guards,
   III. Armycorps and VII. Armycorps. So may be he only mentioned, that
   there were 3 wars during his service in the army, not that he took part
   in 3 wars.
   Most of the military church records of the garrisons you will find in
   the "Geheimes Staatsarchive - Preussischer Kulturbesitz" in
   Berlin-Dahlem.There are no official websites of the former garrisons or
   military church parishes.
   There existed a regulation for pensions. But normally a former officer
   or NCO got a job in the administration after his service of twelfe and
   more years. In case they had been wounded and therefore coulg not
   longer stay in the army, they also firstly got an job and if they were
   so ill or old, that they could not work any longer, they got some
   money. Other ranks only got money if beeing severely wounded not beeing
   able to work any longer.
   With best wishes for your research!
   Yours
   Hans-Christoph Surkau

Dear Hans-Christoph,

Thank you for your detailed discussion of the problems of
searching German military records.

I have a similar problem with my grandfather¹s military
records. In fact, I am at a complete
dead end finding any of his family records.
My grandfather served in the German Army the last few years of the 1800s
and the first few years of the 1900s. He
was stationed in Metz at one point. Since
I am at a dead end, I thought his military records might provide names of
his
mother, father, brothers and sisters.

Name: Leopold Czanera
Born: May 6, 1880
I am not sure where he was born, but he always said he was
from Paprotken, Landkreis Lötzen, East Prussia.
This is a tiny village, now Paprotki, Poland, on a small lake south of
Gizycko, Poland.

He came to America on the ship Cassel landing in Baltimore
on April 26, 1907. He lived in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he married my grandmother, Regina Salzer.
She was a German Transylvanian Saxon.

There are some Czanera¹s currently living in Germany. I have written
them, but most have not
responded. The one that did respond had
no information other than the knowledge that her grandfather came from the
area
near Paprotken.

Thank you in advance for your help with this search,
Michael Sanera
Denver Colorado

Hello Michael
Have you considered DNA
FTDNA have a familyfinder section that may be helpful,as you are able to contact matches
Didnt German civil records start in mid 1870's.These records have Family information
There are Quessowski cards
and Kartei Moeller Cards
and Deutsches Geschlechterbuch for you to check
goodLuck
Richard Roy