Date of birth:

October 20th, 1914 (Steinbach/Thuringia, Germany)

Date of death:

March 12th, 1966

Nationality:

German

Hans Matthes was born October 20th, 1914, the second child of Edgar Matthes and Martha Matthes-Bauer. After the first war, the couple and their two children Hans and Gerda emigrated to Brömölla, Sweden. 1921, the family returned to Germany and settled down in Halberstadt. Here, Hans Matthes visited the Knabenvolksschule II and subsequently the Gewerbliche Berufsschule until March 1942. After a period of work, Hans was admitted to the Landespolizeischule Burg near Magdeburg in 1935 but joined the Wehrmacht the same year. He was posted to Grenadier-Regiment 10 in Dresden-Albertstadt. He was an instructor until 1939 and served at the front in France and Yugoslavia until 1940. In December 1940, he married Johanna Schmittgen. From 1941 onwards, Hans Matthes served on the Eastern Front in Infanterie-Regiment 108 as Kompagnieführer with the the rank of Leutnant. He was seriously injured at Stalingrad and was flown out to a hospital.
In July 1943, Hans and Johanna had their first child Bernd.
After world war two, Hans Matthes became an accountant with the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk Meiningen/Thüringen. In 1943, the Matthes couple got a second son, Volker.
Hans Matthes passed away March 12th, 1966.

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• Photo 1: Bernd Matthes
• - PATZWALL, K. & SCHERZER, V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001.
  - Family records