The German leg
The smallest district in this archive and the one where the line turns. Everything after 1945 leaves from here.
Five towns inside twenty kilometres below the Swabian Alb. Petar left Yugoslavia in April 1939, five months before the war; Zdravko was taken by the Partisans in 1943 and then to Germany; Ivan, born at Crikvenica in 1925, was issued papers at Pfullingen. In 1949 the brothers parted — 8 March, Australia; 22 July, «a une maison, 2 autos» and Petar stays.
This is a records trip in a country that keeps records well. Town archives, the Landeskirche, the Kreisarchiv and the International Tracing Service between them should be able to give what this archive has only in fragments: arrival dates, employers, addresses, and the resettlement files.
Reutlingen
Reutlingen is the Kreis town and all five places are within twenty minutes. Pfullingen is effectively a suburb of it.
Stuttgart airport, then forty minutes by road or rail to Reutlingen.
Any time — these are municipal offices, not churchyards. Avoid the fortnight around Christmas, when German town archives close entirely.
The itinerary
- 1
Pfullingen and Reutlingen: the papers
Pfullingen → Reutlingen
The two documents this archive already has both come from here. The point of day one is to find what sits behind them.
- 1a
Stadtarchiv Pfullingen
Book aheadAnton Rudolf Defranceski is on the Pfullingen list of foreigners in 1947 and was certified by the town's mayor in 1950. Those two documents exist; what this archive does not have is the Einwohnermeldekartei — the residents' registration card, which gives every address, every date of arrival and departure, and usually the employer.
At the doorIch forsche zur Familie Defranceski / Defranceschi, 1941–1955 in Pfullingen. Gibt es Einwohnermeldekarten, Ausländerlisten oder Meldeunterlagen aus dieser Zeit?
- 1b
Stadtarchiv Reutlingen and Kreisarchiv Reutlingen
Book aheadFor the wider district: forced-labour and displaced-persons records, employer lists, and the housing registers of 1945–50. Zdravko's route into Germany was as a labourer, and that leaves a paper trail on the employer's side as much as the state's.
At the doorIch suche Unterlagen zu jugoslawischen Arbeitskräften und Displaced Persons im Kreis Reutlingen, 1941–1950, Familienname Defranceski.
Photograph these — we do not have them- Every residents' card for the name, front and back
- The 1947 foreigners' list page in full, not cropped
- Any employer or housing record naming the family
-
- 2
Metzingen, Neuhausen an der Erms and Bad Urach
about 30 km round
The three smaller towns. These are short visits: a town archive each, and a churchyard.
- 2a
Stadtarchiv Metzingen
Book aheadTextiles. If the family worked, this is one of the places they worked.
- 2b
Neuhausen an der Erms
Publicly visibleOn this archive's map with no document behind it. Establish whether that is right — and if the name is not here, record the negative.
- 2c
Bad Urach
Publicly visibleSame. A negative from a named town archive is worth more than an empty line on a map.
Photograph these — we do not have them- Any street or house this archive can attach to the family
- The town archives' own finding aids, photographed — they save a return trip
-
- 3
The two files that are not in this district
Reutlingen · a desk day
Two requests that can be made from anywhere but are best made from here, where the staff know the collections.
- 3a
Arolsen Archives (International Tracing Service)
Book aheadThe successor to the ITS at Bad Arolsen holds the DP and forced-labour registrations for the whole of occupied Europe, much of it now online. A search on Defranceski, Defranceschi, Defrančeski across 1941–1950 is the single highest-value request on this itinerary.
At the door(Online request — but ask the Reutlingen archivist which spelling variants their own indexes use.)
- 3b
Landeskirchliches Archiv Stuttgart
Book aheadIf any of the family married or had children baptised in Württemberg between 1941 and 1955, it is here — and this archive currently has no German-side family events at all.
Photograph these — we do not have them- Anything Arolsen returns, with its file reference visible
-
4 doors, and what to say at them
The wording is there to be read off a phone. It is plain and it is polite. Check the address and the opening hours on each institution\u2019s own site before you go.
| Who | How | What to say | What it gets you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stadtarchiv Pfullingen | Email; small archive, appointment needed. | Ich forsche zur Familie Defranceski, 1941–1955 in Pfullingen. Gibt es Einwohnermeldekarten und Ausländerlisten? | Addresses, arrival and departure dates, employers — the spine of the German years. |
| Kreisarchiv Reutlingen | Email with dates and spellings. | Ich suche Unterlagen zu jugoslawischen Arbeitskräften und Displaced Persons im Kreis Reutlingen, 1941–1950. | The context: who employed them and under what status. |
| Arolsen Archives | Online request form; free. | (English is fine.) Searching for Defranceski / Defranceschi / Defrančeski, Yugoslav nationals in Württemberg, 1941–1950. | The DP and forced-labour registrations. Possibly the whole answer. |
| Landeskirchliches Archiv Stuttgart | Email; they answer written enquiries. | Ich suche Trauungen und Taufen der Familie Defranceski in Württemberg, 1941–1955. | German-side family events, of which this archive has none. |
What the trip is actually for
Questions this archive cannot answer from a desk. Going is the only method left.
How did Petar get out in April 1939?
Five months before the war, from a country that was not yet at war, to a country that was arming. This archive has the date and nothing else — no employer, no permit, no route. The Reutlingen employer records are the likeliest place it survives.
What is in Zdravko's file?
His resettlement file is the source for the Partisan seizure that the family remembers as his father's. This archive has read a summary of it, not the file. Arolsen may hold the German end.
Why did one brother stay?
«A une maison, 2 autos» — a house and two cars, written in July 1949. That sentence is the only reason this archive has for Petar staying while Ivan and Zdravko went to Australia. A residents' card would show whether the house was his.
Everything to photograph, in one list
6 frames this archive does not have. Print it.
- Day 1Every residents' card for the name, front and back
- Day 1The 1947 foreigners' list page in full, not cropped
- Day 1Any employer or housing record naming the family
- Day 2Any street or house this archive can attach to the family
- Day 2The town archives' own finding aids, photographed — they save a return trip
- Day 3Anything Arolsen returns, with its file reference visible
- Photograph the whole stone before the detail. Half the gaps in this archive are because a name was framed and the dates were not.
- Ask before photographing inside a church, always, and never during a service.
- Do not photograph recent graves with living relatives named on them. This site omits living people, and that begins in the churchyard.
- Write down the house-names. Nobody else is going to.
- Note what you did not find. An empty cemetery is a finding, and this archive publishes those too.
Sources for every claim on this page are on the pages it links to. Drive times and distances are approximate and were not measured on the ground; check the roads and the opening hours before you go. The other itineraries →