Joseph Brzeski

[smudgepants]

Hi, wondering if anyone can help, I have just visited the Aneau de memoire near Arras, France. This is a monument with 580,OOO names of Soldiers who were killed or went missing in WWI. There is a name of a Polish soldier which interests me, the name is Joseph Brzeski. I am wondering if I am related to him because of the surname. I don't know when he died. Can anyone help? 

[MaxD]

His name doesn't appear in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site or in any British military record that I can see.  According to Wikipedia, the memorial commemorates soldiers of forty different nationalities who fell in that region of France so who he fought for would be the essential thing to know.  This is significant:
The Ring of Memory is the only memorial that lists names alphabetically with no distinctions in rank, nationality, or allegiance. Prost stresses, “No ranks, no nationalities: just a dizzying list of the human stories that ended on France’s northern battlefields.

This is just one hit from searching Polish forces in WW1:http://www.hallersarmy.com/FranceBattles.php there are bound to be more.

Not sure how you'd proceed from here?  You could try to establish from the French where they got the names from, the input would perhaps have had more detail.

MaxD

[tonepad]

The following link has a Polish Army in France Casualty List for WW1.
You need to Register with the site to access the information.

 http://www.polishroots.org/Research/History/tabid/278/Default.aspx


Tony

[smudgepants]

Tony, I tried the link you suggested and it appears to be faulty. The site works but the list is not working, looks like a technical problem they ae having.   

[tonepad]

I came up with zero results for any Joseph Brzeski fighting in the Polish Army or Died for France in WW1.

However, there is a Joseph Brzeski who was in the German Army:

Rank: Musketier
Date of birth: 25.04.1890
Date of death/becoming missing: 23.08.1915
Place of death/becoming missing: nicht verzeichnet (not listed)
Buried in the military cemetery in Frankfurt/Main-Hauptfriedhof.

As the place of death is not listed, unable to confirm if this is the same Joseph Brzeski who is on the
L'Anneau de la Mémoire.


Tony

Added: The Polish spelling of the first name is Jozef, the German soldier is Joseph.

[smudgepants]

The surname Brzeski is definately Polish. I wonder if there is any way of finding out this man's heritage.   

[tonepad]

Unfortunately the www.volksbund.de website does not give the place of birth for Joseph Brzeski.


He is listed on another website which shows the regiment he served with and also has an alternative spelling of his first name as Josef:

http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/2018/frankfurt-am-main_hptfriedhof_dt-kriegsgraeber_wk1_hs_a-e.html


Tony