WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.320 Hi, I'm Jesse Alexander. 00:00:01.320 --> 00:00:05.340 Thank you for supporting this companion episode of Glory and Defeat. 00:00:05.340 --> 00:00:07.590 Today, we're going to talk about how Germans 00:00:07.590 --> 00:00:10.635 learned if a relative had been killed or wounded. WEBVTT 00:00:10.635 --> 00:00:12.585 Since the troops were conscript, 00:00:12.585 --> 00:00:16.680 the state had a duty to inform their families of their fates. 00:00:16.680 --> 00:00:22.005 This was done through the [inaudible] which literally translates as losses list. WEBVTT 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:46.505 caused and the bureaucratic and abbreviated language that they used. 00:01:46.505 --> 00:01:50.785 Take soldier [inaudible] Kahn of the Fourth Guards Grenadier Regiment for example, WEBVTT 00:01:50.785 --> 00:01:56.550 Kahn appears on casualty list number 47 as entry 368, 00:01:56.550 --> 00:02:00.880 which simply states SV SI Knie, WEBVTT 00:02:00.880 --> 00:02:04.555 which stands for badly wounded shot in the knee. 00:02:04.555 --> 00:02:07.575 Hiding behind entry 368 though, 00:02:07.575 --> 00:02:09.435 is a tragic fate. 00:02:09.435 --> 00:02:12.770 Kahn was wounded in the disastrous assault of the Prussian guards WEBVTT 00:02:12.770 --> 00:02:16.210 on the heights at [inaudible] back on August 18th. 00:02:16.210 --> 00:02:19.610 He ended up in hospital at Ludswigburg and died on 00:02:19.610 --> 00:02:23.615 October 18th after weeks of terrible suffering. WEBVTT 00:02:23.615 --> 00:02:25.910 He left behind a penniless wife and 00:02:25.910 --> 00:02:30.940 several children for whom the wealthier citizens of the town took up a collection. WEBVTT 00:02:30.940 --> 00:02:35.250 The list brought pain to German families 150 years ago, 00:02:35.250 --> 00:02:36.950 but for historians today, 00:02:36.950 --> 00:02:39.350 they are an invaluable source to tell 00:02:39.350 --> 00:02:43.930 the personal stories and tragedies of the Franco-Prussian War. WEBVTT 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:46.485 Thanks again for supporting Glory and Defeat. 00:02:46.485 --> 00:02:49.150 I'll see you next week. WEBVTT 00:00:22.005 --> 00:00:23.430 To create a list, 00:00:23.430 --> 00:00:25.590 each regiment would count up it's dead, wounded, 00:00:25.590 --> 00:00:28.440 and missing after a battle using the soldiers 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:32.925 small tin identification tags stamps with their service numbers. WEBVTT 00:00:32.925 --> 00:00:37.590 Decades later, veteran Karl Zeitz of the second [inaudible] Infantry Regiment number 00:00:37.590 --> 00:00:43.380 32 remembered how he felt when the tags were issued before the battle. WEBVTT 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:47.495 That evening, the familiar pieces of pewter, 00:00:47.495 --> 00:00:50.135 the death tokens were issued. WEBVTT 00:00:50.135 --> 00:00:52.180 It was a strange moment. 00:00:52.180 --> 00:00:54.045 The death stamps. 00:00:54.045 --> 00:00:59.600 Everyone hung the number around his neck that he was to wear as a dead man. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:05.110 Many a man must have felt a slight shiver as he put the cold piece of metal on his body. WEBVTT 00:01:05.110 --> 00:01:10.860 Some of the people made quite serious faces at this work. WEBVTT 00:01:11.300 --> 00:01:14.255 After the casualties had been counted up, 00:01:14.255 --> 00:01:19.460 the regiments telegraph the tag numbers and any other known details to the war ministry. 00:01:19.460 --> 00:01:24.635 The numbers and names were then published in newspapers and posted in public spaces. WEBVTT 00:01:24.635 --> 00:01:31.100 In 1871, 248 casualty lists were published for the North German Confederation WEBVTT 00:01:31.100 --> 00:01:37.960 and [inaudible] and the 1,982 pages contain 500,000 entries. 00:01:37.960 --> 00:01:41.900 But there's a stark contrast between the emotions these lists would have