Passport – International Permanent Armistice Commission

international permanent armistice commission

Passport (Passierschein) incl. Photo of the International Permanent Armistice Commission, issued by the Railway Headquarters in Mainz, Germany, for the assistant Johann Baptist Rathgeber.

He can not be arrested or imprisoned. He must be well treated and is under the protection of the Allied Armies! Exciting document of WWI.

The German Armistice Commission

in 1918 (in short: WaKo) was compiled end of the First World War, and the should be represented German interests in the ceasefire negotiations with the agreement.

The WaKo received a power of attorney for signing the contract on 11 November 1918 in a railroad car in a forest near the French town Rethondes, near Compiegne, France.

 

 

Armistice of Compiègne

The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It went into effect at 11 am on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender.

The Germans were responding to the policies proposed by American President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points of January 1918.

The actual terms were written mainly by French Marshal Ferdinand Foch. They included the cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of German troops behind their borders, the preservation of infrastructure, and the exchange of prisoners. Further, a promise of reparations, the disposition of German warships and submarines, and conditions for prolonging or terminating the armistice. Although the armistice ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations to conclude the peace treaty. The Treaty of Versailles.

German Passport of a Courier

In another article, I show a German passport of a courier sent to Versailles. This document is an excellent example of German passport history. I am happy to have it in my collection.

 

Tom Topol | Passport History Expert & Author.
Featured in media incl. CNN, BBC, Newsweek. Awarded by the U.S. Department of State.
"Want to go deeper? My book Let Pass or Die covers the full 400-year history"

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