Original WW1 letters from the trenches

[Creaghorn 10]

as i've seen siggis thread and i remembered that i own about 100 original handwritten letters from a german trench soldier, which he sent to his wife and others. unfortunately they are written in "sütterlin", the old german writing style, and i can't read a single word because i never learned this style. that's almost as different as greek letters.

so maybe an interesting project.

is there anybody outthere who can read sütterlin?

how about me scanning a letter every week or so and this someone translates it into typed style (and maybe even translated in english) and posting it in this forum?

would be maybe like reports from the front. only from a real person. additionally that would honor this soldier in a way.

[Von Paulus 8]

That would be nice.

Do you know what happened to the soldier? Did he survived the war?

[Creaghorn 10]

That would be nice.

Do you know what happened to the soldier? Did he survived the war?

 

he survived and spent a happy life afterwards as a professor in a university. he was a smart guy. some letters are also in french, some even in greek.

i was able to get one or two pages so far translated into normal letters. one was a kind of limerick where he told about the bad things in the trenches, but in a funny limerick style, probably i believe, to pass the censorship or for his little son in germany, to make him a little bit understand what happens.

[zoomzoom 2]

Sounds extremely interesting. Perhaps when Olham is back, he might have some leads for the translation issue.

 

ZZ.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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It would be great if these could be translated and posted here for all of us to share in. These sorts of first-hand accounts give us the only real insight into what it was really like trying to survive through the "Great War". Thanks for the offering these Creaghorn, now I hope there is someone out there who can make sense of them.

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[Creaghorn 10]

unfortunately Sütterlin is a dying artform of writing. if you remember e.G. MvR.'s autograph or his last will etc. that's all written in sütterlin. that was pretty common those days for quick writing. but within the time people who can read it are getting fewer and fewer.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Creaghorn, here is a website that looks as though it could teach a person how to read Sütterlin:

 

Sütterlin Handwriting Tutorial

 

Don't know if this helps or not, but it might be worth a try.

 

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[Creaghorn 10]

Creaghorn, sounds like you have some interesting historical documents in your possession. Have you contacted a publisher about them? I don't know about where you live, but in the US there is a real interest in such collections, at least those relating to our own history. A publisher would also have the resources to translate, compile, edit and all those other publisher things. Publishing the letters in book form would honor the soldier, bring historically important remembrances to light and perhaps put some money in your pocket!

 

i once found in internet a site of a old people home, who are offering to translate letters etc. from sütterlin into readable writing to keep the brains in shape. a very good idea. i sent them a letter with some copies of it and it says it can take a while. but that was about 2 years ago so i dropped this idea. there are offices who also can translate it but it's serious money they want.

 

he's not my direct ancestor but the box was in a house of the grand grandfather of my ex ex girlfriend who died and where i helped to clean all the stuff. they almost threw this box away and i took and kept it. inside the box was also a shrapnel, wrapped into a quick and hasty written letter where he wrote that this shrapnel was made of an old churchbell and wich missed him only by inches. there was also a metal cigarette box, completely in good shape and funktional. the people didn't even know what they were about to throw away .

 

but i received a pm and have a "victim" now.

i'll scan it and send for the beginning a short letter so he can see if he can read it as good as the letters of his grandfather. after that he or i are going to translate it into english and post it here. at least that's the plan.

 

thank you very much for your offer LtCasey!!!

[Von Paulus 8]

Do as you think best, but I'll tell you something. If I came into possession of a hundred unpublished letters of a Confederate veteran who served in the American Civil War, I'd be knocking on a publisher's door tomorrow! A publisher could also help sort out any legal problems that might relate to ownership of publication rights, etc. You could also contact universities in your region, who might have their own specialized publishing houses or faculty members willing to assist you. It would be a shame if these letters were never made available to everyone.

I'm afraid that's not so easy in Europe, as far as I know. Probably in UK would be easier, but not in the rest of Europe.

It might sound strange to you, but in US this kind of things are more "dynamic" and open. Here we tend to be more closed and reserved.

I think we are loosing a lot of historical material (specially 20th century), It seems there is no interest in preserve and divulge.

And probably in Germany, unfortunately its worst. I talked another day with a German member of another forum, about my need to read more about WWI History written by German and French historians.

He said that I wouldn't found much German books about WWI. I quote

 

Nobody has any interest about the german history in 20th century, if you have interest your are looked like an old nazi by the people. Even your best friends don´t understand the interest in history and you have to hide the books for them. It´s silly - i´m and has ever been a history buff - but no one knows any Names or persons like Richthofen (only the Name but not the person) Stauffenberg or others. Veterans frrm ww2 feared to tell their tales, only in the recent past, some are brave to tell their stories before they die. I think it is a relief for them. I don´t understand it and have no words about it.

I felt that when I visited Germany 20 years ago. People didn't like to talk of the recent past. I thought this could be have gone after the fall of Berlin Wall.

I just hope that some of my Germans m8s here contradict this. And that's not true.

 

In my country if I found such letters, I would keep them and would try to disseminate them through the net. That would be the best way to preserve it. Otherwise... lost.

[Pappy55 1]

Have you tried a war museum?

 

They may have experts that can get them translated for you.

They might even make you an offer on them.

[Hasse Wind 46]

I'm afraid that's not so easy in Europe, as far as I know. Probably in UK would be easier, but not in the rest of Europe.

 

There's no such thing as a single Europe you just grouped together (forget the bureaucratic farce known as the EU, it reminds me too much of the Soviet Union). Europe is still a big bunch of nation states that have fortunately learnt to live together more peacefully than ever before in our history.

 

Where I live (Finland), many people are genuinely interested in history, and the best-selling non-fiction books here have probably always been books about history. I imagine this is true in many other countries of Europe. Germany might be an exception, at least to some degree and especially regarding the two world wars, thanks to Herr Hitler and his buddies who tarnished Germany's reputation God knows for how many centuries to come and made even modern Germans feel shame about their history, even though they have nothing to do with the Nazi crimes.

 

There are over 800 million people living in Europe, if we use the standard geographical definition of Europe. It's such a huge number of people that you'll find quite a few history buffs among them (and unfortunately also quite a few ignorant imbeciles!)

 

Your post just made it sound like nobody is interested in history in Europe, and that is very far from truth.

[Von Paulus 8]

There's no such thing as a single Europe you just grouped together (forget the bureaucratic farce known as the EU, it reminds me too much of the Soviet Union). Europe is still a big bunch of nation states that have fortunately learnt to live together more peacefully than ever before in our history.

 

Where I live (Finland), many people are genuinely interested in history, and the best-selling non-fiction books here have probably always been books about history. I imagine this is true in many other countries of Europe. Germany might be an exception, at least to some degree and especially regarding the two world wars, thanks to Herr Hitler and his buddies who tarnished Germany's reputation God knows for how many centuries to come and made even modern Germans feel shame about their history, even though they have nothing to do with the Nazi crimes.

 

There are over 800 million people living in Europe, if we use the standard geographical definition of Europe. It's such a huge number of people that you'll find quite a few history buffs among them (and unfortunately also quite a few ignorant imbeciles!)

 

Your post just made it sound like nobody is interested in history in Europe, and that is very far from truth.

 

I was and am just generalizing. I'm sure there are people interested in History in Europe (I'm not referring to European Union). We all are in this forum I'm sure.

But what it seems is that there are less new books published and less people interested; from generation to generation it's getting worst. Great Britain due to a combination of factors, it seems to be an island in that matter. But I'm just generalizing. Glad to know if Finland is also an exception.

You see all of this is related to the fact that people are loosing the habit of reading. It might not be only an European thing, but is affecting us deeply, I believe.

[Flyby PC 23]

Hmmmmm. Undecided about European attitudes towards history.

 

My line of work is stonemasonry, and there are hundreds of quality stone buildings in dire need of repair, but very few people care enough to do anything about it. It makes my blood boil when many thousands of hours work by skilled tradesmen are left to rot to the point of collapse often willfully destroyed only to be replaced with modern 'crap'.

 

Folks will buy a house for half a million or more, park a £50k car or two in the drive, but have a seizure before they'll pay for a plumber to fix or even maintain a broken rhone. Water soaks into the mortar joints, the timber joist ends then develop dry rot, and when rot treatment has to cut back 1m from the last evidence of rot, which neatly takes out any ornate cornices in ceilings below and any timber panelling upstairs. Once they've cultured a nice juicy repair bill, they have the cheek to whine about the cost of putting it right.

 

If people can't afford to look after our built heritage, they should be forced sell it to someone who can. Once it's gone, it's gone.

 

It's true it isn't a pan-european attitude, as far as I know the French have a much more enlightened attitude towards their history. While the UK was squandering billion on the Millenium Dome, the French celebrated the new millenium by making sure their castles and cathedrals were good for the next 1000 years. No surprise the French have a much healthier stone trade as a result.

 

History means very little I'm afraid, - unless it can pay it's own way and turn a profit.

 

And don't get me started on the taboo subject of Scottish History......

 

Good luck with the letters. Pardon my ignorance of sütterlin, but it sounds like the original author might be quite a cultured gentleman. I don't mean that in a biggoted way, just that he might be more skilled than some at commiting his experiences to paper.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Flyby, even at the worst most European countries are far more concerned about their historic buildings than we are in the US. We're just starting to wake up in this country about the worth of our old, historic structures, but we still have a very long way to go. I much prefer old to new myself, and in fact live in the second oldest house in town. Built in 1887 it is not old by European standards but is down right ancient here in the midwestern United States. It is a wonderful old farm house that I take great pleasure and pride in maintaining, despite having heard often over the years that I'd be better of remodeling with a match and 5 gallons of gas. And to broach yet another unfortunate situation, we seem to value our elderly population even less than we do our old buildings. A sad state of affairs.

 

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[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Sieben, I don't disagree with you. From what I've seen in my travels over the years through the southeastern states I'd say you folks have been doing a better job of preserving some of your old buildings and homes than in other areas of the country. And, I didn't say we hadn't been doing it at all in the US, only that we haven't done a very good job of it until just recently. And since you brought it up, I voted for both of them as well.

 

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