Hi Everyone,

My name is Nathan and right now I’m in the early stages of writing on book on the Bulgarian Army in the First World War. A large portion of this project involved me buying a large collection of original postcards, some of which have writing. I am not Bulgarian, and I am not fluent enough in the language to read old script.

I have created this form: [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDgNon4Dwt4YCaO-FtUvellGMecIbN3qMlvvdK37sudZt4rg/viewform](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDgNon4Dwt4YCaO-FtUvellGMecIbN3qMlvvdK37sudZt4rg/viewform), on it you can find a link to the google drive folder with all writing that is of relevance. If you ever have a spare moment and would like to transcribe / translate some of the cards, I would greatly appreciated. Each form also has a spot for you to fill out your name, and if you would like to be credited in the book.

Anywhere you can share this to raise awareness would also be appreciated.

Thanks r/bulgaria!

4 comments

  1. Wow this is a super interesting collection of cards. It would have been nice to have uploaded the pictures as well.

    This handwriting… my god, most seem to have written in cursive, which makes it hard to read. However I have some notes/thoughts and I’ll give an example with postcard_06112022233808537_0001.jpg which is the bottom file. The postcard says:

    >За докторчето,
    >
    >Ганчо Г. Чипевъ,
    >
    >Ран. подоф. школа,
    >
    >гр. Скопие
    >
    >Братовчеде,
    >
    >Подарявамъ ти тази картичка, която запази за спомен отъ бойното поле. Твой бр.

    which translates to

    >For the doctor,
    >
    >Gancho G. Chipev,
    >
    >District sergeant school
    >
    >city Skopie
    >
    >Cousin,
    >
    >I gift you this card, which captures a memory from the battle field. Your cousin.

    “докторчето” is a term for a doctor that is sometimes used as an offence, as it means “a small doctor”. In Bulgarian when you add a set of letters (-че, -нце, -чка) to a word it means a smaller version of the thing. Dog-doggy is for example куче-куче**нце**, backpack- small backpack is for example раница-рани**чка**, so doctor- small doctor is доктор- доктор**че**, and by saying “small doctor” he is displaying a form of affection to his cousin. This is very difficult to translate, as the from of the word has additional meaning.

    Secondly this “Ран. подоф, школа” is important as well as it describes a place, however I am not able to tell what it is. А “школа” is a place where you learn/serve/study for a military career. “подоф.” is short for “подофицер” which is a military rank than from google I see responds to sergeant. However the first part “Ран.” I can’t tell what it means.

    Thirdly this way of submitting translations deprives us (bulgarians) from joining forces in figuring out what’s written. Some of the letters I can see are written in a cursive style that is very difficult to read since handwriting is difficult to read as a whole. What would be best (in my opinion) is to find a way to have a folder with a picture of a card, a empty text file for the transcription and a file for the translation. Where people could edit the files and you can see a history of the actions. However I am not sure if this could be done in google drive (shared files which multiple people can edit).

  2. Make it into a spreadsheet and include the link for every postcard there on each row. Then, anyone could read what’s been done and edit it if it’s incorrect.

  3. Do you know of Eric D. Halsey who hosts the podcast “[The Bulgarian History Podcast](https://www.bghistorypodcast.com/)” also I can advise you to come in contact with [Българска История](https://bulgarianhistory.org/). Maybe they can help as well as both platforms are working in the historic field. I say this because I assume that you don’t know the language and I am guessing having a team of enthusiastic and passionate people might help.

    Also I see that some postcards have locations and name abbreviations such as postcard_06112022233807821_0001.jpg where the person who wrote the letter has used “Ст. П. Георгиевъ” which is probably (I am wildly speculating here) Стоян Петров/Петков Георгиевъ. And he wrote the letter to somebody in Novi Pazar.

    What I’m curious is why do most letters don’t have stamps or addresses for the recipient. This is why I asked for the front of the cards and also from the two letters I submitted I figured they have pictures depicting war scenes or soldiers. Is my guess correct?

    P.S not forcing you to share them, you’ve already explained why you do not want to. I also do not want to seem like I’m pushing those two communities/sites to you. I just figured it might help, as I am unable to read most of these letters due to the cursive writing.

  4. [postcard_06112022225904868_0001](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Irelj_D37Q1majEocJKLOUGYbaIV7uVT/view?usp=sharing):

    >Мл. Подофицер

    Ганчо Чипевъ

    2а пл батарея 1 арт пл опълчение

    ?? дивизия

    29 Октовмрий 1917

    На милото ми и обично братче,

    Подарявамъ ликътъ си за споменъ.

    твой брат Г.Чипевъ

    Which translates to:

    >Junior Sergeant,

    Gancho Chipev,

    2nd “pl” battery 1 artillery “pl” militia

    ?? division

    29th October 1917

    To my dear and beloved little brother,

    I gift you my image for remembrance

    your brother G. Chipev

    Някой може ли да помогне? “пл” това съкращение за “полк” ли трябва да е? Каква е думата преди “дивизия”?

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