My mom showed me this letter yesterday during Christmas. We aren’t sure who wrote it but it is addressed to a family member. Looks great for being about 108 years old!
Any help in translating would be greatly appreciated, my language skills aren’t up to speed for this task 🙂
by Tugend9
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Adressed to one Mr. Rudolf Pfeiffer in Bruchsal-Bachw.[eiler]/Rhineland, Durlacher(?) Street No. 79.
Above the adress is the sender identified as a “Landsturmmann”, but I can’t read his family name, rank or can make out the abbreviations.
It reads:
“Geschrieben am 14. Juni 1915. Lieber Freund. Hier schreibe ich Dir zum Abschied an [dialekt for: ein] kleines Andenken.
Lebe wohl auf Wiedersehen. Mit Gruß, Hugo”
translated:
“Written the 14th of June 1915. Dear Friend. Here I write [a] little keepsake for you. Farewell goodbye. With regards, Hugo”
Detached, nearly formal in tone… a touching note, written by a seemedly lower-class rank-and-file recruit (Landsturm) supposedly distressed or not accustomed to writing letters, as he adressed the city before street and number of his friend. Might have been written before or shortly after being sent to the front. His hand is rather heavy and smeary for the time, and one connective word is spelled in dialect rather than standard german. The author turned or sharpened his pencil twice while writing and knew he was about to be thrown into a meatgrinder, I figure.
If you’d like to do a good deed, forward the postcard with your known facet of its story to the Kriegsgräberfürsorge or the municipal administration of the city of Bruchsal!