I wasn’t able to see the back until after I bought the card, and was pleasantly surprised on two cases: one because artifacts from WWI are quite rare to find in the USA for sale at all. The other is because all of my ancestry is originally from Poland—though much (but not all) of the culture and language has been lost. I have a natural tendency to treasure the experiences of other Polish immigrant families.

Of course that assumes it’s written in Polish to begin with and not Czech or Slovenian or some such which would make me look awfully silly.

Outside of the English sign off “Goodbye. Edward” I don’t have a clue what it says, I would greatly appreciate if anyone is able to translate it or even point me in the right direction.

by Kapitalist_Pigdog2

5 comments

  1. *Dear Malwinka,*

    *On this postcard, you can see a soldier. Take a close look at what he’s wearing. You’ve often seen me dressed the same way or in a similar outfit — that’s exactly how I looked, because we have everything just like the French! Imagine that it’s me.*

    *Goodbye,
    Edward*

  2. It is in Polish. Not exactly sure what it says but it talks about the soldier in the front and compares France to “us” which I assume is Poland. This is dated for January 19th 1918, 10 months later Poland proclaimed independence from Germany, Austria and Russia. I hope someone can decipher it I’m curious what exactly it says.

  3. (…) Właśnie w tej karierze widzisz żołnierza. Przypatrz się (eo?) ów nie ma (rzeya?) pasków na (obie?). Gdy tyłu nie widziała wa (ewigemack?) lub w marszu to ja tak samo wyglądacie bo my mamy tak wszystko jak Francuzi. Wyobraź sobie że to jestem ja.

    This Guy was a soldier in the French army and he’s telling whoever this is mailed to that he looks basically like the soldier in the photo. Not sure about all the words but this is the message.

  4. It’s definitely in Polish. I’m not very good at reading handwriting but it seems to me that the message is: “On this card you can see a soldier. Look closely at what he’s wearing. If you saw me on a training exercise or in the sea, I look just like him because we have everything like the French. Imagine that this is me.” It’s written by a man named Edward.

  5. **In Polish:**

    Kochana Malwiniu

    Właśnie na tej karcie widzisz żołnierza. Przypatrz się co on ma różnych pasków na sobie. Gdybyś mnie widziała na ćwiczeniach lub w marszu to ja tak samo wyglądam bo my mamy takie wszystko jak Francuzi. Wyobraź sobie że to jestem ja. Good bye. Edward

    **And in English:**

    Dear Malwinia

    On this card you see a soldier. Take a good look at what he is wearing, the different belts he has. If you’d see me during training or in march, I would look the same, because we have everything like the French. Imagine that this is me. Good bye, Edward.

    **That’s the full text. Her last name was Bartoszewicz and she lived in USA (Cleveland, Ohio). The postcard was written in Saint Pére (?), July 19th, 1918.**

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