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help with German 1944 diary translate

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  • 10-03-2013 5:50pm
    #1
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭


    Hi. I have a German Diary from 1944 and I would love if someone could tell me something about the owner from some of the entries. I have pics of some of the pages but I cannot read the script. The diary came from Silisia which is now in Poland and may have belonged to someone who was in a Soviet POW camp in 1945. I was told it was an army issue but the owner may have been a female civilian for all I can tell. Either way I am very happy to have this bit of history. It has normal writing until September of 44 when it goes into shorthand gregg writing script. I can just make out the entry for 6th June which mentions Cherbourg and Le Harve, which is obviously a reference to the D Day landings. If there is any German speaking History buff who would like to help out, can you send me your email address and I will send the picts. Tks


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    #2
    jamesdiver
    Registered Users Posts: 372 ✭✭jamesdiver


    That sounds intriguing. I work with a german, if you want to scan a few pages and email them to me, I can ask. Maybe a good question to ask in the history forums too.


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    #3
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Tks for reply. A german speaker has looked at it and was unable to read it as he says it was too old fashioned. He's hoping to get someone else to try. I also posted it on the german language site and someone there said they would give it a bash but no news back as yet. If u send me an email , I will send on the scans if you would like a look, I just scanned a few pages but they are clear.


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    #4
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Hi James.i only have your name not your @. Can u let me have full add. As I don't want 2 put full info here. Tks


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    #5
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 18,430 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    my wife is a german translator , link a page and Ill run it by her

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #6
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Thanks for offer. Can u send me yr contact details. If not i will see what I can put on here . Some others have tried to help but so far no luck. ! Tks again


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    #7
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 18,430 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    boomchicawawa wrote: »
    Thanks for offer. Can u send me yr contact details. If not i will see what I can put on here . Some others have tried to help but so far no luck. ! Tks again

    I think you can pm me a pdf/pix

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #8
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Hi, this is the first batch, cant attach privately but no bother to make public, will do the second to follow.


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    #9
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Here are the final 3 that I have pictures of. I can make out some familiar words. There seems to be an entry of journey times at the back mentioning Koblenz and Koln, and on the 6th of June Cherbourg and Le Harve as mentioned before, but I can't even make out the name of the person even though the name appears quite clear. Good luck with it and I hope you can decipher some little nuggets of info for me. Thanks again.


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    #10
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 18,430 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    you werent joking :) my wife reckons it is written in Sütterlin script (see link below) , its not something she has ever learnt , Ill save the pages and she will send them on to her parents when she gets a chance, they might be able to pick out some of the words better. Page 8 appear to be addresses


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BCtterlin

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #11
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Tell her thanks for trying...I may never get to the bottom of this...Hopefully some more senior heads will get something out of it. I will have a look at the link thanks...by the by, could she make out the name of the person? Knowing if it is a man or woman would at least be something. The diary had some pressed flowers included in the pages and also little cross's on some dates, one said Mutti which I know is Mother but whether it was the death of someone that year or anniversaries, I can't tell. 1944 was a difficult year for all in Germany. Anyway thanks again and please let me know if you can dig anything up!


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    #12
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 18,430 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    page 1 , a poem by Goethe


    http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=6293

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #13
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    WOW....that's amazing...I suspected it might be a prayer but that's even more appropriate for the times the owner was writing in....I got goose bumps reading that....thanks so much !!


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    #14
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 18,430 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    boomchicawawa wrote: »
    WOW....that's amazing...I suspected it might be a prayer but that's even more appropriate for the times the owner was writing in....I got goose bumps reading that....thanks so much !!

    there is someone on the case :D , will keep you updated, might be next week for the rest. Glad to have helped!

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #15
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Will await developments with baited breath...you may take the rest of the weekend off!! Still bubbling here with the poem...it makes the diaryist more alive for me which is why I suppose I'm so keen to know what they wrote...I thank u both again.


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    #16
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 18,430 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    Hi

    just to keep you updated,hopefully we will have something for you tomorrow , my wife got two different versions from different people back so needs to go through it again.

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #17
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Appreciate the time you are taking with this ......I await your news with eagerness !


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    #18
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 18,430 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    ok here we go. there are quite a few guesses made, it seems to be a mixture of personal appointments type entries and some big news items like the D day comments and the Rome one. I hope you get some value from this. and that it fills in a few blanks for you


    Cheers

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #19
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Thank you both so much for your extensive research on this and the help of your friends. Still none the wiser of course but it looks like its probably a civilian rather than a combatant. My feeling is that it is a woman as the entries from Sept onwards are in shorthand which I'm presuming is someone trained as a secretary. The August 6th entry is intriguing as they mention being under fire day and night, unless that means air raids. Army group B were stationed in Koblenz so not sure if that's what the B refers to there. Did you get the feeling it was a man or a woman ? As I said previously, the diary was obtained from Poland but that's not necessarily where it originated. But with the mention of the many now Polish areas, perhaps it was from that part of the world. As for the addresses being crossed off, I know most of the ethnic Germans were leaving these areas in droves by beginning of 45 so that makes sense. Its funny that there is no real mention of close family, just uncle max, you would think there would be an indication of a husband, son, wife but perhaps the initials refer to them. The mentions of strawberry's, rabbits and wool reminds me of my mothers diary from the 60's, with all the social upheaval of that swinging decade you would think she would have captured the spirit of those times but most of the entries are about going to mass and buying a chop and two rashers from the butcher !!!! Just a thought, maybe I should see if that saving' account is still lying there dormant, it might have accrued some good interest by now........! and I wonder why there is the entry about the Luftwaffe codes ?? now I'm feeling it throwing up more questions....I'll put my thinking cap on ! Tks again


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    #20
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 18,430 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    boomchicawawa wrote: »
    Thank you both so much for your extensive research on this and the help of your friends. Still none the wiser of course but it looks like its probably a civilian rather than a combatant. My feeling is that it is a woman as the entries from Sept onwards are in shorthand which I'm presuming is someone trained as a secretary. The August 6th entry is intriguing as they mention being under fire day and night, unless that means air raids. Army group B were stationed in Koblenz so not sure if that's what the B refers to there. Did you get the feeling it was a man or a woman ? As I said previously, the diary was obtained from Poland but that's not necessarily where it originated. But with the mention of the many now Polish areas, perhaps it was from that part of the world. As for the addresses being crossed off, I know most of the ethnic Germans were leaving these areas in droves by beginning of 45 so that makes sense. Its funny that there is no real mention of close family, just uncle max, you would think there would be an indication of a husband, son, wife but perhaps the initials refer to them. The mentions of strawberry's, rabbits and wool reminds me of my mothers diary from the 60's, with all the social upheaval of that swinging decade you would think she would have captured the spirit of those times but most of the entries are about going to mass and buying a chop and two rashers from the butcher !!!! Just a thought, maybe I should see if that saving' account is still lying there dormant, it might have accrued some good interest by now........! and I wonder why there is the entry about the Luftwaffe codes ?? now I'm feeling it throwing up more questions....I'll put my thinking cap on ! Tks again

    plenty to chew on. The whole LWA thing is interesting, it seemed like a lot of teenagers were drafted into these flak units, but then a teenager wouldnt know shorthand???
    We reckoned Alarm was probably air raid. youd have to ponder the male/female thing more, on one hand there looks like the mention of going for a beer but then the food references and darning and the shorthand as you mention pushes it the other way.

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #21
    boomchicawawa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 249 ✭✭boomchicawawa


    Yes, points to ponder....A friend of a friend is expecting their elderly German dad over this month and they will try some of the other pages with him...Not holding my breath though as I've been told he's a little foggy :rolleyes: I will print your pages off and keep them with the diary for storing....If I get any more info, I'll let you know and thanks again to you both:)


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