Translation help please.

[76white02]

Could someone please help translate this letter. My German isn't so good. What I gather is basically:

I have your letter from 17 of March. I am doing well, thanks for the money you sent. Good to hear you are well also.

Something about sending a pillow? Thats about all I know.

[grobkörnig]

What I gather is basically:

I have your letter from 17 of March. I am doing well, thanks for the money you sent. Good to hear you are well also.

Well, that's basically what he is writing, no pillows mentioned. On the 2nd page he's asking about the whereabouts of another person and a Professor and something about 12 Pfennig stamps in a letter.

He is obviously not a native German speaker and as he is a Pole writing to his (obviously) Polish parents I am wondering why he's writing in German, not Polish...

gk

[SurvivingPanzer]

Well, that's basically what he is writing, no pillows mentioned. On the 2nd page he's asking about the whereabouts of another person and a Professor and something about 12 Pfennig stamps in a letter.

He is obviously not a native German speaker and as he is a Pole writing to his (obviously) Polish parents I am wondering why he's writing in German, not Polish...

gk

Very interesting conclusion, which words point this out to you? Are there certain words only Polish German speakers use?

[grobkörnig]

Very interesting conclusion, which words point this out to you? Are there certain words only Polish German speakers use?

It's not only words but word order and register.

"Ich danke sehr Dir" should be "Ich danke Dir sehr"

"Schreibet mir wo ist ..." should be "Schreibt mir, wo ... ist"

In addition to that the imperative form "Schreibet" (used twice in the letter) is very unusual for the 1940s...

In line 7 he switches from the personal address pronouns "Ihr", "Euch" etc. to formal "Sie", which is pretty odd.

So the overall impression is that it was written by person with a good knowledge of German but not by a German native speaker (obviously the writer is a Pole, Tadeuz Czechowski)...

gk

[76white02]

would this make the letter suspicious as to its origin or just something to add to the interest? Could his mixed German be because of the fact it was written in the camp?

[SurvivingPanzer]

It's not only words but word order and register.

"Ich danke sehr Dir" should be "Ich danke Dir sehr"

"Schreibet mir wo ist ..." should be "Schreibt mir, wo ... ist"

In addition to that the imperative form "Schreibet" (used twice in the letter) is very unusual for the 1940s...

In line 7 he switches from the personal address pronouns "Ihr", "Euch" etc. to formal "Sie", which is pretty odd.

So the overall impression is that it was written by person with a good knowledge of German but not by a German native speaker (obviously the writer is a Pole, Tadeuz Czechowski)...

gk

Very interesting. Thank you for the explanation!

[grobkörnig]

would this make the letter suspicious as to its origin or just something to add to the interest? Could his mixed German be because of the fact it was written in the camp?

I am not sure about your first question. If you allow, I will post the letter in a German forum, so maybe someone else can help...

gk

[Winston]

There are several grammatical errors in this letter.I would not think of the utilisation of the imperative as unusual as this is probably based on the time the writer had learnt the language. The imperative signals that the writer must have been well educated since standard people would rarely use this(he is also asking for the where-about of some professor,so he should have had an academical background.
Still it is strange that he writes in this way to his parents,has there been a regulation dictating the inmates to write German?

[grobkörnig]

as this is probably based on the time the writer had learnt the language.

Which should have been in the 1920s. In those times (and later) you would prefer "Schreibet" to "Schreibt" only if you were a friend of archaic German or, more likely, not a native German speaker...

gk

[Winston]

You might be right for the average joe at that time. This archaic expression might have been used to demonstrate a certain habitus.Its rather a social thing IMO.I also would tend to think that a non-native would rather use schreibt than schreibet in general.

[pauke]

Take a look at the info at the very top-- it clearly states the prisoner is a Pole and hasn't quite celebrated his 21 birthday. Likewise, the regulations for writing are clearly stated, though no mention of which language(s) are allowed. The "pillow" misconception is perhaps from the verb "kiss" so-and-so for me. As a retired teacher it looks like a normal acceptable letter in German for someone who learned it in school/early university.

[grobkörnig]

Take a look at the info at the very top-- it clearly states the prisoner is a Pole and hasn't quite celebrated his 21 birthday. Likewise, the regulations for writing are clearly stated, though no mention of which language(s) are allowed. The "pillow" misconception is perhaps from the verb "kiss" so-and-so for me. As a retired teacher it looks like a normal acceptable letter in German for someone who learned it in school/early university.

That's what I'm saying... but still: Why wouldn't he write in Polish?

gk

[Guenter Braun]

Hello!


This is a very intersting letter. Reading this letter someone must consider that all letters from Conzentration Camp (KZ) prisoners to people outside have been consored by the SS.

So only postive wording was allowed. If a prisoner would wrote the truth about the living conditions in a KZ, the letter would never have passed the desk of the censor and the writer would have probably received a special punishment for this.

The same would have been the case for letters or words in a language other than German. So the prisoners were forced to write a postive letter in German language.

The letter has indeed some very unusual phrasing. This could be someting like a secret code only known to sender and receiver. For the censor it looks only like bad German orthography.


Best Regards
Guenter

[76white02]

Hello!


This is a very intersting letter. Reading this letter someone must consider that all letters from Conzentration Camp (KZ) prisoners to people outside have been consored by the SS.

So only postive wording was allowed. If a prisoner would wrote the truth about the living conditions in a KZ, the letter would never have passed the desk of the censor and the writer would have probably received a special punishment for this.

The same would have been the case for letters or words in a language other than German. So the prisoners were forced to write a postive letter in German language.

The letter has indeed some very unusual phrasing. This could be someting like a secret code only known to sender and receiver. For the censor it looks only like bad German orthography.


Best Regards
Guenter

Thanks so far for everyone's input, I really appreciate it! I am still learning about all of this stuff and can take any advice/input given to me.