Wow! What a treasure to stumble upon these postcards. I wonder who gave them up. Did they ever think it would land on the hands of a writer/storyteller? How mystical is destiny! A glimpse into their lives. Can’t wait to learn more.
The message is very typical for a husband writing to a wife, though I wouldn't want to presume. If they were indeed married, Ancestry may have a marriage certificate.
There are 21 entries for various "Richard Kuhnt" in the Verlustlisten -- any of them your man?
Hi Lanja <3 Thank you so much for sharing your take on the postcard and for your research, I really appreciate it.
I spent quite some time digging into Richard and Gretel's relationship, and I just posted an update last week. You can check it out here: https://unanswered.substack.com/p/33-postcards I don't want to spoil anything for you, but you may have been onto something :). As for the Verlustlisten, I'm confident that Richard made it out of the war alive, so I don't think any of those Richard's are our man.
The Verlustlisten contain names of both dead and wounded. The lists are not exhaustive and the earlier ones have more detail (before the army copped to the fact that the enemy read these lists to determine unit strength). However, it seems indeed unlikely that he's among them as there are none from Berlin proper.
It's somehow very comforting to know that Richard survived and seems to have thrived after the war. I translated a bunch of cards from a man who died a few weeks after writing them in 1915. He has no known grave but several of the postcards were photos of him, and to see him listed as gefallen in the Verlustlisten was surprisingly sad.
Oh, I see. Thank you so much for letting me know that the Verlustlisten also contain wounded. I wasn't aware and didn't spend much time with them. I'll definitely take another look to make sure I'm not missing anything.
That must have been very moving and sad. I'm not sure if you felt the same translating your postcards, but the cards and messages feel so intimate to me, and I feel so connected to this family. I can only imagine how sad it must be to learn that the man who wrote the postcards your translated died in the war, especially after having seen photos of him too.
How did you come across the postcards? Did you only translate them for yourself, or can I take a peek at them somewhere?
I totally understand what you mean about feeling connected to the family. The act of sending mail seems so deliberate and personal: you know that the writer was thinking about the recipient as they wrote the postcard, and that the message, however simple it might be, was composed for that specific person.
Wow. This is beautiful - I’m already so invested in this! I can’t wait to learn more about Richard, Marge and their lives through the postcards and your research. I love that there’s a voiceover too. I’m dyslexic so that aspect helped me get even more immersed in the first instalment of this journey.
Thank you so much El <3 I'm so happy you enjoyed the read and found the voiceover helpful. I can't wait to learn and share more about Richard and Gretel with you. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
Wow! What a treasure to stumble upon these postcards. I wonder who gave them up. Did they ever think it would land on the hands of a writer/storyteller? How mystical is destiny! A glimpse into their lives. Can’t wait to learn more.
I'm also so curious to learn how the postcards ended up in Palm Springs <3
The message is very typical for a husband writing to a wife, though I wouldn't want to presume. If they were indeed married, Ancestry may have a marriage certificate.
There are 21 entries for various "Richard Kuhnt" in the Verlustlisten -- any of them your man?
Hi Lanja <3 Thank you so much for sharing your take on the postcard and for your research, I really appreciate it.
I spent quite some time digging into Richard and Gretel's relationship, and I just posted an update last week. You can check it out here: https://unanswered.substack.com/p/33-postcards I don't want to spoil anything for you, but you may have been onto something :). As for the Verlustlisten, I'm confident that Richard made it out of the war alive, so I don't think any of those Richard's are our man.
The Verlustlisten contain names of both dead and wounded. The lists are not exhaustive and the earlier ones have more detail (before the army copped to the fact that the enemy read these lists to determine unit strength). However, it seems indeed unlikely that he's among them as there are none from Berlin proper.
It's somehow very comforting to know that Richard survived and seems to have thrived after the war. I translated a bunch of cards from a man who died a few weeks after writing them in 1915. He has no known grave but several of the postcards were photos of him, and to see him listed as gefallen in the Verlustlisten was surprisingly sad.
Oh, I see. Thank you so much for letting me know that the Verlustlisten also contain wounded. I wasn't aware and didn't spend much time with them. I'll definitely take another look to make sure I'm not missing anything.
That must have been very moving and sad. I'm not sure if you felt the same translating your postcards, but the cards and messages feel so intimate to me, and I feel so connected to this family. I can only imagine how sad it must be to learn that the man who wrote the postcards your translated died in the war, especially after having seen photos of him too.
How did you come across the postcards? Did you only translate them for yourself, or can I take a peek at them somewhere?
I totally understand what you mean about feeling connected to the family. The act of sending mail seems so deliberate and personal: you know that the writer was thinking about the recipient as they wrote the postcard, and that the message, however simple it might be, was composed for that specific person.
The cards that I translated were for a friend on a forum -- the thread's a bit messy as it contains other correspondence as well as discussions about the correctness of the transcriptions & translations, but you can see the cards starting around here https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/289324-coucy-le-chateau-may-1917/?do=findComment&comment=3017087.
Wow. This is beautiful - I’m already so invested in this! I can’t wait to learn more about Richard, Marge and their lives through the postcards and your research. I love that there’s a voiceover too. I’m dyslexic so that aspect helped me get even more immersed in the first instalment of this journey.
Thank you so much El <3 I'm so happy you enjoyed the read and found the voiceover helpful. I can't wait to learn and share more about Richard and Gretel with you. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.