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I have an old WW1 postcard letter which was written by my Great Great Grandfather, i managed to come across this at my Grandfathers house. The writing is in German and i believe it may be old German but i’m not sure, the only thing i was able to read was the fact this letter was written in 1916.

Can anyone help me translate this to English because I cannot read the German language?

enter image description here

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  • The problem with old German is not just the language, but the Fraktur writing which is absolutely unreadable.
    – Bregalad
    Nov 13, 2018 at 21:10

1 Answer 1

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Sectioned using photo orientation in question. German transcript (mis-spellings per original), followed by English translation:

[top left]
Von
Zum An[d]enken
1916

From ___
For remembrance
1916

[bottom]
Lieber Richard
Hier hast [Du] noch von Vater
ein Andenken
Vater würde sich auch sehr
freuen über Euren kleinen
Jungen

Dear Richard
Here you have a memento of Father. Father would also be overjoyed over your small boy

[top right]
Den [=Das] Bild ist schon
Alt, Aber ich wolte es nicht
weg werfen

The picture is pretty old, but I didn't want to throw it away

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    Hmm Very interesting, The person mentioned in the letter Richard is my Great Grandfather. Does it mention any other names aside from Richard or is that it? Thanks for the help by the way!:)
    – Mrmauser77
    Nov 10, 2018 at 16:49
  • Text as transcribed - no other names on card. "Vater" is referenced in 3rd person, possibly by another person (mother?).
    – bgwiehle
    Nov 10, 2018 at 17:21
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    It is of course difficult to read and neither phrase matches perfectly, but I would read the end as "Euren kleinen Jungen" instead of "Einen kleinen Zeichen". That would for example make sense if Richard had (recently) become father to a boy. The whole card would make even more sense to me, if it indeed came from Richard's mother and his father was not alive anymore at that time.
    – ad42
    Nov 10, 2018 at 19:20
  • @ad42 Thankyou! I struggled with deciphering the last words; your phrase fits and makes more sense. Editing my answer...
    – bgwiehle
    Nov 10, 2018 at 19:40
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    It’s making more sense now, My great great grandfather Karl died in 1942, and his son Richard had his 2nd child my great uncle Klaus in 1949 so it would be Richards Mother writing this letter too him, a sad story indeed. Thank you for the help though! Very grateful!
    – Mrmauser77
    Nov 10, 2018 at 20:38

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