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Can anybody read German?

B

BornStar

Diamond Member
I have conversational knowledge of German but I'm definitely not good enough to figure out what some of those words are.

This was a letter my great grandma got from a Nazi organization in Rhode Island informing her that my grandpa was a POW in Germany. Apparently the Nazis gave them some radio time and there were people on the east coast that were able to listen to the broadcast and write down the information to inform the families in the US. Up until that point my great grandma just knew that my grandpa was MIA. The part I need help with is the bottom; the swastika obscures some of the text and I can't figure out what those words are.

powletter.jpg

Thanks for any help anyone can give.

edit: Sorry for the quality, this is a picture of a printout of a scan of a really old letter.
 
I could help you if I could read the handwriting. :/

I'm studying German, and I live with one German and a bunch of grad students.
 
Originally posted by: Perknose
Wow, the handwriting was atrocious, but it looks to be:

Wir hoffen, Frau Rorn, dass dieses Botschaft in gute gesund findest sie.
Click to expand...

oder . . .

We hope, Mrs. Rorn, that this news finds you in good health.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Handwriting wouldn't be too bad if it was right in front of you, kind of neat actually. Quite interesting that it changes from English to German, but is in the same handwriting.


However, I agree with this translation.
 
Originally posted by: Newbian
Can't you just use any online translator sites for it once you figure out the handwriting?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, no. And first, you'd have to have a fair familiarity with the language even to suss out the actual German words.

For instance, if you simply thought the second word was "hassen" BUT got every other word right, Google would translate it:

We hate that this woman Rorn Embassy in good health will find it.
Click to expand...

Or, if you thought the second word was "haffen" (again without adding the commas not there to begin with) you get:

We Rorn Port woman that this message in good health will find it.
Click to expand...

And, again, that's if you somehow got every other German word perfectly correctly.*

Just saying. 😉

Edit: * For instance, Zebo, who has some familiarity with German, thought the second word, which is unobscured, was "haben": to have.

Now look at the words obscured by the Swastika. nkgreen, who is studying German and lives with one, couldn't even begin to translate them. Again, just saying.

 
Originally posted by: nkgreen
I could help you if I could read the handwriting. :/

I'm studying German, and I live with one German and a bunch of grad students.
Click to expand...

Don't feel bad - I could not even read the English other than POW and Red Cross. Must have been a Nazi on Meth.
 
It says Hitler's car got stolen.
-edit- Not realizing the gravity of the situation. I apologize for trying to inject some humor that completely lacked tact.
 
Originally posted by: Perknose
Wow, the handwriting was atrocious, but it looks to be:

Wir hoffen, Frau Rorn, dass dieses Botschaft in gute gesund findest sie.
Click to expand...

oder . . .

We hope, Mrs. Rorn, that this news finds you in good health.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I concur.

In other news, I am absolutely shocked that, 9 years after I last had to read any German, the only words that I did not immediately catch were "Botschaft" and "dass", with the latter simply being due to being obscured by the stamp (and the fact that I haven't looked at German handwriting script in more than a decade). Maybe I retained something from school after all.

ZV
 
Originally posted by: Perknose
Wow, the handwriting was atrocious, but it looks to be:

Wir hoffen, Frau Rorn, dass dieses Botschaft in gute gesund findest sie.
Click to expand...

oder . . .

We hope, Mrs. Rorn, that this news finds you in good health.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think that's it, although it's speaking to Mrs. Born. Thanks for your help. That swastika was a huge problem for me as I couldn't read "dass dieses".

I find it strange that this was from people in the US but they still tossed the stamp on there. At first glance it seemed more likely that this was a letter that he tried to send out of the POW camp and that was the stamp they used to authorize it to be sent. It's also weird that the second half is German considering Born isn't an obviously German name.
 
Jason Born speaks German. I think you should ask him to translate, and then send him to break this woman out of that atrocious POW camp. Someone needs to stop this Hitler guy.
 
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Originally posted by: Perknose
Wow, the handwriting was atrocious, but it looks to be:

Wir hoffen, Frau Rorn, dass dieses Botschaft in gute gesund findest sie.
Click to expand...

oder . . .

We hope, Mrs. Rorn, that this news finds you in good health.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I concur.

In other news, I am absolutely shocked that, 9 years after I last had to read any German, the only words that I did not immediately catch were "Botschaft" and "dass", with the latter simply being due to being obscured by the stamp (and the fact that I haven't looked at German handwriting script in more than a decade). Maybe I retained something from school after all.

ZV
Click to expand...

German is a language that makes a huge amount of intuitive sense to me. I can also speak Spanish and a bit of French, but none as easily or effortlessly as German.
 
Originally posted by: Zebo
we have mrs. born.... can't read anything else horrible penmanship.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha.

We have Mrs. Born. If you want to see her again leave $10,000 in small unmarked bills...
 
Originally posted by: rivan
Originally posted by: ironwing
Originally posted by: Perknose
Wow, the handwriting was atrocious, but it looks to be:

Wir hoffen, Frau Rorn, dass dieses Botschaft in gute gesund findest sie.
Click to expand...

oder . . .

We hope, Mrs. Rorn, that this news finds you in good health.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Well, at least they were polite Nazis.
Click to expand...

Did you read the OP?
Click to expand...

The part that said:
This was a letter my great grandma got from a Nazi organization in Rhode Island
Click to expand...
?
 
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