1 9 17 https://germanletters.org/files/original/580542d894fe1ebdf2edc75423a01408.jpg 56291b4cbac473325f640f863b8e41a2 Scripto Status The current transcription status of a document or a page. Needs Review Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>[written in pencil:] [letter 8] [/written in pencil] </p><p>[preprinted:] Aug. Stockebrand Kornbranntwein- Brennerei Körbecke [/preprinted] </p><p>[preprinted:] Körbecke, den [/preprinted] 23 August [preprinted:] 192 [/preprinted] 3 [preprinted:] (Kreis Soest) [/preprinted] </p><p>Lieber Vetter Bernard! </p><p>Da ich auf 3 meiner Briefe ohne Antwort geblieben bin so nehme nochmals die Feder um Dir zu schreiben, jetz [sic] lieber Vetter Bernard frage an ob Du meine meine Briefe und eine Postkarte nicht erhalten hast. Du schreibst in Deinem letzten Briefe Du wolltes [sic] uns wenn wir bedürftig wären uns etwaß zu schicken jetz [sic] lieber Bernhard sind wir so weit das alles in Deutschland hungert Kartoffeln sind in diesem Jahre unter aller sehr schlechte in den Großstädten kostet 1 Centner Kartoffeln 1 1/2 Millionen Mark und keine zu haben und Brod und Fett furchtbar teuer und Fett nicht zu haben, wir haben noch alles aber es steht das furchtbarste in Aussicht nähmlich ein Bürgerkrieg ob Gott uns hilft wir wollen noch nicht Verzweiflen aber viele viele sind schon daran wie ist Euch lieber Vetter der liebe Gott gnädig gewesen das er Euch nach dort in das Land gebracht hat was Alles zu haben ist, <s>o</s> o der unselige Krieg jetz [sic] wird selbiger gefühlt die Steuern sind nicht mehr aufzubringen drei Million müßen Monatlich gezahlt werden, Geschäfte sind alle außer der Großindustrie Kaput, die letztern sind jetz [sic] auch am Rande, Arbeitslose zu Million im Ruhrgebiet wie [?] werden wird weiß nur der liebe Gott, wenn ihr jetz [sic] etwaß helfen könnt dann nehme jetz [sic] gerne, wir als alte Leute, wenn Du uns etwaß Kaffee Tee und derartiges über lassen kannst, ich wäre Dir gern dankbar, unser Geld hat keinen </p></div> https://germanletters.org/files/original/05903617da0f819c52816a22b6e4ad8c.jpg a7d8485c6df6f66339ba86e0f3c97abd Scripto Status The current transcription status of a document or a page. Needs Review Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>werte mehr ich möchte Dir gerne davon schicken als Beweise lege Dir einige Scheine hinein, davon ist Dir ein Tausendmark schein noch bekann [sic] Euere Dollar scheine haben hier den denk= bar höchsten wert [sic], wenn ihr lieben Vettern etwaß ablassen könnt ich will gerne jede zahl [sic] heilige Messen für Eure liebe Mutter hier lesen lassen, auch für Euern l Vater und Schwester, ich weiß nicht waß ich sonst tun kann, sicher hast Du meine Briefe nicht erhalten sonst hätte von Dir lieber Berhard [sic] Nachricht bekommen, oder ist es anders? im vorigen Jahre kamen Deine Briefe hier in 14 Tage an und nun Keiner mehr. Also hundern [sic] brauchen wir jetz [sic] noch nicht hier, und wenn es kommt dann müßen wir uns in Gottes Hand geben, wär [sic] hätte vor 10 Jahren ge= sagt das das so schöne Deutschland so <u>arm</u> werden könnte ob die Bewohner daran Schuld sind? - Nun lieber Vetter wenn Du diesen Brief erhälst hoffe ich doch noch ein Lebenszeichen von Dir zurückzubekommen? von Morgen an kostet 1 Brief nach Dir wohl hunderttausend Mark ich weiß nicht viel viel darum schreibe heute noch mal, wenn ich nun keine Antwort bekomme nehme ich an das meine Briefe nicht mehr überkamen [?] habe Dir mehrere male gesannt [sic] werden auch wohl nicht übergekommen sein. Nun lieber Berhard [sic] zum Schluß wenn ich jetz [sic] keine Antwort bekomme dann lebt Alle wohl ihr lieben Vettern, dann wird wohl im Himmel ein Wiedersehn stadtfinden [sic], Grüße alle Josef Anton und Ferdinand und von uns nehmt den [sic] alle die herzlichen Grüße entgegen, und Du lieber Vetter Berhard [sic] empfange die aller innigsten Grüße auch von meiner Frau u Kinder für Deine Frau u Kinder entgegen und zum Schluß lieber [Berbhard?] Verbleibe ich bis in alle Ewigkeit Dein treuer Vetter August </p><p>[margin:] An Deine hier Ruhende Mutter denke öfters, nur so will ich auch an die lieben [Dein?] Ruhende Onkel und Nichte Maria denken, nehm als ein Lebewohl Dein Vetter August [/margin] </p></div> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rustemeyer Papers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="https://www.shsmo.org" target="_blank" title="State Historical Society of Missouri" rel="noreferrer noopener">State Historical Society of Missouri</a> Description An account of the resource This collection of letters is drawn from the Rustemeyer Family Papers, held by the <a href="https://www.shsmo.org">State Historical Society of Missouri</a>, and includes letters sent to Bernard Rustemeyer in the years after World War I, primarily from his cousin August Stockebrand. Bernard Rustemeyer was born in the community of Körbecke, in Westphalia, in 1866, and immigrated with his family to Missouri in the 1880s. Relation A related resource <a href="https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/c4017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rustemeyer Family Papers</a> (finding aid, PDF) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Translation A translation of the original document's text into English. August Stockebrand Corn Liquor Distillery KOERBECKE August 23, 1923 Dear Cousin Bernard! Since I haven't received any reply to my last three letters, I take pen in hand to write to you again. Now, dear cousin Bernard, I ask, did you not receive my letters and postcard? In your last letter you said that you wanted to send us something if we were in need. Now, dear Bernard, we have come to the point where all of Germany is hungry. Worst of all, the potatoes are very poor this year. In the large cities one Centner of potatoes costs 1-1/2 million Mark, and there are none to be had. Bread and lard are frightfully costly and almost unavailable. We still have everything, but there is prospect for the most terrible thing, namely, a civil war. We don't want to despair of God's help, but many, many already have. How gracious our dear God was to you, dear cousin, that he brought you over to that land where everything can be had. Oh, that unfortunate war! Now it is being felt. The taxes can't be raised any higher. The million has to be paid every month. Businesses are done for, except for the major industrialists, and they are now on the edge as well. Millions are unemployed in the Ruhr district. Only God knows how this is all going to end. If you can give us any help we old folks will now gladly accept. I would be very grateful if you could send us some coffee, tea, and things of that sort. Our money has no value anymore. I would gladly send you some. As evidence I enclose for you some bills. Among them is a thousand-mark bill that you will still recognize. Your dollar bills have the highest conceivable value. If you dear cousins could spare something I will gladly have Masses offered here for your dear mother, and for your dear father and sister. I don't know what else I can do. Surely you have not received my letter, or I would have heard from you, dear Bernard. Or is it something else? In earlier years a letter came here in 14 days, and now, no more. Also, we don't need to live like dogs here yet, and if that happens we have to place ourselves in God's hands. Who would have said, ten years ago, that beautiful Germany could have become so poor? Are its residents to blame? My dear cousin, if you get this letter I hope that I will receive some sign of life from you in return. Beginning tomorrow a letter to you will be costing 100,000 Mark. That's why I am writing to you today, even though I don't know very much. If I don't receive any answer this time, I will assume that my letters are not being delivered. I have sent you newspapers several times; they too may not have been delivered. Now, dear Bernard, in closing, if I dont get an answer now, fare well, all you dear cousins. Then our reunion will likely take place in Heaven. Greet all, Josef, Anton, and Ferdinand, and accept from us all heartfelt greetings. And you, dear cousin Bernard, accept every intimate greeting also from my wife and children for your wife and children. Finally, dear Bernard, I remain forever Your loyal cousin August I think often about your mother who is buried here, and also about your dear deceased uncle and niece Maria, Again, farewell Your cousin, August Translator The name of the translator of the original document into English. Raymond C. Backes Destination Defines the geographic location to which a given document was sent. [GHI-created element] Osage County, Missouri Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, August 23, 1923 Description An account of the resource Letter from August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, August 23, 1923. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1923-08-23 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August Stockebrand Type The nature or genre of the resource letter Language A language of the resource German Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Bernard Rustemeyer Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Körbecke (Möhnesee), Germany Osage County, Missouri, USA Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State Historical Society of Missouri Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rustemeyer Family Papers Scripto Percent Needs Review The percentage of pages with Needs Review status. 100 Weight A 6-digit number used to sort items quickly. 100000 1920-1929 August Stockebrand letters English available https://germanletters.org/files/original/d06704b2ea4c4ef8a551b3e32164dbb0.jpg 671cf5a6225bf884c2893ca3f8200076 https://germanletters.org/files/original/e5a4b6a960be30933930ac815b4e4c22.jpg 91039761586e124a12b062c5ad352a68 https://germanletters.org/files/original/07f848eea7be8b44a34cb7aa85409373.jpg cd00207b6cf174057e79cd4fbc775b6c https://germanletters.org/files/original/f413316093b65fed0e696de0c7e4d1f5.jpg 01711730c536888a6c533cc39ea319e2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rustemeyer Papers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="https://www.shsmo.org" target="_blank" title="State Historical Society of Missouri" rel="noreferrer noopener">State Historical Society of Missouri</a> Description An account of the resource This collection of letters is drawn from the Rustemeyer Family Papers, held by the <a href="https://www.shsmo.org">State Historical Society of Missouri</a>, and includes letters sent to Bernard Rustemeyer in the years after World War I, primarily from his cousin August Stockebrand. Bernard Rustemeyer was born in the community of Körbecke, in Westphalia, in 1866, and immigrated with his family to Missouri in the 1880s. Relation A related resource <a href="https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/c4017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rustemeyer Family Papers</a> (finding aid, PDF) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Translation A translation of the original document's text into English. Korbecke, 1 December 1922<br /><br />Dear Cousin Bernard!<br /><br />Your dear letter of October 24 arrived here 14 days later, on November 7. Where did my June letter go? You wrote that you received it in October. In it I wrote to you about our situation in Germany, but the situation is much worse now. But, more about that later. First I want to write to you about us. I am still well so far except my eyes, and my dear wife and children are also doing well. My brother Frank is living with his daughter and is faring tolerably well, he also has poor eyesight. His address is Frank H., Dueren/Khe.., Ruhrstarasse 50. My sister Gertrud is also tolerably well. Her address is Gertrud Truerest, Neheim a/d/Ruhr. Both have suffered during the war and are still suffering, mainly from lack of food. The Cousins Schulte = Garies and Bemsen are doing well, like us. They, or one of you, should come for a visit. You can come over here at my expense and you are all most welcome here. <br /><br />Our business has been idle since 1916. No rye is released for making whiskey, nor is there any to be had. It was believed that in time things would get better for us here in Germany, but things have been going from bad to worse during the last three months. Our bad conditions are almost indescribable. A dollar costs over 8000 marks at this time, and all of Germany hinges on that fact. If we don't get any food from there this year a famine probably cannot be avoided. With the strong dollar it is impossible to buy anything from America. Our money buys practically nothing. It's not hard to figure out. <br /><br />Today, thousands in the cities are going hungry, and the newspapers report that many have already starved to death. Now, in part, the following prices from here. One hundred pounds of wheat cost 15,000 marks at this time. Rye, Oats and Barley are 13,000 marks. Add to that that the crop this year is the worst in my lifetime. One half to two thirds of the wheat, rye and barley - I'm not exaggerating here - froze last winter, and the oats didn't come up in the spring because of cold and drought, so in June there was still nothing to be seen. On top of that, what did grow was rained out in the fall. The poor cattle are practically down to eating manure, and August up until now there is rain almost every day. I can tell you, dear cousin, things appear to be more than discomforting. I am probably always the first man in the village to be finished with the planting of wheat, rye and barley, but up until now half of my land is still not planted and it is getting too late to do so because there is always nothing but rain and snow every day. What will things be like next year? As I said, if America doesn't come to our aid thousands of people will starve. <br /><br />And now, our prices for fat and meat. 100 pounds, live weight, of turkey meat already costs 50,000 makes or more. A pounds of beef costs 400 marks, a pound of beef costs 400 marks, a pound of butter, 1,500 marks, and everything else is proportionately high. I really didn't want to write to you about this since I know it is heartbreaking for you. Germany, once so beautiful, is now laid low, and what else might be yet to come? <br /><br />Unemployment is spreading further now, so that I think it will come to people killing each other. It was fortunate this year that we had a good potato crop. Had that not happened, I believe that industrial workers would already have come to plunder the villages inside and out. If only our dear God will protect these people. We are ready for the worst. I will remain silent today about clothes, the cost of which keeps going up. It is worst among the poor folk. Thousands of children in their huts have long since not had a shirt on their back. Now I will stop. I might break your heart, dear Bernard. <br /><br />Of course, all is well with all of you. How glad I would be if Josef, Anton and Ferdinand would let themselves be heard from for a change. Please urge them to write. I don't want to come to you a-begging; we still have food and we and we can get along without what we don't have. I have liked very much to smoke a cigar or pipe tobacco. In the last couple months, the price of those kinds of things has increased a hundredfold, and even so, smoking tobacco is no longer available. Mostly we have paper money and there is no lack of that. There is no more silver coinage unless one has laid some aside. <br /><br />What else shall I write about now? I will quit because my eyes don't want to any longer, nor can they. Please excuse my poor handwriting. <br /><br />Well dear Cousin Bernard, I will take pen in hand again to write about several matters to you. As I said, all of us cousins are still doing well, but God only knows what is yet to come. How all of you dear cousins are to be envied in that you are there! We don't dare think about our future and nobody can know what might be coming. All of you can consider yourselves lucky. <br /><br />You write that over there millions are being gathered for the needy in Germany, and there, too, you are right in saying that these monies have not all been reaching their intended destination. Here, too, it is nothing but a pack of lies. Practically no thieves and robbers understand anything about what is mine and what is yours, and the newspapers are full of it every day. You write that whiskey is no longer available there. We have had it in superabundance the last couple of years. It is supplied by the state, but in the last two months it has risen in price from 100 marks to 1600 marks per liter. I would gladly send you some if I could. I also still have some of my own corn liquor distilled in 1882 and therefore 40 years old, a delicious little drop indeed. Also, I probably cannot help you in this matter, so I will have a holy Mass read for your dear mother, who is at rest here with us. <br /><br />Now I must probably close since the paper is full. In conclusion, I will bid all of you dear ones farewell. I believe that these lines will be my last ones to you, for things can go topsy-turvy at any time. My heartfelt Christmas greetings to you, my dear Bernard and to your dear wife and children, along with all of the cousins and their families, and to all of you a happy new year from all of us, especially from your cousin, <br /><br />August<br /><br />PS: Since I have a little space left here I will ask you, as well as all of your brothers, to write again soon. If I am still here I promise to write to you again personally or by my wife or my children. Good luck! Your cousin,<br /><br /> August <br /><br />PPS: You can see how poor Germany is from the postage what used to cost 15 marks now cost 1 1/2 times as much. Translator The name of the translator of the original document into English. Raymond C. Backes Destination Defines the geographic location to which a given document was sent. [GHI-created element] Osage County, Missouri Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, December 1, 1922 Description An account of the resource Letter from August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, December 1, 1922. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1922-12-01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August Stockebrand Type The nature or genre of the resource letter Language A language of the resource German Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Bernard Rustemeyer Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Körbecke (Möhnesee), Germany Osage County, Missouri, Germany Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State Historical Society of Missouri Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rustemeyer Family Papers 1920-1929 August Stockebrand letters English available https://germanletters.org/files/original/1a08cea78665eca70203093b025d1e73.jpg 79052e6a30c4d2c055e33e6cfe652e63 https://germanletters.org/files/original/7e3f447012ba48b0f189e6a679e3bf52.jpg 52d3a572be6e074ea4b61bdb7491e5b9 https://germanletters.org/files/original/dabd2ebc107565fd800c94bac8492ebb.jpg 9553f9b76b633410f96236071fe2d909 https://germanletters.org/files/original/d3b36fa9da703df4b000649f83b2247c.jpg 04faaca9338d09589e045baeaf285980 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rustemeyer Papers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="https://www.shsmo.org" target="_blank" title="State Historical Society of Missouri" rel="noreferrer noopener">State Historical Society of Missouri</a> Description An account of the resource This collection of letters is drawn from the Rustemeyer Family Papers, held by the <a href="https://www.shsmo.org">State Historical Society of Missouri</a>, and includes letters sent to Bernard Rustemeyer in the years after World War I, primarily from his cousin August Stockebrand. Bernard Rustemeyer was born in the community of Körbecke, in Westphalia, in 1866, and immigrated with his family to Missouri in the 1880s. Relation A related resource <a href="https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/c4017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rustemeyer Family Papers</a> (finding aid, PDF) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Translation A translation of the original document's text into English. Aug. Stockenbrand Corn Liquor Distillery KOERBECKE December 6, 1922 Yesterday evening I returned from a trip to Dortmund and so will take this night as the time for completing my writing tasks. Dear Cousin Bernard, I still own in Dortmund a large business place, which I myself built in 1909, and consequently have to look after the mintern [wintern?] now and then. I had a beer and lunch there. A small meal with a glass of beer cost 500 Mk. You cannot imagine today's inflation. I wanted to buy from my supplier 1000 cigars like the ones I've smoked for 15 years. Before the war they would have cost 100 Mark per thousand; now the cost is 100,000 thousand Mark. That was going too far! I did not buy them. Besides, the quality left something to be desired. All merchandise has gone up in similar fashion. Before the war a liter of good liquor cost 1 Mark; now it is 1600 Mark, and so on. That is not the worst. The food situation in the city is very, very bad. I have already written enough about that, and to tell more might give you more heartache. Germany is exhausted if America doesn't give us aid. Much is being written about the fact that America wants to credit us with 50 million dollars worth of food. [The sentence that follows is cryptic; the sense seems to be that if America doesn't come through there will be no end to the complaints]. Now, all you dear cousins with your wives and children, I call out a hearty farewell from your once beautiful fatherland, along with the wish to see someone again sometime. And if that doesn't happen, then we'll see each other again in Heaven. Again, sincere Christmas greetings to you all. Hopefully, dear cousin, by that time you will have this letter in your hand, if it makes the passage as did your last one. And also hearty wishes for a happy new year, because it might well be the last from me. Now, dear Bernard, I will close. Once again, all hoped-for good fortune and sachgend wishes all together. I send you, dear Bernard, an "auf wiedersehen". You are dear and important to me, since in every one of your letters you are thinking of the old homeland and of your mother who reposes here. So, during Christmastime, go into your church there. Here I have requested a Holy Mass, and will attend it during Christmastime. That way it can happen that your dear mother will be remembered here at the same time as you send your child's-prayer for her heavenward. My dear wife sends her fondest greetings. My children are all gone. I remain in constant love Your Cousin August Stockebrand If I have forgotten to write about something, please forgive me. My memory and my eyes are not at their best any more. Translator The name of the translator of the original document into English. Raymond C. Backes Destination Defines the geographic location to which a given document was sent. [GHI-created element] Osage County, Missouri Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, December 6, 1922 Description An account of the resource Letter from August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, December 6, 1922. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1922-12-06 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August Stockebrand Type The nature or genre of the resource letter Language A language of the resource German Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Bernard Rustemeyer Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Körbecke (Möhnesee), Germany Osage County, Missouri, Germany Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State Historical Society of Missouri Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rustemeyer Family Papers 1920-1929 August Stockebrand letters English available https://germanletters.org/files/original/f73634fcfabe4c7dd7c63a02922247dd.jpg b4f533f68af6ff7273f5b5a2925373e9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, Easter, 1920, page 1 https://germanletters.org/files/original/d225e186d6c63c0d5708a5d03d92d354.jpg c061cdaa65ab8232c3387ff301c27c36 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, Easter, 1920, page 2 https://germanletters.org/files/original/a51f76ecbf81c8574b8d5ad547546328.jpg 5cd48ec17c20891c8d8f39a1fd156cfd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, Easter, 1920, page 3 https://germanletters.org/files/original/f4d16e9b550e0954ae6fcaf3f9858238.jpg a29addb5e434f57ad3e6cfc59bb02bb1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, Easter, 1920, page 4 https://germanletters.org/files/original/0c1dc2567d099d3737814fb4af81a92c.jpg 13bfde3cdbf06230097810ae4a3a9a19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, Easter, 1920, page 5 https://germanletters.org/files/original/6646f69b16819d6e3cbcb836728f4e0d.jpg e4563bfbb17e44cab342dbaacc3b22b9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, Easter, 1920, page 6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rustemeyer Papers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="https://www.shsmo.org" target="_blank" title="State Historical Society of Missouri" rel="noreferrer noopener">State Historical Society of Missouri</a> Description An account of the resource This collection of letters is drawn from the Rustemeyer Family Papers, held by the <a href="https://www.shsmo.org">State Historical Society of Missouri</a>, and includes letters sent to Bernard Rustemeyer in the years after World War I, primarily from his cousin August Stockebrand. Bernard Rustemeyer was born in the community of Körbecke, in Westphalia, in 1866, and immigrated with his family to Missouri in the 1880s. Relation A related resource <a href="https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/c4017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rustemeyer Family Papers</a> (finding aid, PDF) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Translation A translation of the original document's text into English. My dear cousin Bernardt! Once again I took your dear letter dated 12/15/1915 into my hand and will try if I can now manage a response to you, dear cousin, so far I have already written to you two times, but I assume that due to the horrible war no letter ever reached you, and therefore I am sending these lines again. Dear Bernard, first I will once more consider the horrible war, it is terrible to think of it. I had to send 2 already grown strong sons of 25 and 27 years into the horrible war, the older one August was wounded for the first time in September 1914 in France, that went well, he recovered his health and then in January 15 he was posted to Russia where he was wounded again in the horrifying battles at Grottno . Luckily both times the injuries were to his legs, the last one was quite serious, but after only 5 months he was posted again to Russia, where he then participated in the heavy fighting near the Norot Lakes, as a company commander. Then, from 1917 on, he was a group officer in Lithuania (Russia) and returned again in January 19. [Marginal remark:] L.B. Please, forgive me once more my bad handwriting, my eyes are no longer any good. Good bye, your devoted cousin August. [end page] [new page] home, before the war this our oldest son had been the one to take care of our business, and what now, our business has been laid off since January 15 as no rye or barley is available for the purpose of distilling spirits. Since 1897, we had a large steam distillery and it was doing well, but it has now been laid off due to the war, and there is not any hope for years that we will start up again. Before the war, we made a lot of money, and now we still own the farm with acres, which feeds us, but more of that later. My second son Ferdinand 25 years old a stately son, tall, strong, at least 1/2 head taller than I was in those years when you wanted to leave here, this one was an accomplished farmer and worked in our business on the side. I could totally rely on him, so it was clear that I was able to retire, dear Bernard, I never saw the big hunk again, he was killed in the Carpathians, I am sure you have heard of this, wounded heavily before that, and then after 14 days he died in a field hospital in Hungary in Deberizin in the year 15 on <?Jan?>. 20. My God, how must that good chap have suffered, to die with no help, far from his home. I still couldn't believe it, and yet it is true. Terrible, you cannot imagine this misery, and as year after year progresses that misery gets greater. But I guess our dear God loved him, because life here in present day Germany is not a pleasure any more, rather a torture. We in Germany are poor, more than poor, we have plenty of paper money, but except for a small value it is all worthless, and now, in addition, we also have [end page] [new page] for the last few days, Bolshevism in our country; and in the last few weeks, heavy battles have been raging, mainly originating around here, near Hamm, in the village of Kalkum. In the latter village, 300 soldiers of the Red Army were killed on Thursday within 2 hours. So not enough with the horrible war, no, now we have a horrible brothers' war, or hunger war. The big cities in the industrial area have almost nothing left to live on, so that every day now we are in fear of being robbed, dear Bernard, you cannot possibly imagine what it is like here in Germany. Before the war we could get everything for little money, and today nothing for a lot of money. In most cases not even the necessary clothing. While we still have everything to stay alive, which is the result of having the farm, clothing and linens, however, that is something we do not have enough of now, - shoes, too, are enormously expensive and bad. Now I want to tell you about my youngest son, who was still in highschool in <?Brilon?> when the war began, in his junior year. He, too, wanted to join the war voluntarily, but since he was not even 17 years old he needed my permission, which I did not give. Then at Easter 1915 he graduated from highschool and is now studying to be a medical doctor. In the year 1916 he was also drafted into the support service, but was still spared from the military for 1 1/2 years of reclamation. Now in the course of this year or at the beginning of the next one he will have completed his studies to become a medical doctor. He is a fantastic guy, now 23 years old. If it hadn't been for the war he could have finished and become a doctor last year. That doesn't matter now, after all he has done so early enough. If only the circumstances [end page] [new page] here were tolerable again. Now I also have 2 daughters, the oldest of whom is married in Minden and the youngest still lives at home. I and my wife are still quite fit (?) although almost 63 by now; I am no longer able to do much as my eyesight is very bad, please, you must forgive my bad handwriting. Today it is still going soso, otherwise I could not write this. But now it is over, too, and I will continue writing tomorrow. Dear cousin Bernard, I am taking to the pen for the second time to tell you more news. So, I did give you an idea of my family' circumstances, now I want to briefly describe my financial standing. We are doing okay, we have accumulated enough wealth. But as I have told you before, all of it is no longer worth a lot; I own 75 acres of agricultural land, 2 horses and all of 5 cows. Before the war it was 5 times that number of cows, plus 3 - 4 horses; that would still be tolerable if the horrible famine and civil war were over now. Who knows what may await all of us yet, God will help us, or otherwise Germany will be lost forever. Now you also wanted to hear about the other relatives. Uncle Giese (Bunsen) has long been dead. Cousin Josef is at home but has no children. Uncle (Schulte/Gurres) has also long been dead. Cousin Albert is doing reasonably well, many children, but he can live. Uncle Josef in [illegible] has long since passed away and the cousins are teachers. Bernard is a bailiff and August works for the postal service. [end page] [new page] now about the Altekösters (Schlept), they are doing alright as well, Anton has the bakery and farm, Franz is a carpenter. Heinrich is a bailiff/marshall in Ruhport, he is fine, but just like here with us, there is nothing you can buy for money. Here in Körbecke quite a lot had improved before the war as opposed to what it had been like before, but now all that is gone. Back then you wrote about the prices for groceries over there. Now I want to tell you something about our present prices here: For 100 <??> of wheat they'll pay up to 150 Marks and more, the same goes for rye, 100 <??> of oats 250 - 290 Marks, for bacon and ham up to 30 Marks a pound, 10 - 12 Marks for a pound of beef and sweet cream butter is 30 Marks and more per pound. And the same goes for everything else. One liter of spirits 40 - 50 Marks, a man's suit 1500 - 2500 Marks, a pair of shoes 300 - 1000 Marks, you see more than enough when it comes to paper money, but there is not even one piece of gold or silver left, and our paper money is barely worth anything in your country. I have held back some gold and silver, for which huge prices are being paid these days, e.g. one 20 Mark coin costs 600 Marks or more, one Thaler or 3 Mark coin is 30 - 40 Marks; I could write you a book about life in Germany these days. For now I'll have to close, I promise that as soon as I hear from you I will write back within 8 days, that is if nothing else happens to us because of the riots. [end page] [new page] Now dear Bernard I would also like to hear how all of you are doing. Let's hope you are well. I take it that you are all farming. In your letter you are writing that niece Maria, your wife and Josef's, too, all suffer from rheumatism. Hopefully they are all well again, and you are not wanting for anything. Now you also wanted to know how many soldiers left Körbecke. It would be too lengthy to list them all, in just one word: anyone between 18 and 45 had to go, unless they showed some obvious signs of sickness. Unfortunately 37 or 38 were killed, certainly a lot for Körbecke. Should you be interested in wanting to know something more about this or that family, let me know. Then, in your letter, you are writing about the German successes early in the war, well - we have been lied to, and the German warfare had not been good at first; well, I guess you may have heard such things, too - I won't say any more about it. Now dear Bernard I wish to close, my eyes are deserting me. Therefore take the most heartfelt regards from all my family. Please give our regards to all, Josef, Anton, Ferdinand, Maria plus wives and children. It is to you, dear Bernard, that I am sending the warmest greetings from my wife and children, and it is your cousin August who greets you the most sincerely. Brother Franz lives with his daughter in Düren, Anton and Albert have long since passed away. Write again very soon and keep us in your thoughts, we poor Germans ... [Continuation in margin:] would like to have asked you for some clothing but as I said, our money is of no value where you are. We have enough money but only in paper form, and for that, I think, all of you dear ones have [4 words, illegible]. Translator The name of the translator of the original document into English. Barbara Baeuerle Transcriber The name of the transcriber of the original document. Barbara Baeuerle Destination Defines the geographic location to which a given document was sent. [GHI-created element] Osage County, Missouri Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, Easter, 1920 Description An account of the resource Letter from August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, Easter, 1920. In 1920, Easter Sunday fell on April 4, and this is the date that has been assigned to the letter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1920-04-04 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August Stockebrand Type The nature or genre of the resource letter Language A language of the resource German Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Bernard Rustemeyer Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Körbecke (Möhnesee), Germany Osage County, Missouri, USA Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State Historical Society of Missouri Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rustemeyer Family Papers Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Körbecke (Möhnesee), Nordrhein-Westfalen Scripto Transcription A written representation of a document. Körbecke, Ostern 1920<br /><br />Mein lieber Vetter Bernardt!<br /><br />Deinen lieben Brief vom 15/12 1915 nahm ich auch in den Ostertagen wieder zur Hand, und will versuchen ob eine Antwort jetzt an dich lieber Vetter zu erreichen ist, ich habe bereits 2 mal an dich geschrieben, aber ich nehme an das in folge des furchtbaren Krieges kein Brief an dich gelangt ist und so nochmals diese Zeilen Lieber Bernard vorerst will ich nochmals den furchtbaren Krieg betrachten, es ist schrecklich, daran zu denken, ich mußte 2 schon große kräftige Söhne von 25 und 27 Jahren in den furchtbaren Krieg schicken, der ältere August wurde im September 1914 zum ersten male in Frankreich verwundet das ging gut wurde wieder gesund und mußte Januar 15 dann nach Rußland wo er wieder in den furchtbaren Kämpfen bei Grottno wieder verwundet wurde zum Glück beide mal Beinverletzungen, die letzte Verwundung war ziemlich schwer aber nach nur 5 Monaten mußte er wieder fort nach Rußland und hat dann die schweren Kämpfe an den <!--?Norotseen? &gt; mitgemacht als Kompanieführer, dann war er von 1917&lt;?Seil?-->schaftsoffizier in Littauen (Rußland) und kam Januar 19 wieder zu <br /><br />[Side remark in the handwritten letter:]<br /><br />L.B. Entschuldige nochmals mein schlechtes Schreiben meine Augen sind nicht mehr gut. Auf Wiedersehen dein ergebener Vetter August<br /><br />[end page]<br /><br />[new page]<br /><br />zu Hause, dieser älteste Sohn war uns vor dem Krieg für das Geschäft, und was jetzt, Geschäft liegt seit Januar 15 still weil kein Roggen und Gerste mehr zum Brannt- weinbrennen frei ist, wir hatten eine große Dampf- brennerei seit 1897 und ging flott, und jetzt in folge des Krieges stillgelegt und für Jahre keine Aussicht daß wir wieder in Betrieb kommen, wir haben vor dem Kriege viel Geld verdient und jetzt haben wir noch die Landwirtschaft von 75 Morgen, wovon wir leben, doch davon noch später. Mein zweiter Sohn Ferdinand 25 Jahre alt ein stattlicher Sohn groß kräftig wohl 1/2 Kopf größer als ich in den Jahren war wie du von hier fort mochtest, dieser war ein tüchtiger Landwirt und nebenbei im Geschäft tätig, ich konnte mich ganz auf ihn verlassen, also {?war?} {?einig?} {illegible} ich konnte mich zur Ruhe setzen, lieber Bernard diesen großen Kerl habe ich nicht wieder gesehen, er ist in den Karpaten wovon du bestimmt gehört hast (gefallen) noch schwer verwundet und in Ungarn in Deberizin im Lazaret nach 14 Tagen gestorben, im Jahr 15 am 20 [?Jan?] Gott wie mag der gute Kerl gelitten haben ohne Hülfe fern von der Heimat zu sterben ich konnte es noch nicht glauben, und doch ist es war Schrecklich, den Jammer kannst du dir nicht denken und länger von Jahr zu Jahr ist der Jammer größer, aber der liebe Gott wird ihn lieb gehabt haben, den zu leben ist hier in Deutschland jetzt kein Vergnügen mehr, vielmehr eine Qual Wir sind in Deutschland arm mehr als arm Papiergeld haben wir in Hülle und Fülle aber es ist alles bis auf einen geringen Wert wertlos, nun haben wir auch noch<br />[end page]<br /><br />[new page] noch in den letzten Tagen den Bolschewismus im Lande und hauptsächlich von hier aus, die letzten Woche haben sich schwere Kämpfe bei Hamm, im Dorfe Kalkum abgespielt in letzterem Dorfe sind am Donnerstag in 2 Stunden 300 Tote von der roten Armee gefallen, also an dem furchtbaren Kriege nicht genug, jetzt noch einen furchtbaren Brüderkrieg, oder Hungerkrieg. Die großen Städte im Industriegebiet haben fast nichts mehr zu leben, sodaß wir täglich bange sind wir würden ausgeraubt, lieber Bernard, du kannst dir kein Bild machen wie es hier in Deutschland ist vor dem Kriege alles für wenig Geld zu haben, und heute für viel Geld nichts meist noch nicht mal die notdürftige Kleidung, zu leben haben wir zwar noch alles, was die Landwirtschaft mit sich bringt, aber Kleidung und Leinen daran mangelt es uns auch jetzt, - auch Schuhe sind enorm teuer und schlecht. Nun komme ich zu meinem jüngsten Sohn selbiger war zu Anfang des Krieges noch auf dem Gymnasium in [?Brilon?] auf der Klasse prima, wollte auch freiwillig mit in den Krieg und weil noch keine 17 Jahr alt war mußte er von mir Genehmigung haben, welches ich nicht gemacht habe, dann hat er Ostern 1915 sein Abiturientenexamen gemacht und wird Doktor, wurde auch im Jahre 1916 zum Hilfsdienst eingezogen aber noch 1 1/2 Jahr auf Reklamation frei von Millitär, nun wird er im Laufe dieses Jahres oder Anfang nächsten Jahres fertig als Arzt, er ist ein Prachtkerl also jetzt 23 Jahr Alt wenn der Krieg nicht kam wäre er schon im vorigen Jahr fertig gewesen als Doktor, das ist nun nicht schlimm er hat ja noch früh genug, wenn uns die Ver- Verhältnisse hier erst wieder erträglich wären. Nun habe ich noch 2 Töchter wovon die älteste verheiratet ist in Minden und die jüngste ist noch zu Hause, ich und meine Frau sind noch wenn auch jetzt nahezu 63 Jahre noch ziemlich <!--?auf? &gt;, ich kann wohl wenig mehr machen da ich sehr schlecht sehen kann, du mußt mangelhaftes Schreiben bitte entschuldigen, heute geth es noch so leidlich sonst könnte diese Zeilen nicht schreiben, es ist jetzt auch vorbei und will morgen weiterschreiben Lieber Vetter Bernard zum zweiten male nehme ich die Feder um dir noch weitere Mitteilungen zu machen, also meine Familien Verhältnisse habe ich dir geschildert, meine Vermögensverhältnisse will ich kurz schildern, es geth uns gut Vermögen haben wir genug erworben aber wie dir mitgeteilt in folge des Krieges alles nicht mehr viel wert, ich habe &lt;- wenn ich -&gt; 75 Morgen Ackerland 2 Pferde und noch 5 Kühe vor dem Kriege das 5fache an Kühe und 3 - 4 Pferde, das wäre auch noch zu ertragen, wenn jetzt die furchtbare Hungersnot und der Bürgerkrieg vorbei wären, was mag uns allen noch bevorstehen, Gott wird helfen, sonst geht Deutschland für immer verloren Nun wolltest du auch von den den anderen Verwandten gerne etwas hören Onkel Giese (Bunsen) ist lange todt Vetter Josef ist zu Hause hat aber keine Kinder. Onkel (Schulte/Gurres) ist auch lange todt. Vetter Albert geth es leidlich gut, viel Kinder kann aber leben. In &lt;illegible place name&gt; Onkel Josef ist lange todt und die Vettern sind 2 Lehrer Bernard ist Gerichtsbeamter + August an der Post und nun von Altekösters (Schlept) da geth es auch, Anton hat Bäckerei und Landwirtschaft Franz ist Zimmermann Heinrich ist Gerichtsvollzieher in &lt;?Ruhport?-->, geth ihm gut, aber auch wie uns für Geld ist nichts zu haben Hier in Körbecke hat sich ziemlich viel vor dem Krieg gebessert gegen früher aber jetzt ist alles nicht mehr du hast seinerseits von den dortigen Lebensmittel preisen geschrieben ich will dir nun mal von unsern heutigen Preisen etwas schreiben, für 100 Weizen wird bis 150 Mark und mehr gezahlt Roggen dasselbe 100 # Hafer 250 - 290 Mark für Speck und Schinken bis 30 Mark das Pfund für ein Pfund Rindfleisch 10 - 12 Mark und Sahne Butter 30 Mark und mehr das Pfund und so alles andere ein Ltr. Branntwein 40 - 50 Mark ein Anzug 1500 - 2000 Mark ein Paar Schuehe 300 - 1000 Mark du siehst Papiergeld in Hülle und Fülle aber kein Stück Gold und Silber ist mehr da, und unser Papiergeld hat bei Euch kaum Wert, ich habe mir ein Teil Gold und Silber zurückgelegt wofür heute enorme Preise gezahlt werden z. B. ein 20 Mark Stück kostet 600 Mark und mehr einen Tahler oder 3 Mark Stück 30 - 40 Mark, ich könnte dir ein Buch schreiben von Deutschland jetzigen Zuständen, ich muß für diesmal mal schließen, ich verspreche dies sobald ich von dir wieder Nachrichten habe schreibe ich dir die ersten 8 Tage wieder wenn uns sonst nichts pasiert in folge der Unruhen<br /><br />Nun l Bernard möchte ich auch gerne hören wie es Euch allen geth. Hoffendlich gut. Ihr treibt wohl alle Landwirtschaft in deinem Briefe schreibst du daß Nichte Maria deine und Josef seine Frau an Reumatismus leiden hoffendlich sind alle wieder Gesund, und fehlt es Euch auch an nichts. Nun wolltes du auch wissen wieviel Krieger aus Körbecke weg gewesen sind. Das führt zu weit alle aufzuführen mit einem Wort alle Leute von 18 - 45 Jahre mußten fort wenn ihnen nicht eine Krankheit anzusehen war leider sind auch 37 oder 38 gefallen gewiß für Körbecke viel solltes du für eine oder andere Familie Intresse haben etwas zu wissen gebe gern Nachricht, du schreibst dann in deinem Brief von den Erfolgen welche die Deutschen zu Anfang des Krieges gemacht haben, ja - wir sind einfach belogen und die deutsche Kriegsführung ist zu Anfang auch nicht gut gewesen nun du wirst solches auch gehört haben, ich will davon schweigen<br /><br />Nun l Bernhard will ich schließen meine Augen wollen nicht mehr. Empfange daher die Innigsten Grüße von meiner ganzen Familie. Grüße du mir alle Josef Anton Ferdinand Maria nebst Frauen und Kinder, dir lieber Bernard sende die herzlichsten Grüße von meiner Frau und Kindern besonders herzlich begrüßt dich dein Vetter <br /><br />August <br /><br />Bruder Franz ist bei seiner Tochter in Düren, Anton und Albert sind lange todt. Schreibe recht bald wieder und denke an uns arme Deutsche dich gern um etwas Kleidung ge- <br /><br />Randbemerkungen: beten haben, aber unser Geld hat dort eben keinen Wert, wir haben Geld genug, aber alles nur Papier, dafür habt wohl ihr l Allen [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] 1920-1929 August Stockebrand letters English available transcribed https://germanletters.org/files/original/099256020db4e8e7eae18473c9051133.jpg 76ac010f59af0e31aa4a0be523cb4c02 Scripto Status The current transcription status of a document or a page. Needs Review Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>[written in pencil:] [Letter 5] [/written in pencil] </p><p>[preprinted:] Aug. Stockebrand Kornbranntwein= Brennerei KÖRBECKE. [/preprinted] </p><p>[preprinted:] Körbecke, den [/preprinted] 13 Januar [preprinted:] 192 [/preprinted] 3 [preprinted:] (Kreis Soest) [/preprinted] </p><p>Lieber Vetter Brenhard [sic] mit Frau &amp; Kinder </p><p>Dein lieber Brief von Weihnachten gelangte am 9 d Mts hier an und sage Dir meinen herz= lichsten Dank für selben, ihr habt ja dort einen schönen Weihnachten bei herrlichem Wetter gefeiert in Ruhe und Frie= den aber [wird?] ich legte Dier [sic] ein Zeitungsausschnitt bei danach kannst Du Urteilen selbiger ist in allen Teilen so wie es hier ist traurig Die Hungersnot wird nicht aus= bleiben bis uns, um uns brauchst du aber nicht bange zu sein wenn man uns nicht alles weg raub dann haben wir zu leben also Klagen möchte ich in meinem heutigen Schreiben nicht, unser Briefwechsel ist ja diesmal in gute 4 Wochen gewechselt hoffentlich schreibst Du auch gleich wieder, bei Euch hat sich seit Deiner vorigen Briefe ja wenig geändert solches ist bei uns aber das Gegenteil ich schicke Dir 3 Zeitungen selbiges ließ, und dann wirst Du unser Elend sehen, die Franzosen kommen nun auch uns bald auf den Leib waß [sic] wird da aus uns armen Deutschland werden wir wohnen im Lande der Kohle und haben keine der Franzose läßt uns jetz [sic] jedenfalls gar keine mehr [?] die letzten Monate kosteten 100 H Kohlen schon 3000 Mk ein Raumeter [sic] Brennholz 25000 Mk die Preise für Vieh und Getreide wirst Du aus den Zeitungen finden. Lieber Vetter wie Glücklich könnt ihr Euch schätzen dort zu sein, vor dem Kriege war es hier auch schön, es fehlte uns an </p></div> https://germanletters.org/files/original/054e297a3a659515d80a1eab361e8a6b.jpg bb94cbac979502840cf364ffad6fe6e9 Scripto Status The current transcription status of a document or a page. Needs Review Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>an nichts nun der liebe Gott wird wohl noch leben, aber Jahre werden Vergehen ehe wir Ruhe und Frieden in Europa [?] werden, vieleicht [sic] ist der Franzose nächste Woche schon bei uns selbiger wird alle Bergwerke und Fabriken besetzen, ich habe Dir ja schon von der großen Talsperre bei uns geschrieben selbige wird jedenfalls auch besetzt werden, und dann? waß [sic] wird dann werden - ich weiß es nicht zu leben haben wir heute noch waß [sic] wir brauchen Geld haben wir mehr als wir brauchen, waß [sic] wir <s>[reich?]</s> entbehren ist Kaffe [sic] Thee Kakao Reis sowie alle Südfrüchten und da muß es aber ohne gehen, wenn ich dies mit unserem Papier geld oder sonst etwaß zahlen könnte würde ich Dich bitten mir einige Liebespakete von obrigen Sachen zu besorgen, aber ich kann keine Gegenleistung machen, und darum müßen wir Roggenkaffe [sic] trinken wenn es auch schwer ist besonders für mich. Lieber Bernhard von morgen ab wird daß [sic] Briefporto um daß [sic] doppelte teurer bei uns ein gewöhn= lich Brief kostet Mk 100 dann aber das ist nicht so schlimm Papiergeld genug Gold und Silbergeld ist nicht mehr in Ver= kehr würdest Du uns besuchen können dann könnte ich entschädigen, ich habe mir einige [insertion:] [Stücke?] [/insertion] im letzten Augenblick zurück gelegt. Nun lieber Berhard [sic] wenn ich in 4 - 5 Wochen noch lebe und von Dir Antwort habe schreibe ich wieder wenn es mir in Folge meines Augenleidens auch viel wird Dir lieber Vetter schreibe ich, Du muß [sic] nur meine Schrift entschuldigen. Lieber Berhard [sic] heute möchte ich Dich mal bitten sage doch deinen Brüdern mal Sie möchten <s>[illegible]</s> auch mal schreiben ich würde selbiges schon gemacht haben wenn ich die Adresse wüßte so sind mir die Hände gebunden. Also über unsere Lage wirst Du unterrichtet wenn Du die [gesannten?] Zeitungen ließt nun muß wohl schließen schreibe bald wieder </p><p>[text on top of page 1, written upside down:] Etwaige Schreibfehler bitte zu entschuldigen meine Augen können nicht mehr Leb wohl lieber Vetter und schreibe wenn möglich bald wieder in steter Liebe Dein Vetter August Stockebrand [/text on top of page 1, written upside down] </p></div> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rustemeyer Papers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="https://www.shsmo.org" target="_blank" title="State Historical Society of Missouri" rel="noreferrer noopener">State Historical Society of Missouri</a> Description An account of the resource This collection of letters is drawn from the Rustemeyer Family Papers, held by the <a href="https://www.shsmo.org">State Historical Society of Missouri</a>, and includes letters sent to Bernard Rustemeyer in the years after World War I, primarily from his cousin August Stockebrand. Bernard Rustemeyer was born in the community of Körbecke, in Westphalia, in 1866, and immigrated with his family to Missouri in the 1880s. Relation A related resource <a href="https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/c4017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rustemeyer Family Papers</a> (finding aid, PDF) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Translation A translation of the original document's text into English. Dear Cousin Bernard and Wife and Children: Your Christmas letter arrived on January 9. Thanks so much for it. You have certainly celebrated a beautiful Christmas there, in that marvelous land, in peace and freedom. But we -- I enclosed a newspaper clipping for you. From it you can judge. As it is here, so it is all over. Sad. The famine here won't let up. But you needn't fear for us as long as we aren't robbed of everything. We still have the necessities of life. Therefore I won't complain in today's letter. Our exchange of letters took only four weeks this time. Hopefully you will write again soon. Not much has changed in your world since your last letter, but here the opposite is true. I'm sending three newspapers. Read them, and then you will see our misery. The French will soon be upon us. What will then become of poor Germany? We live in coal country but have no coal. Anyway, the French won't let us look for any more. Last month, coal already cost 3000 mark per hundredweight, and a raumeter of firewood 25000 mark. You will find the price of cattle and grain in the newspaper. Dear cousin, how lucky you are to be over there! Before the war it was beautiful here too and we lacked for nothing. Now our dear God may still be alive, but years will pass before we see peace and freedom in Europe. Perhaps the French nightwatch is already upon us. It will occupy all the mines and factories. I've already written to you about the nearby big dam. It, too, will be occupied, and then? What is going to happen then? I don't know. We have the necessities of life, and have more money than we need. What we miss is coffee, tea, cocoa, rice, and all faedfruchten [?]. And we have to do without. But if I could buy anything with our paper money I would ask you to procure for me some ""love packages"" of the above mentioned items. However, I can offer you nothing in return, and therefore we have to drink rye-coffee even if it is difficult, especially for me. Dear Bernard, beginning tomorrow letter postage will nearly double. A domestic letter will then cost 100 mark. But then, that's not so bad. We have enough paper money. Gold and silver coin is no longer legal tender. I could reimburse those who would like to come to visit us. I laid away some pieces at the last minute. And now, dear Bernard, if I am still alive in 4 or 5 weeks and if I have received an answer from you, I will write again even though it is much for me in these days of my bad eyesight. Dear cousin, you must excuse my handwriting. Dear Bernard, today I ask you to tell your brothers that they too should write to me. I would have already written to them if I had their addresses, but my hands are tied. And, you will learn about our times when you [read] the newspaper.... I beg you to excuse whatever shortcoming there is in my handwriting. My eyes cannot go on on. Live well, dear cousin, and write back soon if possible. In constant love, Your cousin, August Stockebrand Translator The name of the translator of the original document into English. Raymond C. Backes Destination Defines the geographic location to which a given document was sent. [GHI-created element] Osage County, Missouri Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January 13, 1923 Description An account of the resource Letter from August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January 13, 1923. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1923-01-13 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August Stockebrand Type The nature or genre of the resource letter Language A language of the resource German Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Bernard Rustemeyer Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Körbecke (Möhnesee), Germany Osage County, Missouri, USA Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State Historical Society of Missouri Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rustemeyer Family Papers Scripto Percent Needs Review The percentage of pages with Needs Review status. 100 Weight A 6-digit number used to sort items quickly. 100000 Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>[written in pencil:] [Letter 5] [/written in pencil] </p><p>[preprinted:] Aug. Stockebrand Kornbranntwein= Brennerei KÖRBECKE. [/preprinted] </p><p>[preprinted:] Körbecke, den [/preprinted] 13 Januar [preprinted:] 192 [/preprinted] 3 [preprinted:] (Kreis Soest) [/preprinted] </p><p>Lieber Vetter Brenhard [sic] mit Frau &amp; Kinder </p><p>Dein lieber Brief von Weihnachten gelangte am 9 d Mts hier an und sage Dir meinen herz= lichsten Dank für selben, ihr habt ja dort einen schönen Weihnachten bei herrlichem Wetter gefeiert in Ruhe und Frie= den aber [wird?] ich legte Dier [sic] ein Zeitungsausschnitt bei danach kannst Du Urteilen selbiger ist in allen Teilen so wie es hier ist traurig Die Hungersnot wird nicht aus= bleiben bis uns, um uns brauchst du aber nicht bange zu sein wenn man uns nicht alles weg raub dann haben wir zu leben also Klagen möchte ich in meinem heutigen Schreiben nicht, unser Briefwechsel ist ja diesmal in gute 4 Wochen gewechselt hoffentlich schreibst Du auch gleich wieder, bei Euch hat sich seit Deiner vorigen Briefe ja wenig geändert solches ist bei uns aber das Gegenteil ich schicke Dir 3 Zeitungen selbiges ließ, und dann wirst Du unser Elend sehen, die Franzosen kommen nun auch uns bald auf den Leib waß [sic] wird da aus uns armen Deutschland werden wir wohnen im Lande der Kohle und haben keine der Franzose läßt uns jetz [sic] jedenfalls gar keine mehr [?] die letzten Monate kosteten 100 H Kohlen schon 3000 Mk ein Raumeter [sic] Brennholz 25000 Mk die Preise für Vieh und Getreide wirst Du aus den Zeitungen finden. Lieber Vetter wie Glücklich könnt ihr Euch schätzen dort zu sein, vor dem Kriege war es hier auch schön, es fehlte uns an </p></div> <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>an nichts nun der liebe Gott wird wohl noch leben, aber Jahre werden Vergehen ehe wir Ruhe und Frieden in Europa [?] werden, vieleicht [sic] ist der Franzose nächste Woche schon bei uns selbiger wird alle Bergwerke und Fabriken besetzen, ich habe Dir ja schon von der großen Talsperre bei uns geschrieben selbige wird jedenfalls auch besetzt werden, und dann? waß [sic] wird dann werden - ich weiß es nicht zu leben haben wir heute noch waß [sic] wir brauchen Geld haben wir mehr als wir brauchen, waß [sic] wir <s>[reich?]</s> entbehren ist Kaffe [sic] Thee Kakao Reis sowie alle Südfrüchten und da muß es aber ohne gehen, wenn ich dies mit unserem Papier geld oder sonst etwaß zahlen könnte würde ich Dich bitten mir einige Liebespakete von obrigen Sachen zu besorgen, aber ich kann keine Gegenleistung machen, und darum müßen wir Roggenkaffe [sic] trinken wenn es auch schwer ist besonders für mich. Lieber Bernhard von morgen ab wird daß [sic] Briefporto um daß [sic] doppelte teurer bei uns ein gewöhn= lich Brief kostet Mk 100 dann aber das ist nicht so schlimm Papiergeld genug Gold und Silbergeld ist nicht mehr in Ver= kehr würdest Du uns besuchen können dann könnte ich entschädigen, ich habe mir einige [insertion:] [Stücke?] [/insertion] im letzten Augenblick zurück gelegt. Nun lieber Berhard [sic] wenn ich in 4 - 5 Wochen noch lebe und von Dir Antwort habe schreibe ich wieder wenn es mir in Folge meines Augenleidens auch viel wird Dir lieber Vetter schreibe ich, Du muß [sic] nur meine Schrift entschuldigen. Lieber Berhard [sic] heute möchte ich Dich mal bitten sage doch deinen Brüdern mal Sie möchten <s>[illegible]</s> auch mal schreiben ich würde selbiges schon gemacht haben wenn ich die Adresse wüßte so sind mir die Hände gebunden. Also über unsere Lage wirst Du unterrichtet wenn Du die [gesannten?] Zeitungen ließt nun muß wohl schließen schreibe bald wieder </p><p>[text on top of page 1, written upside down:] Etwaige Schreibfehler bitte zu entschuldigen meine Augen können nicht mehr Leb wohl lieber Vetter und schreibe wenn möglich bald wieder in steter Liebe Dein Vetter August Stockebrand [/text on top of page 1, written upside down] </p></div> 1920-1929 August Stockebrand letters English available https://germanletters.org/files/original/8ca4eb13d45f2c49fec3235886982de3.jpg 0fdc61dbb076e5e2af678bd33120d735 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January 13, 1924, p. 1 https://germanletters.org/files/original/3fdd1831d91795ac08c58e637fdc91ec.jpg d609d096f942ef681676e3039ab4f1b6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January 13, 1924, p. 2 Scripto Status The current transcription status of a document or a page. Needs Review Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>gesprochen wenn selber getrunken wurde, den [sic] Bohnen Caffee ist in Deutschland seit Jahren eine Seltenheit, es wird nur Roggen Caffee getrunken, mir sagt selbiger <s>d</s> nicht zu und daher habe ich auf den ges Kaffee fast allein ge- trunken. Mein lieber Vetter Bernhard möchte ich Dir [sic] mal fragen, warum Bruder Josef von uns nichts mehr wissen will, will er von Deutschland überhaupt nichts mehr hören? es ist ja nichts mehr loß [sic] seit Jahren der unglückselige Krieg hat uns fast um alles ge bracht, es ist gut das [sic] ich Grundbesitz habe, sonst sähe es so aus aber jetz [sic] werden wir mit furchtbar hohen Steuern belastet, und da uns in Folge der Umstellung der Währungsfrage als Mark <s>ist</s> [insertion:] in [/insertion] Rentenmark so kannst Du Dir denken, eine Billion Mark ist ja eine Renten mark und für eine Rentenmark, kannst [sic] ich vieleicht [sic] 1/4 [?] Caffee kaufen, also in letzten Jahren hatten wir Geld genug und jetz [sic] ist fast alles Arm in Deutschland denke Dir eine Billion gleich 1000 Milliarden ist jetz [sic] noch 1 Mk und 2 Dosen Streichhölzer kosten 1 Mark, also am 20 Novem ber ist die Umwälzung seitens der Regierung gemacht, so wird Deutschland für hundert Jahre bettel arm sein, ich habe meine Kinder alle Versorg [sic], und daher jetz [sic] es uns ja gut auch allen anderen Verwanten [sic] geht es noch gut weil alle Landwirtschaft treiben, Vetter Josef Giese genannt Bunsen geht es gesundheitlich nicht gut, leidet an Atemnoth und war schon einige mal nahe am Tode, hat keine Kinder und daher auch ohne Noth, also macht Euch um uns hier keine Sorgen, es werden wohl noch Zeiten kommen wo es noch viel schlechter wird, es ist eben nicht zu übersehen waß [sic] mit Deutschland wird, für heute [?] Schluß werde morgen mehr schreiben </p></div> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rustemeyer Papers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="https://www.shsmo.org" target="_blank" title="State Historical Society of Missouri" rel="noreferrer noopener">State Historical Society of Missouri</a> Description An account of the resource This collection of letters is drawn from the Rustemeyer Family Papers, held by the <a href="https://www.shsmo.org">State Historical Society of Missouri</a>, and includes letters sent to Bernard Rustemeyer in the years after World War I, primarily from his cousin August Stockebrand. Bernard Rustemeyer was born in the community of Körbecke, in Westphalia, in 1866, and immigrated with his family to Missouri in the 1880s. Relation A related resource <a href="https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/c4017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rustemeyer Family Papers</a> (finding aid, PDF) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Translation A translation of the original document's text into English. Dear Cousin Bernard, wife, and children: I received your letter of November 19, 1923, on the 8th of December on the feast of Mary's Immaculate Conception, along with the two enclosed pictures of brother Anton and family, and the photograph of Franz, the soldier. Hopefully we won't have another war like the last one. Brother Anton is a big man. Hopefully he is as well as the picture shows him to be. Give them all our sincere greetings and tell him he can be glad he is no longer in Germany. And thanks from us all for the good wishes you passed along. I would have answered you right away, but I had certainly hoped to get a few lines from your brother Joseph as well. That probably won't happen now, and so I have begun today to answer you. First of all, I hope that you had good celebrations for Christmas and New Year. The same good wishes to you from us. It would take too much to write about us in Germany these last weeks. The French have now been in Germany for a year. That, dear cousin, will tell you the whole story. We have the necessities of life, to be sure, since my farm takes care of that. And so I won't complain. Some small deprivations have to be borne. The small package from you, with the coffee and other things, was wonderful. Once again, my sincere thanks. The coffee has been used up and is frequently received from you. Unemployment now makes its appearance. I firmly believe its going to come to one person killing another. It was fortunate this year that the potatoes were good. Otherwise, I believe that the workers from the factories would already have come to us out of the cities in order to plunder. Even if the dear God looks after us, we are prepared for the worst. As far as clothing is concerned I won't say anything about that today. The poor folks are faring the worst. Thousands of children in the cities haven't had a shirt on their body for a long time. I'm going to stop now, dear Bernard; I don't want to give you a heavy heart. All of your loved ones are faring well indeed. How happy I would be if Joseph, Anton, and Ferdinand would let themselves be heard from. See if you can't get one or the other to write. I won't come a-begging to you. We still have food and we can do without the things we don't have. I liked to smoke a cigar or a pipeful of tobacco. During the past month the price of things of that kind has soared a hundredfold, and no longer available. What we have the most of is paper money. There's no lack of that. There is no more gold and silver unless someone has laid some away. Now what more shall I write? I will quit for now because my eyes can't and won't go on. Please, you must forgive my bad handwriting. Dear Cousin Bernard, I will take pen in hand once again to write a few more things. As I said, we and all the cousins are well so far. God knows what is still to come. How all of you dear cousins are to be envied that you are there. We dare nothing of our future. Nobody can know it, or what might happen. You can all consider yourselves fortunate. You write that millions have been collected there for the needy in Germany. You have it right -- these moneys don't all reach the place for which they are intended. Here, it is nothing but lies and deception. Theft recognizes no "mine and thine," and the newspapers are daily full of robberies. You write that no liquor is available there any more. Here we have had a surplus for the last two years. We have millions worth of it in storage. It is made from barley. But in the last two months the price has gone from 100 Mark to 1600 Marks per liter. I would gladly send you some if that could be done. I also have some corn liquor that I put away in 1882 and so is 40 years old. A fast troepchen. And so as far as this in concerned I can't be of any help to you. And so I will have a Mass said during this Christmastime for your dear mother who reposes her with us. Now I must close because I am coming to the end of the sheet. In closing I send you all an "auf wiedersehen". I keep thinking that these lines will be my last ones to you, because every day it can go kopfaelen. Dear Bernard and your wife and children and all cousins with their wives and children, accept sincere Christmas greetings and also a happy new year from us all. Especially, accept sincere greetings from Your cousin August Translator The name of the translator of the original document into English. Raymond C. Backes Destination Defines the geographic location to which a given document was sent. [GHI-created element] Osage County, Missouri Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January 13, 1924 Description An account of the resource Letter from August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January 13, 1924. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1924-01-13 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August Stockebrand Type The nature or genre of the resource letter Language A language of the resource German Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Bernard Rustemeyer Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State Historical Society of Missouri Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rustemeyer Family Papers Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Körbecke (Möhnesee), Nordrhein-Westfalen Scripto Percent Needs Review The percentage of pages with Needs Review status. 50 Weight A 6-digit number used to sort items quickly. 050050 1920-1929 August Stockebrand letters English available https://germanletters.org/files/original/257eceb0278f5dc52f8664903c2dc3f3.jpg 9a2ec00e15898880bb6b0a3f2013e7ab Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January, 1922, page 1 https://germanletters.org/files/original/356c55d43f8f4581ecf3e66c045c2d44.jpg 29c52517627db366b86dd7942b3ba27c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January, 1922, page 2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rustemeyer Papers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="https://www.shsmo.org" target="_blank" title="State Historical Society of Missouri" rel="noreferrer noopener">State Historical Society of Missouri</a> Description An account of the resource This collection of letters is drawn from the Rustemeyer Family Papers, held by the <a href="https://www.shsmo.org">State Historical Society of Missouri</a>, and includes letters sent to Bernard Rustemeyer in the years after World War I, primarily from his cousin August Stockebrand. Bernard Rustemeyer was born in the community of Körbecke, in Westphalia, in 1866, and immigrated with his family to Missouri in the 1880s. Relation A related resource <a href="https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/c4017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rustemeyer Family Papers</a> (finding aid, PDF) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Translation A translation of the original document's text into English. My dear Bernhard, I will dare and add just one small slip of paper and when that is full I'll have to close for now. So healthwise we are still doing well except for my eyes. The same goes for you. I took care of your orders for teacher Brüne concerning his brother-in-law Heinrich Alteköster, and I will pass on your regards to Franz and Anton Alteköster, haven't gone to see them yet. Concerning our business, we are still making good money thanks to you. One liter of spirits now costs between 2500 and 3000 Marks, it is spirits made from monopoly spirits but actually quite good. However, no more spirits have been delivered since September, it looks as if an alcohol prohibition is about to be introduced just like in your country. I still have large stocks, so when you come I can still offer you a great vintage wine [new page] ... from the 1880s. God knows what will become of us. In any case, I will be able to give you much more bad news in my next letter. If dear America does not help us, the French and the Bulgarian are likely to destroy us completely. The year of 1923 will presumably turn out to be the worst to ever loom over Germany, you will get the picture from the newspapers. Now, all you dear cousins Josef, Anton and Ferdinand including your wives and children, especially you, dear cousin Bernhard, farewell, goodbye, if not in this world, then in heaven. But, dear cousin Bernhard, as long as we are alive and the mail service is still delivering letters, and as long as I am able to write, our correspondence shall not end. Now all of you, farewell and let our well or woe rest with destiny. Hoping thus, your loyal cousin concludes this letter in love for you all. Your cousin August (Write soon again/ August) Destination Defines the geographic location to which a given document was sent. [GHI-created element] Osage County, Missouri, USA Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January, 1923 Description An account of the resource Letter from August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, January, 1923. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1923-01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August Stockebrand Type The nature or genre of the resource letter Language A language of the resource German Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Bernard Rustemeyer Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Körbecke (Möhnesee), Germany Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State Historical Society of Missouri Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rustemeyer Family Papers Scripto Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"> <p>Mein lieber Bernhard ein kl Zettel will ich noch wagen an zu hängen, und wenn selber noch voll wird muß ich für diesmal schließen, also Gesundheitlich geth es uns noch außer meinen Augen noch gut, dasselbe ist ja bei Euch allen der Fall deine Bestellungen für den Lehrer Brüne betreffs seines Schwagers Heinrich Alteköster habe bestellt und Franz und Anton Alteköster will ich von dir Grüßen war noch nicht bei ihnen Was nun unser Geschäft angeth so haben wir noch großen Verdienst danke dir 1 Ltr Branntwein kostet jetzt 2500 bis 3000 Mk selbiger ist Branntwein aus Monopolspiritus, aber ganz gut, seit September wird aber schon keiner Spiritus mehr geliefert, es soll auch das Alkoholverbot eingeführt werden wie bei Euch ich habe noch große Vorräte, wenn du kommst so kann auch noch ein prima Tropfen<br /><br />[new page]</p> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 12.426 1 .MzM.MTY1 100.00% 12.426 1 -total --></div> <div class="mw-parser-output"> <p>aus den 1880 Jahren vorsetzen was aus uns jetzt wird das weiß der liebe Gott, jedenfalls kann ich dir im nächsten Brief viel mehr Unheil von Deutschland schreiben wenn das liebe Amerika uns nicht hilft, dann wird der Franzose und Bulgar uns wohl ganz Vernichten das Jahr 1923 wird wohl das schlimmste werden was je über Deutschland geschwebt hat, du wirst die ein Bild aus den Zeitungen machen Nun alle ihr lieben Vettern Josef, Anton und Ferdinand mit Frauen und Kinder besonders du lieber Vetter Bernhard lebt wohl auf Wiedersehen wenn nicht in dieser Welt so im Himmel aber lieber Vetter Bernhard so lange wir leben und die Post noch Briefe befördert und ich noch schreiben kann soll unser Briefverkehr nicht aufhören. Nun nochmals lebt alle recht wohl und überlaßt dem Schicksal unser Wohl oder Wehe in dieser Hoffnung schließt dein treuer Vetter in Liebe für Euch Alle. Dein Vetter August (Schreibe bald wieder/ August)</p> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 11.571 1 .MzM.MTY2 100.00% 11.571 1 -total --></div> 1920-1929 August Stockebrand letters English available transcribed https://germanletters.org/files/original/6d29e59aecd63009f76aa60acc912433.jpg 7c9ddfe447f0b3c2e515c84d85a34f78 Scripto Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>Lieber Vetter Bernhard&#160;! + Familie! Wie seit Jahren so bin auch jetzt zur Kräftigung meiner Gesundheit &lt;illegible&gt; in Bad Salzschlirf zur Bekämpfung meiner Gichtleiden, mann wird doch immer Älter und es finden sich immer andere Leiden meine Augen sind sehr schlecht zudem &lt;illegible&gt; fing seit diesem Frühjahr ein Nieren und Blasenleiden umzu &lt;illegible&gt; sodaß ich glaubte es ginge nicht lange mehr so Gott will &lt;?geth?&gt; es jetzt wieder besser. Bruder Franz &lt;?geth? es nicht mehr, wie du weißt ist er ja bei seiner einzigen Tochter in Düren mein Sohn der seit Januar in Cöln als Assistensarzt tätig ist behandelt ihn es ist traurig daß ich nicht mal hinfahren kann, &lt;?waß?&gt; die Franzosen nicht leiden, wann darf ich mal wieder ein freies Deutschland &lt;illegible&gt; aber ich glaube nicht daran, die Franzosen wollen aber Deutschland total kaput machen, sind auch jetzt schon nicht mehr weit davon entfernt, den die &lt;illegible&gt; sind kaput zudem die &lt;?Behebung?&gt; und Arbeitslosigkeit, und Geldmangel, in den letzten Jahren hatten wir Geld über Geld und jetzt fast keins mehr, den unsere Regierung hat von &lt;end page&gt; </p> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 1.956 1 .MzY.NTY 100.00% 1.956 1 -total --> </div> https://germanletters.org/files/original/fc7eff33c2bf9d64152ec7ea5ab3d5b8.jpg d6fa2ac66706594a424462a0d5651084 https://germanletters.org/files/original/e689b723669bd7604b311a8790719c83.jpg 9bb159169f1cf18278f0eea2d93285f9 https://germanletters.org/files/original/fb36faaa446cd2235fb8c4899869abfd.jpg 3c6a6a44a943bdb28a9a5987d90d1718 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rustemeyer Papers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="https://www.shsmo.org" target="_blank" title="State Historical Society of Missouri" rel="noreferrer noopener">State Historical Society of Missouri</a> Description An account of the resource This collection of letters is drawn from the Rustemeyer Family Papers, held by the <a href="https://www.shsmo.org">State Historical Society of Missouri</a>, and includes letters sent to Bernard Rustemeyer in the years after World War I, primarily from his cousin August Stockebrand. Bernard Rustemeyer was born in the community of Körbecke, in Westphalia, in 1866, and immigrated with his family to Missouri in the 1880s. Relation A related resource <a href="https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/c4017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rustemeyer Family Papers</a> (finding aid, PDF) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Translation A translation of the original document's text into English. Dear Cousin Bernard and Family! As in years gone by, I am once again in Bad Salschlirf to improve my health and to fight my gout, which hits men of my age. I have other problems as well. My eyesight is very poor. On top of that I found out that I've had a kidney stone since last Spring, so that I thought I wasn't long for this world. God willing it is better again now. Brother Franz is not well. As you know, he is living with his only daughter in Dulken. One of his sons, who has been employed as an assistant doctor in Cologne since January, is taking care of him. It is sad that I can't take a drive over there. That's is something the French won't permit. Would that Germany would once again be free, but I don't put much faith in that. The French wanted to totally destroy Germany, and are not far from doing so. The [low] wages kill us, along with the inflation and the unemployment and the shortage of money. For the past several years we had money on top of money and now we have almost none. That's because the government converted a billion Marks to one Mark. One Mark will buy a loaf of bread or a pound of meat. That says it all. All of you dear cousins can be glad that you are there. Misery prevails here. Nicht mehr mit.....braucht. My business is still idle because no rye can be allotted for whiskey. But then I don't have any special desire for that any longer, in my old age. Now, my dear cousin and his wife, I want to send best wishes to your daughter-in-law. I'm sure she is all right; otherwise your brother Joseph would surely have let me know. So wish the young couple much good fortune and many blessings. Dear Bernard, pass along my greetings and best wishes. I would be so very happy if I could get a daughter-in-law. This Winter, my son will settle down as a doctor and then might well give some thought to marrying. Our oldest son seems to have no desire. How sad! Now, dear cousin, when you write again please tell me why your brother Joseph is never heard from. Please greet all the cousins. I know you have been waiting for these lines for a long time. Forgive my long silence. A lot of the blame rests on my poor eyesight. You must forgive my bad handwriting. I hope you can read it, anyway. Dear cousin, it is very boring for me here at the Baths. And I hesitate to establish any special acquaintances because then I wouldn't get the rest I need. I could have brought my wife along, but she is not for musigt.., and since all of Germany has become impoverished last year and is still getting poorer, the order of the day now is saving and working. But that doesn't helps any longer, for we are too old. I will now close for this time with the promise that if I remain healthy you will not have to wait so long for an answer again. Ha! In Koerbecke, everyone is still alive so far. Cousin Josef Giese gt Bunsen is not long for this world. He suffers greatly from asthma. My son took care of him since last Fall. When he's feeling good he is happy. Otherwise, all of the relatives and acquaintances are still healthy. So far I have passed along your greetings to everyone, and they bid me to return the greeting, so here it comes. I send my sincerest greetings to you and yours, and to all the cousins, Josef, Anton, and Ferdinand. I hope that our dear God will let us live some longer. My very special greetings to you, dear cousin Bernard, from your cousin, August Stockebrand Once again, forgive my bad handwriting. It is not at its best anymore. Translator The name of the translator of the original document into English. Raymond C. Backes Destination Defines the geographic location to which a given document was sent. [GHI-created element] Osage County, Missouri Excerpt A brief, clear description to display on the homepage for featured items. “For the past several years we had money on top of money and now we have almost none. That’s because the government converted a billion Marks to one Mark. One Mark will buy a loaf of bread or a pound of meat. That says it all. All of you dear cousins can be glad that you are there...” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, July 20, 1924 Description An account of the resource Letter from August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, July 20, 1924. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1924-07-20 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August Stockebrand Type The nature or genre of the resource letter Language A language of the resource German Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Bernard Rustemeyer Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Körbecke (Möhnesee), Germany Bad Salzschlirf, Germany Osage County, Missouri, USA Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State Historical Society of Missouri Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rustemeyer Family Papers Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Bad Salzschlirf, Germany Scripto Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"> <p>Lieber Vetter Bernhard&nbsp;! + Familie! Wie seit Jahren so bin auch jetzt zur Kräftigung meiner Gesundheit &lt;illegible&gt; in Bad Salzschlirf zur Bekämpfung meiner Gichtleiden, mann wird doch immer Älter und es finden sich immer andere Leiden meine Augen sind sehr schlecht zudem &lt;illegible&gt; fing seit diesem Frühjahr ein Nieren und Blasenleiden umzu &lt;illegible&gt; sodaß ich glaubte es ginge nicht lange mehr so Gott will &lt;?geth?&gt; es jetzt wieder besser. Bruder Franz &lt;?geth? es nicht mehr, wie du weißt ist er ja bei seiner einzigen Tochter in Düren mein Sohn der seit Januar in Cöln als Assistensarzt tätig ist behandelt ihn es ist traurig daß ich nicht mal hinfahren kann, &lt;?waß?&gt; die Franzosen nicht leiden, wann darf ich mal wieder ein freies Deutschland &lt;illegible&gt; aber ich glaube nicht daran, die Franzosen wollen aber Deutschland total kaput machen, sind auch jetzt schon nicht mehr weit davon entfernt, den die &lt;illegible&gt; sind kaput zudem die &lt;?Behebung?&gt; und Arbeitslosigkeit, und Geldmangel, in den letzten Jahren hatten wir Geld über Geld und jetzt fast keins mehr, den unsere Regierung hat von &lt;end page&gt;</p> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 2.430 1 .MzY.NTY 100.00% 2.430 1 -total --></div> <div class="mw-parser-output"> <p>&lt;start page&gt; von einer Billion Mark eine Mark gemacht und für eine Mark kann mann 1 Brot oder 1 Pfund Fleisch kaufen das wird dir alles sagen, Ihr alle lieben Vettern könnt froh sein daß ihr dort seid und hier &lt;illegible&gt; Jammer nicht mehr mitmachen braucht. Mein Geschäft ruht immer noch weil noch kein Roggen zu Branntwein Verarbeitet werden darf, ich habe auch in meinem Alter keine besondere Lust mehr dazu Mein lieber Vetter + Frau wünsche ich Euch zu Eurer Schwiegertochter herzliche Glückwünsche, selbige wird wohl gut sein sonst hätte Bruder Joseph Euch wohl abgeraten. So wünsche der jungen Frau viel Glück und Segen bestelle Lieber Bernhard meine Grüße und Wünsche auch ich würde mich freuen wenn ich mal eine Schwiegertochter bekäme, diesen Winter wird sich mein Sohn als Doktor niederlassen und dann auch wohl ans Heiraten denken, unser altester Sohn scheint kaum Lust zu haben schade. Nun lieber Vetter bei deinem nächsten Briefe schreibst du wohl warum Bruder Joseph den nichts von sich hören läßt du kannst nur alle Vettern herzlich grüßen, auf diese Zeilen wirst du wohl lange gewartet haben, entschuldige mein langes Schweigen, viel war mein Augenleiden schuld, du mußt mein schlechtes Schreiben ebenfalls entschuldigen Hoffentlich wirst du selbiges noch lesen können</p> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 1.506 1 .MzY.NTc 100.00% 1.506 1 -total --></div> <div class="mw-parser-output"> <p>II. Lieber Vetter Bernhard, hier im Bad ist es für mich sehr langweilig, möchte auch keine besondere Bekanntschaft anknüpfen, da mann dann die nötige Ruhe nicht mehr findet. Ich hätte wohl meine Frau mitnehmen können, aber selbige ist für Müßigtun nicht, und da Deutschland im vorigen Jahr alle arm geworden ist und noch weiter verarmt, so heißt es jetzt wieder Sparen und Arbeiten, aber es wird uns wohl nicht mehr nützen, denn wir sind zu Alt. Nun will ich diesmal schließen mit dem Versprechen, wenn ich gesund bleibe, dich nicht wieder solange auf Antwort warten zu lassen, ha. In Körbecke ist soweit noch Alles am Leben. Vetter Josef Giese gt</p> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 2.296 1 .MzY.NTg 100.00% 2.296 1 -total --></div> <div class="mw-parser-output"> <p>Bunse&lt;?n?&gt; ist nicht mehr weit her leidet sehr an Astma mein Sohn hat ihn seit vorigem Herbst behandelt, wenn es gut geth hat er Glück, sonst alle Verwandte und Bekannte noch gesund Deine Grüße habe soweit alle bestellt, und ist mir aufgetragen dich wieder zu Grüßen so nimm jetzt hiermit hin Nun empfangt ihr Alle die Lieben sowie alle Vettern Josef Anton und Ferdinand meine herzlichsten Grüße und daß uns der liebe Gott noch weiter leben Läßt, und besonders du lieber Vetter Bernhard empfange meine besten innigsten Grüße von deinem Vetter August Stockebrand Entschuldige nochmals mein schlechtes Schreiben, es geth nicht besser mehr.</p> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 1.657 1 .MzY.NTk 100.00% 1.657 1 -total --></div> 1920-1929 August Stockebrand letters English available transcribed https://germanletters.org/files/original/1fb5849d6fea7c443b8536047bf179d0.jpg 74924095ea2bc06418bad7710d75032b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, June 29, 1922, page 1 Scripto Status The current transcription status of a document or a page. Needs Review Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>Bad Salzschlirf, 29. 6. 22 </p><p>Mein lieber Vetter Bernard! </p><p>Wie die letzten Jahre so weile auch dieses Jahr hier wieder im Bade um meine Gesundheit wieder zu kräftigen, nun sind meine Augen dazu sehr schlecht geworden sodaß ich zum Schreiben sehr schlecht sehen kann du mußt daher die Fehler welche in nachstehenden Seiten vorkommen entschuldigen. Lieber Vetter Bernhard, mir und meiner Frau und Kinder geth es soweit noch gut, wie es sonst in Deutschland geth wirst du dort in Euren Zeitungen wohl auch erfahren. Wir in Deutschland sind arm wie eine Kirchenmaus letzteren Ausdruck wirst du aus deiner Jugend noch in </p><p>[page 1, bottom margin, upside down:] </p><p>Soeben erfahre daß der Dollar innerhalb 2 [?] Monate [/?] auf 380 Mark [?] steht [/?] </p><p>[/page 1, bottom margin, upside down] </p></div> https://germanletters.org/files/original/9931a41f1782ac7cb6a3348f183845ed.jpg fb11d5e67198759b1d07371f674d3248 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, June 29, 1922, page 2 Scripto Status The current transcription status of a document or a page. Needs Review Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>[page 2:] </p><p>in Erinnerung [?] sein [/?], unser Geld hat fast gar keinen Wert mehr [?] gegen nüber [/?] für 1 Dollar Mk 4, 20, vor dem Kriege wird heute hier in Deutschland 360 Mk gezahlt du wie auch alle Vettern Josef Anton Ferdinand oder du lieber Bernard könnten für Eure Dollar hier in Deutschland große Reisen machen und leben, es sind eine Menge Amerikaner im [?] Süden [/?] Deutschlands so auch hier in Bad Salzschlirf komm doch auch mal herüber du kannst hier sonst noch ohne Schwierigkeiten reisen noch stelle Dir mein Haus offen sage daß auch allen Brüdern, die Teuerungen welche hier herrschen sind [?] ganz [/?] [?] enorm [/?] und nun haben wir für diese Jahr eine solche schlechte Ernte </p></div> https://germanletters.org/files/original/d71465f61c62d588232b6e8771486eec.jpg 87573920f1fe8fb37b68a4e44f57f412 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, June 29, 1922, page 3 Scripto Status The current transcription status of a document or a page. Needs Review Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>[page 3:] </p><p>Ernte in Aussicht wie seit 40 Jahren nicht gewesen ist. Kaufen können wier von Euch nichts weil unser Geld wie dier geschrieben kaum Wert hat, so kostet z. B. hier 100 # Weizen 850 Mk, Roggen Hafer und Gerste [illegible] 750 Mark ein # Butter 80 - 90 Mark ein Pfund Schweinefleisch 70 - 80 Mk Rindfleisch 60 - 70 Mark und so alles andere. Kleidung und Wäsche ist fast nicht mehr zu haben oder schlecht und sehr teuer, es wird nicht mehr lange dauern so kostet ein Brodt 50 - 100 Mark und dann wird nichts mehr zu haben sein weil die Ernte in diesem Jahr nichts bringt, zu Hause so auch ziemlich in ganz Deutschland ist Weizen </p></div> https://germanletters.org/files/original/ed1dc7bbbb0cc1bcf38fb2fba411b3f7.jpg adf98ee09301440079c013a4cfa10362 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, June 29, 1922, page 4 Scripto Status The current transcription status of a document or a page. Needs Review Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>[page 4:] </p><p>Weizen und Gerste alles diesen Winter erfroren und Hafer ist in folge der Trockenheit im Mai und Juni nichts, wieder wird unsere Ernte nichts mehr. Nun l Bernhard wie geth es Euch allen hoffentlich noch gut du schreibst mal recht bald mal, mein langes Schreiben bitte zu entschuldigen daran sind meine Augen schuld, wie schlecht selbe sind muß dier mitteilen daß ich diese Zeilen nicht lesen kann also wenn ein Strich fehlt oder zu viel ist, entschuldige. Nun zum Schluß lebt wohl all Ihr Vettern &lt;illegible&gt; und seht Euch alle mit Frauen und Kindern &lt;illegible&gt; alle recht herzlich gegrüßt von Eurem </p><p>Vetter August Stockebrand </p><p>[page 4, bottom-left corner:] </p><p>Also wegen meiner Schrift bitte um Entschuldigung ich kann nicht besser </p><p>[/page 4, bottom-left corner] </p></div> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rustemeyer Papers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <a href="https://www.shsmo.org" target="_blank" title="State Historical Society of Missouri" rel="noreferrer noopener">State Historical Society of Missouri</a> Description An account of the resource This collection of letters is drawn from the Rustemeyer Family Papers, held by the <a href="https://www.shsmo.org">State Historical Society of Missouri</a>, and includes letters sent to Bernard Rustemeyer in the years after World War I, primarily from his cousin August Stockebrand. Bernard Rustemeyer was born in the community of Körbecke, in Westphalia, in 1866, and immigrated with his family to Missouri in the 1880s. Relation A related resource <a href="https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/c4017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rustemeyer Family Papers</a> (finding aid, PDF) Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Translation A translation of the original document's text into English. My dear Cousin Bernard! This year, so far, is like last year. I am again here at the baths in order to improve my health. Now my eyes have become so weak that I can't see very well to write. And so you must pardon the shortcomings which you find in the next lines. Dear cousin Bernard, I and my wife and children are still well so far. Outside of that, you can read in your local papers how things are in Germany. We in Germany are as poor as a church-mouse. ......you know from your youth are still in ... Our money is no longer worth anything. One of your dollars, worth 4.29 Mk before the war, now brings 360 Mk. You as well as all the cousins, Josef, Anton, Ferdinand or you yourself dear Bernard, could live well here in Germany for a few dollars. There are a number of Americans in all of South Germany and also here in Bad Salzschlief. Why don't you come on over? Here you could lay your cares to rest. My house is open to you. Tell all of your brothers. The inflation that prevails here is enormous and now we have for this year .... such as hasn't been seen in 40 years. We cannot buy anything from you because our money, as I wrote you, has no value. For example, 100 pounds of wheat costs 850 Mk, and rye, oats, and barley around 750 Mk. A pound of butter is 80-90- Mk. A pound of pork, 70-80 Mk, of beef, 60-70 Mk. And so with everything else. Clothing and cotton is almost unavailable, because the harvested goods bring nothing as of today. It's that way all over Germany. .... and gardens all froze this winter, and yield nothing in the wake of a drought in May and June. But we no longer suffer the earlier misery. Now, dear Bernard, how are all of you. Hopefully very well. Write very soon. Forgive my lousy handwriting. My eyes are to blame because they are so bad. I must tell you that I cannot read these lines. So if a stroke is missing or superfluous, please excuse. Now in closing, fare well, all of you honorable cousins. Heartfelt greetings to you all and to your wives and children from your cousin, August Stockebrand Please forgive my lousy writing. It's the best I can do. [Post-script:] Just now the dollar rose to 380 Mark. Translator The name of the translator of the original document into English. Raymond C. Backes Destination Defines the geographic location to which a given document was sent. [GHI-created element] Osage County, Missouri Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, June 29, 1922 Description An account of the resource Letter from August Stockebrand to Bernard Rustemeyer, June 29, 1922. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1922-06-29 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August Stockebrand Type The nature or genre of the resource letter Language A language of the resource German Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Bernard Rustemeyer Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Körbecke (Möhnesee), Germany Bad Salzschlirf, Germany Osage County, Missouri, USA Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State Historical Society of Missouri Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Rustemeyer Family Papers Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Bad Salzschlirf, Germany Scripto Percent Needs Review The percentage of pages with Needs Review status. 100 Weight A 6-digit number used to sort items quickly. 100000 Transcription A written representation of a document. <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>Bad Salzschlirf, 29. 6. 22 </p><p>Mein lieber Vetter Bernard! </p><p>Wie die letzten Jahre so weile auch dieses Jahr hier wieder im Bade um meine Gesundheit wieder zu kräftigen, nun sind meine Augen dazu sehr schlecht geworden sodaß ich zum Schreiben sehr schlecht sehen kann du mußt daher die Fehler welche in nachstehenden Seiten vorkommen entschuldigen. Lieber Vetter Bernhard, mir und meiner Frau und Kinder geth es soweit noch gut, wie es sonst in Deutschland geth wirst du dort in Euren Zeitungen wohl auch erfahren. Wir in Deutschland sind arm wie eine Kirchenmaus letzteren Ausdruck wirst du aus deiner Jugend noch in </p><p>[page 1, bottom margin, upside down:] </p><p>Soeben erfahre daß der Dollar innerhalb 2 [?] Monate [/?] auf 380 Mark [?] steht [/?] </p><p>[/page 1, bottom margin, upside down] </p></div> <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>[page 2:] </p><p>in Erinnerung [?] sein [/?], unser Geld hat fast gar keinen Wert mehr [?] gegen nüber [/?] für 1 Dollar Mk 4, 20, vor dem Kriege wird heute hier in Deutschland 360 Mk gezahlt du wie auch alle Vettern Josef Anton Ferdinand oder du lieber Bernard könnten für Eure Dollar hier in Deutschland große Reisen machen und leben, es sind eine Menge Amerikaner im [?] Süden [/?] Deutschlands so auch hier in Bad Salzschlirf komm doch auch mal herüber du kannst hier sonst noch ohne Schwierigkeiten reisen noch stelle Dir mein Haus offen sage daß auch allen Brüdern, die Teuerungen welche hier herrschen sind [?] ganz [/?] [?] enorm [/?] und nun haben wir für diese Jahr eine solche schlechte Ernte </p></div> <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>[page 3:] </p><p>Ernte in Aussicht wie seit 40 Jahren nicht gewesen ist. Kaufen können wier von Euch nichts weil unser Geld wie dier geschrieben kaum Wert hat, so kostet z. B. hier 100 # Weizen 850 Mk, Roggen Hafer und Gerste [illegible] 750 Mark ein # Butter 80 - 90 Mark ein Pfund Schweinefleisch 70 - 80 Mk Rindfleisch 60 - 70 Mark und so alles andere. Kleidung und Wäsche ist fast nicht mehr zu haben oder schlecht und sehr teuer, es wird nicht mehr lange dauern so kostet ein Brodt 50 - 100 Mark und dann wird nichts mehr zu haben sein weil die Ernte in diesem Jahr nichts bringt, zu Hause so auch ziemlich in ganz Deutschland ist Weizen </p></div> <div class="mw-parser-output"><p>[page 4:] </p><p>Weizen und Gerste alles diesen Winter erfroren und Hafer ist in folge der Trockenheit im Mai und Juni nichts, wieder wird unsere Ernte nichts mehr. Nun l Bernhard wie geth es Euch allen hoffentlich noch gut du schreibst mal recht bald mal, mein langes Schreiben bitte zu entschuldigen daran sind meine Augen schuld, wie schlecht selbe sind muß dier mitteilen daß ich diese Zeilen nicht lesen kann also wenn ein Strich fehlt oder zu viel ist, entschuldige. Nun zum Schluß lebt wohl all Ihr Vettern &lt;illegible&gt; und seht Euch alle mit Frauen und Kindern &lt;illegible&gt; alle recht herzlich gegrüßt von Eurem </p><p>Vetter August Stockebrand </p><p>[page 4, bottom-left corner:] </p><p>Also wegen meiner Schrift bitte um Entschuldigung ich kann nicht besser </p><p>[/page 4, bottom-left corner] </p></div> 1920-1929 August Stockebrand letters English available