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Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

Article about: Here is another thought why not scan at 300 dpi each page of the diaries and produce a facsimile of the diaries which you could self-publish through a service such as lulu.com. German audien

  1. #21
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    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    Quote by Monuir View Post
    Hi. I had many german documents translated and 260 pages like that would cost something like 3000+ dollars.

    I pay 65 GBP (105 USD) for 1000 words.

    I count about 200 words on 1 page, that would be about 20 dollars / page. 260 x 20 = 5200 dollars. Of course when you have so much material it is possible to make deals, but still I think this might be very expensive to have translated. As people said before, it's better to have a few interesting looking pages translated first and see if it's good or not. Also look for interesting dates, ϟϟ signs, interesting names etc etc, and have these pages translated.

    Best of luck, definetly seems cool! Diaries are some of the most interesting things from the war, I personally think.
    Hi, I was hoping you'd chime in! I found a translator in the US, a German woman, who offered to do 100 words for $15, or 200 for $30.
    I mentioned that I speak German, so she also offered that it would be cheaper(by half) if she just transcribed a page and didn't translate them. So, $15 for 200 words, not bad. I think this may be the best option, as my German is actually somewhat passable and I doubt a war diary would be like reading Kant in German(no offense meant to Ol' Immanuel but I have trouble reading him in English, total Schwer!), though who knows, perhaps he was the unpublished Ernst Jünger of the Ostfront! I think I will choose a few interesting pages and see what happens. There is also a letter stuck into a pocket in the back with an Edelweisse, dated 1943, very interested to know what it says.

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  3. #22
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    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    Quote by drmessimer View Post
    It will take patience and some effort, but you do have a very worthwhile property there and one that can definitely be sold for publication. If you have any questions about publishing in general, send me a PM. In the meantime, good luck. Dwight
    Thank you Dr M, these are all solid suggestions, and I will definitely PM you about publishing, as I know nothing about it!

  4. #23
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    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    Quote by 4thskorpion View Post
    Given that most publishers' author royalties are within the range of 5-12% net (publisher sale price less cost of sale ie minus publishers artwork production, contract fees, ISBN no., book printing, distribution, warehousing strorage costs, copyright clearance, other allocated overheads etc)... don't expect to get rich and splitting 50-50 means even less! But hey, we do these things for love of the subject!
    Oh absolutely, I had a brief moment where I imagined putting a large dent in my student loans, but then I calculated the transcription cost and that went out the window, haha. I'd love to just be able to read this thing, and the fact that it is germane to my collecting interest, Operation Barbarossa/Ukraine/Krim, is all the better. I've owned photo albums and they are neat, but often they leave me feeling lacking, and wanting to know more, hence this purchase.

  5. #24
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    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    Quote by Eddie View Post
    Oh absolutely, I had a brief moment where I imagined putting a large dent in my student loans, but then I calculated the transcription cost and that went out the window, haha. I'd love to just be able to read this thing, and the fact that it is germane to my collecting interest, Operation Barbarossa/Ukraine/Krim, is all the better. I've owned photo albums and they are neat, but often they leave me feeling lacking, and wanting to know more, hence this purchase.
    Best of luck to you mate, the envelope with the edelweiss sounds fantastic and my favorite things to collect above all is actually feldpost with dried flowers, it's so surreal to be able to touch something that was growing during those chaotic years, carefully picked and dried by a hardened soldier, then sent to someone he cares about.

    The old German might be hard to understand, even if you know perfect german. I know German as well, having lived and worked in Berlin and also Swedish language is quite similar. But if I would have a feldpost letter just transcribed it would still be very hard for me to read it because of the way they wrote back in those days. But, might be a good idea to have a few pages transcribed and then see if you can translate them or not. Maybe someone here on the forums could offer to do it for free, it should not be so hard for someone with knowledge of the old german language if they are already transcribed.

    If you ever decide to sell the diares let me know! I would most likely have them all translated (and I always share my translations here exclusively on WRF)

    Best regards and happy holidays,
    Dan

  6. #25
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    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    Hi Dan, I agree, I was very pleasantly surprised to find this letter and the Edelweisse made me really happy. Here's a few pictures of the letter and the Edelweisse:

    Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation BarbarossaTranslation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    I don't know if I could ever sell these, but if I did, I would give you a crack at them for sure! I have a tunic that I restored with shoulder boards from IR72, so it matches my tunic/collection very well.

    PS. my rough transcription of this letter starting with lines 4-5 "so lange in aufgang ____ dazu. Ob____ leider nicht möglich_____ bin______________ da ist bist jetzt fest. ______ auf _______ und______ gegangen(?).

    Or, basically, "something(the letter?) was so long in transit/coming to light(?), that [something] is no longer possible, [something] there has been up to now."

    Not much, but, I just can't read the handwriting!

  7. #26
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    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    An incredible find Eddie I do wish you the best of luck with the translation as to rarity I have no ideal but it is the first diary that I have seen with detailed hand drawn field maps of campaigns and actions and this particular Diary covers a very important time during the war a turning point as it were.
    First person accounts (Diaries ) are IMO a very important part of history and a way to look into the past through the eyes of a soldier/soldat it will be interesting to here more on this subject please keep us informed as to the results.

    Regards Mark K

  8. #27
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    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    So, an update. I found a translator who was willing to just transcribe the diaries for me for 8 euro a page. I chose the diary page for June 22 1941, as I was sure it would have something to say about Operation Barbarossa, which would be interesting. I was very surprised however when I got the translation. Mostly it is not super interesting, but the last sentence of the last paragraph was a very surprising one to say the least.

    The German:

    Vorläufig sind wir noch in Belgrad,
    was weiterhin wird wissen wir noch nicht.
    Der Aufenthalt in der Parkanlagen
    des ehemaligen königl. Schlosses außerhalb
    Belgrads mit seinen sehr schönen Unter-
    künften der ehemaligen Jugoslaw. Garde
    kommt uns nach solchen anstrengenden
    Märschen (fast 2000 km Balkan) sehr zu-
    statten. Nun wartet aber schon wieder die
    [...]1 Aufgabe auf uns und da, muß ich
    sagen gefällt es uns hier nicht mehr.
    Der Angriffsgeist ist doch noch zu stark,
    als daß man hier aus weiter Ferne den
    andren Taten der deutschen Soldaten
    zusehen möchte. Was soll ich Dir lieber
    Leser noch von Belgrad schreiben?
    Eine Stadt wie alle internationalen Städte
    mit allen Komfort. Sehr schöne Parkanlagen u.
    Gebäudekomplexe. Auf beiliegender Karte
    der schönen Donau und Savestrand und
    verhältnismäßig saubere Bevölkerung. Jedoch
    mit allem Mischungen wie in allen intern.
    Städten Paris, London. Budapest, [Bukarest] usw.
    Die Reinigung ist auch hier in vollstem Gange.

    Eckige Klammern bedeuten: Hier bin ich (noch) unsicher. Bei längerer Einarbeitung in die Handschrift dürfe
    vieles davon noch lesbar werden.

    Via a very rough and not very good google translate translation(which misses/confuses many easy words for instance):

    For the present we are still in Belgrade,
    what will continue we do not know.
    Staying in the parks
    the former royal. lock out
    Belgrade, with its beautiful sub-
    künften the former Yugoslav. guard
    comes to us after such a strenuous
    Marches (almost 2000 km Balkans) to very-
    equip. Now wait but again the
    [...] 1 job for us and there I must
    say we do not like it here anymore.
    The fighting spirit is still too strong,
    than that from here far away the
    Andren deeds of German soldiers
    want to watch. What shall I prefer
    Readers write more of Belgrade?
    A city like all international cities
    with all comfort. Beautiful parks and
    Building complexes. On the attached map
    the beautiful beach and the Danube and Sava
    relatively clean population. however
    blends with everything as in all intern
    Cities, Paris, London. Budapest [Bucharest] etc.
    Cleaning is also in full swing.

    Brackets mean: Here I am (still) uncertain. Should by prolonged training in the handwriting
    much of it is still readable.

    I'm very interested in reading what the next pages say, but the last sentence is kind of a real shocker if it does mean what it seems to mean.

  9. #28

    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation BarbarossaThe Suetterlin here is pretty clear and easy to read. You should just teach yourself Sutterlin. It is not that difficult. In the 1970s, I spent two years reading primary sources at a time when the German forces had no typewriters, but Feinschreiber, i.e. official scribes, who drafted beautiful official documents.
    Command of Suetterlin is a good skill as a collector, as is command of German, overall.
    Your diaries are a useful and valuable source.
    Last edited by Friedrich-Berthold; 01-06-2013 at 06:22 AM.

  10. #29
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    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    Reading Sütterlin is a goal of mine. It is a lost art for those under 60 years of age. None of the Germans who educated me would be able to read it I am sure. Other pages in the other diaries are nigh impossible to read, at times it resembles a seismograph rather than human handwriting. In any event, now I have a Rosetta Stone of sorts. What are your thoughts on the Inhalt? Do you also read a malevolent intent into the last sentence, or am I projecting our knowledge of the Holocaust backwards onto primary source material?

  11. #30

    Default Re: Translation of German diaries detailing the beginning of Operation Barbarossa

    Reinigung could well refer to the fact that the murder of Jews in Serbia began at the hands of the Wehrmacht, in fact.
    It might also merely mean that the damage from the war was being removed, which the Germans prided themselves on in all the conquered territories.

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