Very strange and understanding Feldpost

[VonRiver]

Hi.,

I'm having trouble understanding this letter...
What's the matter? and what is the language used at the end?

The newspaper clipping came inside the letter.

Regards.,

Von River

[HPL2008]

It's not a different language: It's written in shorthand.
(Can't read that; I learned it in school a long time ago, but have not used it since then and pretty much forgot all about it.)

[VonRiver]

Thanks for the help HPL2008, this written in shorthand its new for me.

Regards.,

Von River

[Paul D]

I thought it may be shorthand but with it being German i couldn't be sure , i wonder if he was trying to beat the censor ??

[HPL2008]

I thought it may be shorthand but with it being German i couldn't be sure , i wonder if he was trying to beat the censor ??

I really don't think so, Paul.

Back then, writing & reading shorthand was such a common and widespread skill*) within the administrative/clerical/mercantile professions that it would have been unrealistic to assume that nobody at the censor's office would be able to read it.

It seems more likely to me that the man who wrote the letter knew the recipients were able to read shorthand and so he used it to save writing time and letter space. Time and/or paper may well have been scarce when he wrote it.


*) I still had to learn it in the 1980s as a standard part of my school's curriculum.
Granted, it may be a useful skill for certain situations, but I absolutely hated it... and even as a teenage boy was quite certain that I would never take up a career as a typist or court stenographer.
I made the firm resolution to never use it after graduation and forget all about it as quickly as possible. Kept that resolution, too.