Friday, January 9, 2009

Ulla and Dolores...


were pen pals in the 1930s. Ulla from Germany, and Dolores from the United States.



Ulla stuck sticker stamps onto her envelopes and letters...



...and embroidered patches of silk flowers and glued them on:



She also hand cut silhouettes from velvety paper:



Ulla was cool.

One letter from her is in German, another in English. Here's an excerpt of her December 21, 1934 English one (grammatical errors included):

My love Dolores,

I would your written, but I had not many time. I go the last year in the school and I have very many work. I must work, then I will have good zensur (grades). In the school we make a theatrical performance. The girls from our class make a fine dance. This fest is for the "Winterhilfe". The "Winterhilfe" is for the poor people and the poor children...

I have a grand cat and a dog. My father had many hens and many ducks. Has you many animals. In my room I have a canary bird. He sings very fine.

Has you a brother or a sister? I have a grand brother but he is 26 year. We have us very love. I go with my brother in a cino. (?) This is very fine. The 3rd February is in Schmockwitz, a grand festival. We dance till in the night.

In my next letter I send your a picture from me. Replied me soon and I writed swiftly.

Now Goodbye my love Dolores. Ulla Stoebe


I wish I could have seen Ulla's picture. I wonder what happened to them all during the war?




3 comments:

Unknown said...

That is so neat! A peek into the stories of the past. Penpals are so nice and to think that they were during that time, is quite interesting. I wonder when they stopped writing as I would imagine the post would have stopped between the two countries whilst at war? This is funny because I just got a hand written letter and card from my german friend (whom I met in uni). I love snail mail!

Maggie May said...

this is one of my favorite blog posts ever. this is amazing for a few reasons, and beautiful letters.

Anonymous said...

Starting in the mid-1930s, my Californian mom as a child began a a pen pal correspondence with a German boy in Leipzig that lasted 54 years - on the back of three of the 1930s envelopes are similar style black silhouette children/animal stamps with the phrase: "Liebet auch die Tiere"
Your post is the first time that I have seen similar stamps. I am fascinated - how did you come to have these letters? Was Delores a relative of yours?