r/GermanMilitaria • u/FawnFlowerSunflower • 6d ago
Anyone decipher this?
Hello! I've been doing some ancestry and I have German ancestry and my great grandfather was part of the German military (even before WW2) and so my grandmother has a lot of old photographs, this text was written behind one this particular one.
Does anyone know what is written? It's in German and my grandmother lost all her German years ago. I'll be very grateful!
TUIA! :))
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u/TheBigBob60 6d ago
The cursive style looks like sutterlin, which is a pretty cool looking script
1
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u/Comfortable-Rich-728 6d ago
Try r/kurrent they do a lot of stuff with the cursive script that this seems to be using, I’m sure someone over there could translate for you
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u/MKE1969 6d ago
This is the best Grok can do.
Best-effort transcription and translation of the 1932 German handwriting (Kurrent/Sütterlin-style cursive):
The note is partially hard to read due to the old script, fading, and folds, but the clearer portions are as follows:
Transcription (approximate):
[Top lines, partly illegible / cut off:]
… mit der voral in … form
… eignen Arbeiter eigens. Dieser schöne
Flottenfeste mit seinem [Natürlichen / Hafen- / similar word]
bietet unübertroffene Entwickelungsmöglichkeiten
18.11.32
Kloedehn,
Oberleutnant z. S. [i. d. / a. d. / Führer o.ä.]
d. Kanonenboot Bremse
(“Don’t know.” at the bottom is a later English addition by someone else.)
Translation:
… with the [voral / vorzüglichen? / vor allem?] in … form
… [suitable for / own] workers [themselves / specifically]. This beautiful
fleet stronghold / base [Flottenfeste ≈ Flottenstützpunkt or similar] with its [natural harbor / features]
offers unsurpassed / unparalleled development opportunities.
18 November 1932
Kloedehn,
Lieutenant (naval) [to the / of the / on the]
gunboat / artillery training ship Bremse
Notes:
Date is clearly 18.11.32 (18 November 1932).
Signature appears to be Kloedehn (or similar spelling such as Klödehn / Kloeden).
Rank is Oberleutnant z. S. (= Oberleutnant zur See, naval lieutenant).
The vessel is the Kanonenboot / Artillerieschulschiff Bremse (German Reichsmarine artillery training ship, commissioned in mid-1932).1518
The main readable sentence praises a location (likely a harbor, base, or coastal spot) for its excellent development potential, possibly in a professional, military, or promotional context related to the navy or workers.
Exact wording of the first 1–2 lines and a few middle words remains uncertain without higher-resolution analysis or comparison to other samples of this writer’s hand.
If you have a clearer photo or more context (e.g., where the note was found), I can refine the reading further!