Heinrich Graebel - postcard returned to sender - KIA

[JWK]

You send a postcard to your cousin Heinrich Graebel, and you get it back like this:

Stamped "Zurück" (= return to sender) , and matter-of-factly scribbled across it "Gefallen" (= Killed in action)

“Oldenburg, 31 oct 1915

Dear cousin!

From Oldenburg I send you my best regards. I hope you’re still doing allright; I haven’t heard from you in a long time.

The long awaited letter is on its way. We’re are still doing brilliantly here. I hope that I’ll hear from you soon. Again best regards

Your cousin Willi”

And when this postcard was written Heinrich was already dead....

Heinrich appears on the Verlustliste of 20 November 1915, and usually they’re 1-1,5 months behind the facts…..

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/3408622

Heinrich died in Schloßberg/ Latvia on 23 Oct 1915, and now rests in Pilskalne cemetery

http://www.weltkriegsopfer.de/Kriegsopfer-Heinrich-Graebel_Soldaten_0_106380.html

Was this the custom in the UK/Commonwealth as well?

It all seems a bit harsh: sending back postcards/letters with just scribbled on it “Died” or “Killed in action” or “Wounded” without any further info?

Can’t remember having seen UK/Commonwealth examples, but there are plenty of German examples.

[ph0ebus]

You send a postcard to your cousin Heinrich Graebel, and you get it back like this:

Stamped "Zurück" (= return to sender) , and matter-of-factly scribbled across it "Gefallen" (= Killed in action)

“Oldenburg, 31 oct 1915

Dear cousin!

From Oldenburg I send you my best regards. I hope you’re still doing allright; I haven’t heard from you in a long time.

The long awaited letter is on its way. We’re are still doing brilliantly here. I hope that I’ll hear from you soon. Again best regards

Your cousin Willi”

And when this postcard was written Heinrich was already dead....

Heinrich appears on the Verlustliste of 20 November 1915, and usually they’re 1-1,5 months behind the facts…..

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/3408622

Heinrich died in Schloßberg/ Latvia on 23 Oct 1915, and now rests in Pilskalne cemetery

http://www.weltkriegsopfer.de/Kriegsopfer-Heinrich-Graebel_Soldaten_0_106380.html

Was this the custom in the UK/Commonwealth as well?

It all seems a bit harsh: sending back postcards/letters with just scribbled on it “Died” or “Killed in action” or “Wounded” without any further info?

Can’t remember having seen UK/Commonwealth examples, but there are plenty of German examples.

At least in the USA, it was handled in a similar way. An example from my collection:

The word 'Deceased' is both hand written and stamped on the envelope and the whole thing was returned to his sister, who had written the letter to Sgt. Sohncke.

-Daniel

[Beechhill]

Just stumbled over this: "Later I wrote to him. The letter was returned - undelivered. The mark of a rubber stamp was on the envelope, "Killed in action." Just that. A country's regrets to me that my friend was dead..."

http://firstworldwar.com/diaries/julydayatstjulien.htm

[JWK]

Daniel & Beechhill, thanks for that.

So it díd happen in the other forces as well. Bit of a "cold" way of relaying such a message I think, and so did Alfred Wilcox.

Love the little PS at the end of Alfred's story : "For a very brief period he was a cook, but poisoned himself with coke fumes, to the relief of his comrades. "

Found this website detailing the workings of the British Field Post Offices in WW1 (A véry interesting read - albeit a lenghty one), including "Returned - Killed in Action letters":

http://www.worldwar1postcards.com/soldiers-mail.php

Mail Marked “Killed in Action”

In the early part of the war, most of the mail which reached the front‑line after the addressee had been killed, was sent back direct to the sender. Unfortunately, in a few instances letters that had been endorsed “Killed in Action” were received by relatives before they had been officially informed of the death of their soldier. From February 1915 ‑ in an attempt to rectify this ‑all returned mail endorsed "Missing" or "Killed" was first sent to the Home Depot in the U.K. There, it was sorted into bundles and sent to the appropriate Record Office ‑ or in the case of officers, to the War Office ‑ where it was held until relatives had been informed of their loss. The following illustration is an example of a returned communication and it indicated that "NEXT OF KIN NOTIFIED."

[bob lembke]

Returning to the original Feldpostkarte posted by JWK in post # 1, can some sharp eyes give me their

read of the name of the Absender? I have not been reading Suetterlin or Kurrent for about two years,

and I want someone to verify my take on it. A glance at my own name will suggest the cause for my interest.

(Also, anyone know why in about 60% of the time you write a post with this word processing engine (from the Forum)

you can't use the italics or any other of the formatting tools in the toolbar above the writing box? I like to

italicize foreign words.)

[JWK]

At first glance it dóes look like Wilhelm Lembke,

but I read it as : Wilhelm Benecke, Oldenburg i/Gr, Haareneschstraße 45

Interesting to see how Wilhelm uses Kurrent ánd "normal" script in one address.

Jan Willem