Postcard sent home from a German prisoner of war camp, Kriegsgefangenenlager Göttingen in Göttingen, Hannover, Germany, by RSM Lewis E. DeHarte to his wife in Toronto, Canada. RSM Lewis E. DeHarte was a prisoner of war from 1915-1919. The postcard is cardstock and a brown colour, with writing in pencil on both sides of the postcard. The front left of the card has RSM DeHarte’s sender information, and the front right of the card has the receiver’s information, being his wife’s information. The postcard is stamped on the front with an ink stamp by the camp’s German Military Postal Examination Office and a London post office. There is a mahogany colour ink stamp on the front that reads: “Kriegsgefangenensendung Geprüft – F.a.” (meaning prisoner of war mail checked). The front of the card is split in two vertically by a double striped line, with the left for sender information and the right for receiver information and dotted lines on both sides for writing on, and on the top of the right side is also printed: “Kriegsgefangenensendung” (meaning prisoner of war mail). On the front top right is a postage stamp that is red and has an image of King George V in an oval frame with the words “CANADA POSTAGE” above it, the words “TWO CENTS” below it, and the numeral “2” in a white square in the bottom left and right corners of the stamp.
The back of the card has horizontal dotted lines and is filled in with writing by RSM DeHarte: “15. 11 .15 Dear Chum. – Received a letter with snaps of you and Maude. very good but the sun made you both scowl so. Got a letter from Mr Coe of New York, telling me all about the store. about the only real news I have heard for ages Got you parcel of Sept 7th. Do not put in card board box as it is broken before it gets here. I hear some are there on leave. Had I not been where something was needed I might be there too. Love – Lewis”
NOTE: This and other similar prisoner of war letter postcards by RSM Lewis E. DeHarte are stored in a Ziploc bag with the postcard under the accession number 2009015010.
