Front of the first postcard sent home from the Göttingen POW camp, by then CSM Lewis E. DeHarte, on May 5, 1915.

WW1 Prisoner of War Postcard by RSM Lewis E. DeHarte – May 15, 1915

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 yellow-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, a Göttingen post office, a London post office, a Canadian National Exhibition place post office, and a Toronto post office. There is a pink ink stamp on the front that reads: “Kriegsgefangenensendung Geprüft – F.a.” (meaning prisoner of war mail checked). Also printed on the front, in the top centre in green is: “POST CARD”, and below it, also in green, on the left is: “TO BE USED FOR WRITTEN OR PRINTED MATTER”, on the right is: “ONLY THE ADDRESS TO BE WRITTEN HERE”. Printed on the front, in the top right is a square for placing a postage stamp, and in the square says: “INLAND POSTAGE 1/2d.   FOREIGN POSTAGE 1d.”, on the bottom right corner of the square is a small piece remaining of a torn off postage stamp that is green and may have been a Canada 1 cent stamp.

The back of the card is a blank space and is filled in with writing by RSM DeHarte: “Dear Wife. – I have been moved today to Göttingen camp. It seems that DuGuid is here. I am feeling much better. & I hope that you got my word before I was reported missing. How is my baby girl? Tell her that her daddy is O.K. & please dear, do not worry. about the only thing that you can send me would be chocolate.    Love to all   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.

Associated place
Gottingen, Germany
Associated event
NA
Associated name(s)
CSM Lewis E DeHarte
Era
1914 – 1919 (WW 1)
Location of artifact
Research room – To be determined
Classification
Personal, Documents

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