1930s German Ballot Translation Help

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Brig
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1930s German Ballot Translation Help

#1

Post by Brig » 21 Sep 2002, 18:52

I just received a ballot and I'm not sure if the guy screwed me or not. I need to know a few lines. thanks

'Landtagswahl'

'Nationalfozialififche Deutfche Urbeiterpartei (Hitlerbewegung)'

It seems to me that the ballot was improperly composed back in the 30s, cause I seem to see fs in the place of s's in the second line there, and a U instead of A in the last unparenthesesed (SP?) word in the second line. I don't doubt that it is German from such an era, for it is very thin on pink paper with an old marking on it, but under the party I mentioned in line 2 (Nazi Party, correct?), it says 'Weinrich-Dr. Krebs-Kramer-Better'. Why is this? Those names do not sound familiar Any help is appreciated

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Marcus
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#2

Post by Marcus » 21 Sep 2002, 19:00

Brig,

The "s" in the script used at the time (the name escapes me at the moment) looks like an "f".

/Marcus


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Brig
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#3

Post by Brig » 21 Sep 2002, 19:02

interesting, because I seem to see a couple normal lower case s's as well. thanks

Ken Jasper
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#4

Post by Ken Jasper » 21 Sep 2002, 20:05

The script that Marcus refered to is Fraktur. Not only does the lower case "s" look like an "f", but the upper case "A" looks like a "U" to anyone not used to the characters. I doubt that you have been burned, but it would help if you could post a picture of this ballot. By the way, the word "Hitlerbewegung" means "Hitler Movement. This was a term used in the early days of the party and in Austria when referring to the NSDAP in print.

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Zapfenstreich
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Re: 1930s German Ballot Translation Help

#5

Post by Zapfenstreich » 21 Sep 2002, 20:23

Brig wrote:I just received a ballot and I'm not sure if the guy screwed me or not. I need to know a few lines. thanks

'Landtagswahl'
'State election day'

'Nationalfozialififche Deutfche Urbeiterpartei (Hitlerbewegung)'
'Nationalsozialisische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'
'National Socialist German Worker Party'

No problem, Brig. My guess is you got the genuine article.

Z

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Brig
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#6

Post by Brig » 22 Sep 2002, 03:50

thanks Ken. I will post a picture later, probably tomorrow. it is really thin pink paper torn off of a pad of some sort

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#7

Post by viriato » 22 Sep 2002, 15:16

Hello Brig:

"Landtagswahl" means state election day as Zapfenreich already stated. By state we mean one of the constituent parts of Germany (18 during the time of the Weimar Republic). Each state had its own assembly and government and the respective elections were held independently of each other and of the elections to the German Reichstag (National Parliament). The 18 states were:

Preussen(Prussia)
Bayern(Bavaria)
Sachsen(Saxony)
Württemberg
Baden
Thüringen
Hessen
Hamburg
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Oldenburg
Braunschweig
Anhalt
Bremen
Lippe
Lübeck
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Waldeck
Schaumburg-Lippe

Prussia was further divided in 14 provinces, each one with its own assembly and government.

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Marcus
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#8

Post by Marcus » 22 Sep 2002, 15:25

Here are a examples of fraktur fonts that you might find useful:

Image
( http://www.waldenfont.com )

Image
( http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiwashin/ )

Image
( www3.shore.net/~anderson/Fraktur.html )

/Marcus

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Marcus and viriato

#9

Post by Zapfenstreich » 22 Sep 2002, 18:51

Marcus and viriato

Those were two excellent posts. I was taught to read the old classic German script and was more extensively educated in German history (from the Hanseatic League until the demise of the Third Reich) and German geography than most of our younger members. You see, there are advantages to the "generation gap" :lol: . I have a tendency to overlook that fact and erroneously assume that when I refer to a German "state" (Yes Boys and Girls, Stadt, Staat and Land have different meanings) not everyone knows just what I mean.

Thank you both for clarifying my statement and the wonderful post of Fraktur Fonts.

Best regards.
Z

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#10

Post by Marcus » 22 Sep 2002, 21:47

Zapfenstreich,

I'm glad you liked the fraktur post, that script is often a problem for people so I thought it would be a good idea to post a reference of sorts here.

/Marcus

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#11

Post by walterkaschner » 23 Sep 2002, 19:32

Marcus wrote
I'm glad you liked the fraktur post, that script is often a problem for people so I thought it would be a good idea to post a reference of sorts here.
Although totally off topic, I can't resist describing an occasion when Fractur script presented me with an enormous and highly embarassing problem.

I first met my future wife almost 50 years ago when I was in law school in the States and she was there as a Fulbright exchange student from the University of Kiel. She returned to Germany after a year while I remained in law school but I courted her by mail so persistently that she finally agreed, upon sheer exhaustion I think, to marry me upon condition that I obtain her father's permission to the union. That had to be acheived by correspondence because I was virtually penniless and cheap intercontinental air fares did not then exist. Moreover, the correspondence had to be in German because the only English that her father knew consisted of a few four letter Anglo-Saxon words that he had picked up in British prison camps during the two World Wars. So with my two years of college German, the help of a Langenscheit's dictionary and such arguments as I could muster I agonizingly prepared my case and sent it off by airmail.

After a highly nervous couple of weeks a response came back which I opened with trembling hands, only to find to my horror that it was handwritten in FRACTUR! - which I could barely make out in printed version and in script I found absolutely hopeless. Although I found a page in the library much like one of those furnished by Marcus above, I still could decipher only a few words of the letter and after pondering over it in frustration for a day or two I succumbed to the embarrassment and indignity of trying to find a professor in the German Department kind and able enough to read it for me. One such was indeed found, and to my great joy and relief I learned that my future father-in-law had consented to the marriage, albeit most reluctantly, with a forceful reminder of all that his daughter was giving up - her family, friends, future profession, native land - all for my sake, and with an unexpressed but obviously grave reservation as to whether I could possibly be worth it. He and I later got to be good friends, but I still wonder if I ever was able to overcome that reservation.

Regards, Kaschner

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#12

Post by viriato » 23 Sep 2002, 20:49

Hello Zapfenstreich:

I'm glad to know you enjoyed my previous post. However I just discovered that I missed your correct name :oops: (I wrote Zapfenreich...). By the way if you want to know more about elections (all kind of them) in Germany duing the time of the Weimar period see this:

http://www.gonschior.de and click wahlergebnisse

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