Dr. Monika Kokalj Kočevar
Feldpost- correspondence of Men from Gorenjska Forcibly Mobilized into the German Army Introduction Some time ago I read a very interesting book titled Is there any mail for me? War Letters 1938-1945, written by Carinthian colleague Sabine Buchwald. In the book, the central part of which is actually a letter to her grandfather, Sabine included his interwar correspondence from the German Army and showed what was happening in the family and in Austrian Carinthia during the Second World War. At that time, I realized I also came across a lot of war letters in my field work, which were intended primarily for soldiers to talk to their families. It was this that prompted me to read the letters of forcibly mobilized into the Wehrmacht more systematically and to study them. I have collected video and audio interviews with former recruits, but the letters represent a different source. In most cases, it is no longer possible to establish a dialogue with the perW have in some respects even more impact than the interview, as they were written at a specific time in the past and the writers did not know what awaited them. In interviews, reporters recall the past events with some knowledge of the coming years, so sometimes the interpretation can be tailored to this. They have already formed
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