Held at:	Voss Collection
Reference:	RS
Source:	Original document
Title:	Digital Archive – Voss Collection: Records of Mail at Dorstone Prisoner of War Camp
Place name:	Golden Valley
Date:	1946 - 1947

Description:

An extract from a log of mail sent and received by Dietrich Voss at Dorstone Prisoner of War Camp is photographed below. It shows that despite the chaos of post-war Germany and the complications of the division of Germany into zones supervised by different Allied powers mail deliveries were quite regular by 1947. However, there were severe restrictions on what could be said, as the writers [at least those who were resident in the Russian zone] were limited to a maximum of 25 words on a pre-formatted card. The 1946 mail card photographed is a particularly poignant example of the difficulties this could cause – Dietrich Voss’ mother has just four words to convey the first information her son would have received of a family tragedy: “Father died November 1944”.

 

 

 

Observations:

Other documents and photographs relating to Dorstone Prisoner of War Camp and its occupants can be accessed from the Index page of the Voss Collection.