Would anyone like to help translate this old German postcard?

[SwedishEdith]

Bought it in a market on holiday. I'm only curious because it's from 1941. It probably says nothing exciting at all.

"I had a German penfriend who lived close to Lake Constance. Her Us and Ns were indistinguishable, and she used the little line above the U too. This was around 82/83 and she would have been about 13. "

Really interesting that it was happening down there too. In the West at least, 'Bildung ist Ländersache', so each Bundesland could determine its own preferred handwriting style. Even in the 2000s when my own DC were in primary school, there was this big palaver in 3rd grade when they got their starter fountain pens and had to practice cursive writing according to the approved pattern of our Bundesland. There were handwriting books that determined where each line of a letter started and finished, and you had to practice each letter until it was perfect. I can easily imagine a more traditional Bundesland in the 80s retaining some elements of Suetterlin and just calling it standard handwriting. It's pretty rare in non-pensioners these days though.

@SwedishEdith If Etsy is anything to go by (which it probably isn't!) the stamp might be worth a bit...
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1508029609/original-rare-stamp-german-empire-6?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_uk_en_gb_a-art_and_collectibles-collectibles-postage_stamps&utm_custom1=k_EAIaIQobChMIw6a-kaP8_wIVYZ9oCR1zvAFfEAQYBCABEgKPq_D_BwE_k&utm_content=go_12577610529_122491526831_507694189883_pla-377508418754_c__1508029609engb_102858184&utm_custom2=12577610529&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw6a-kaP8_wIVYZ9oCR1zvAFfEAQYBCABEgKPq_D_BwE

Yes, happy to have a go! I'll do it properly once I have finished work but a very quick glance shows him very formally asking for a 'rendezvous' with the Fräulein.

@HydrangeasEverywhere - I got most of it but there are a few interesting words that I am not sure about (office gossip?) but perhaps someone else will be able to decipher them.

Hamburg, d. 15.2.08

Sehr geehrtes Fräulein!

Seit langem suchte ich die Gelegenheit Sie einmal alleine zu sprechen, da sich aber eine solche bis jetzt nie bot, gestatten Sie mir wohl, daß ich auf diesem Wege Ihnen ein paar Worte übermittle.
Mein Fräulein! Von Anbeginn Ihrer Tätigkeit bei Fa. F. u. M. schätzte ich Sie als ein geschicktes, fleißiges und mit gutem Charakter ausgestattetes Fräulein, u. Ihr Streben? forderte stets meiner Hochachtung. - Es dürfte Ihnen erklärlich sein, daß bei fortwährendem Näherkennenlernen auch mein Interesse für Sie ein immer größeres wurde u. so dürften Sie dann auch bemerkt haben, daß meine Aufmerksamkeit zu Ihnen nicht nur rein geschäftliches Motiven entsprungen ist. - Ich will Ihnen daher nicht verhehlen, daß ich seit meiner Rückkehr immer den Zufall herbeiwünschte, der uns unter 4 Augen einige Worte gestattete.
Ich wäre Ihnen somit sehr dankbar, wenn Sie mir gelegentlich ein Rendezvous gewähren würden u. bitte Sie höfl. mir Zeit u. Treffpunkt zu seinem solchen mitteilen zu wollen, da ich doch nicht über Ihre Zeit verfügen kann, schon aus dem Grunde, weil Sie schon […] haben. Ferner bitte ich Sie, sich nicht von [….] Auf[…]ungen abhalten zu lassen u. im Geschäft - gegenüber Fr. Frühling - über diese Mitteilung größtmögliche Diskretion zu wahren.

Indem ich Ihre frdl. Zusage entgegensehe, begrüße ich Sie
Herr Carl Bauer
Hbg., 23. Conventstr. 20 I

Dear Miss,

I have been seeking for a long time an opportunity to speak to you privately but since this has not been possible, please allow me to send you a few words in this manner.
My dear young lady! From the very beginning of your work at F. and M. company I have appreciated you as a talented, diligent young lady of good character and your work always demanded my respect. You will understand that with increasing contact my interest in you grew and you will have noticed that my attention to you was not only driven by business reasons. - I will not conceal from you that since my return I have been wishing that circumstances will allow us to exchange a few words in private.
I would be most grateful if you were to grant me a date and ask you to be so kind to let me know where and when we could meet. I have no authority over your time, not the least because [….] I would also ask you not to let [….] prevent you and to please keep this note - particularly from Miss Frühling - confidential.

Looking forward to your positive reply and with kind regards,
Mr Carl Bauer

Hamb. d. 19/4 08.

Mein lieber Carl!

[…] zuerst meine innigste Gratulation zu Deinem Geburtstage, möge Dir in Deinen […] Lebensjahren viel Glück, vor allem aber Gesundheit beschieden sein.
Deine lieben Zeilen haben mich sehr erfreut. Auch ich habe mir diesen Schritten reiflich überlegt, und glaube, daß auch Du mir all’ mein Sehnen erfülltest, und mir das sein wirst, was Du mir zu sein versprichst. Sei aber auch Du überzeugt, daß ich Dir Deine Wünsche nach bestem Können erfüllen werde, und mich bestreben, Dir das Leben angenehm und schön zu gestalten. Ich glaube bestimmt, wir werden uns wohl verstehen, und dafür können wir beide mit voller Zuversicht in die Zukunft blicken.

In Liebe,
Deine Elisabeth.

My dear Carl,

firstly, my most sincere congratulations to your birthday, may your future years be full of happiness, and, particularly, may you enjoy good health.
I was delighted to receive your dear note. I also considered this step carefully and believe that you will fulfil all my desires and that you will be to me be what you promise to be. Rest assured also that I will fulfil your wishes to the best of my ability and will do my best to make your life pleasant and beautiful. I fully believe that we will get along well and therefore can both confidently look forward to the future.

In love,
your Elisabeth

Place-marking on this fascinating thread.
The postcard is amazing. I love items like postcards that give an insight into the lives of people who lived long ago. I used to always browse through postcards at markets when I lived in France.

Well done on deciphering them Wehlstmir. I couldn't read it at all. That's really interesting about the style of cursive writing varying according to region.

I had a German penfriend in (West) Berlin and she also did the line above the u thing too :)

Very impressive deciphering skills. Back in the day a neighbour had a teach yourself German book which had the old alphabet in it where the s looked like an f etc.

The line above the 'u'...would that stand for an umlaut?

I have always been fascinated by the differences in hand-writing across the world but hadn't been aware that there are even regional differences in Germany (I am not German and didn't go to school there). I found it interesting to learn that Sütterlinschrift was designed to make hand-writing easier for children but the Nazis abolished it in 1941.
Also very interesting that Fraktur, the printed German letters that was initially seen by the Nazis as the "authentic German typeface" and is probably most commonly associated with Nazi communication, was also abolished in 1941 when the government switched to Antiqua, an international Latin script (apparently to aid German propaganda efforts). Fraktur was then denounced as "Jewish", supposedly having been invented by early modern Jewish printers.

Fascinating. Thanks for the explanation.
I hadn't heard of that at all. I must look it up.

I picked up this old German book 'Das Mädchen von Treppi' years ago, at a market or in a bookshop. The title cover says 'Heath's Modern Language Series' (!) and it's stamped on the back 'property of education authority of Glasgow'. It has a glossary and translation in the appendix and the text is in the old script which is challenging but not impossible to read (although I haven't tried!) (Photo).

The author of the novella is Paul Johann Ludwig Heyse who was born in 1830 and died in 1914. Apparently he was a prolific writer during the nineteenth century according to the introduction. And he also possessed 'charming social qualities and extraordinary personal beauty'. He had a fine head of hair alright (photo).

Oh, wow, got quite excited then. Had another quick look and have found it for 12 US cents 😄
https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/germany-438-6pf-pres-von-hindenburg/53558074

No, it's usually a double line like two apostrophes for an umlaut as two dots is a bit hard to do when you are writing quickly. It's just to say which is an n and which is a u.

I hadn't realised that the Nazis abolished the old script, I thought they were big fans of it, like using Germanic phrases for things like telephones and TV rather than more international ones (Fernsprecher (far speaker) for phone).

Ah, thank you, lieselotte.

What lovely letters and how nice to have this memento.