The cover is addressed to the Wolski Family residing at 52 Dungel Strasse, in the city of Hern, Westfalia, Germany. The obverse has the diamond-shaped ink stamp of a Soviet military censor. The return address on the verso is "POW Josef Wolski, Camp #7100/3, USSR." According to the CIA records, Camp #7100/3 was a labor camp in Zaporijjia, Ukraine. Unfortunately, the letter is not dated, and neither is the cover. Here is what the letter says:

"I ask you to inform my relatives that I am still alive and well. I was taken into American captivity on May 9th and handed over to the Ivan o

The cover is addressed to the Wolski Family residing at 52 Dungel Strasse, in the city of Hern, Westfalia, Germany. The obverse has the diamond-shaped ink stamp of a Soviet military censor. The return address on the verso is "POW Josef Wolski, Camp #7100/3, USSR." According to the CIA records, Camp #7100/3 was a labor camp in Zaporijjia, Ukraine. Unfortunately, the letter is not dated, and neither is the cover. Here is what the letter says:

"I ask you to inform my relatives that I am still alive and well. I was taken into American captivity on May 9th and handed over to the Ivan on May 25th. Until June 29th, we were in a Russian prisoner-of-war camp in Dollersheim-Gopfritz. We don't know where we're going next, but we all hope to see our homeland again. Warm greetings to everyone back home, tell Mom to be brave, I'll definitely be back. Address: the Josef Wolski family, 21 Herne in Westfalia, Dungelstrasse 52."

There is a rather enigmatic text appended on the verso, but it does nothing to clarify to whom the letter was addressed. Here is the text: "Please keep writing to us until you receive a reply from my parents. Thank you in advance for your efforts." Nowadays, Dollersheim is an abandoned village in lower Austria, located in the rural Waldviertel region about 70 miles northwest of Vienna. It was evacuated in 1938 to make way for a Wehrmacht training ground; presumably, those facilities were used to house German POWs after the war.

Both the cover and the letter are in excellent condition: mild and very attractive age-toning to the paper, slight wrinkles and an occasional small blur where the ink was exposed to moisture, never obscuring the words.

The telegram is only partially dated: recorded on 12 September, alas, the year is unreadable. Sent from Frankfurt am Oder on 8 November, it is addressed to the Wolski family at their Herne address and says only "Coming Wednesday Seppel."

The telegram is in very good to excellent condition: the same attractive age-toning and wrinkles enhancing the air of its age and authenticity. The oily stain is unfortunate but it misses the text completely and is not too detractive.

While many German POWs in the UK and US camps were repatriated in the late 1940s, those in Soviet POW labor camps had a much harder fate: harsh labor and slow release, with the last of them returning as late as 1956.

Please note that the pen in our photo is for size reference.
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