Better Late Than Never? Postcard Letter Mailed In WWII Arrives In 70 Years
A World War II-era Christmas letter from occupied Jersey Island arrived on Tuesday, more than 70 years late in Germany, thanks to a project by postal services, historians and the Red Cross.
A German soldier had written the letter in December 1941 while stationed on the English Channel island, but it was stolen by local resistance members along with 85 other items of mail.
On Tuesday, the letter was finally delivered to the home of the grandson of the intended recipient, Engelbert Josef Bergmann, in the town of Muehlheim in Germany's Hesse State.
The letter was part of a stack recently handed back by a Jersey man who had taken part in stealing them from occupation troops.
The joint project of Jersey Post, Deutsche Post, the Red Cross and military historians had tracked down the
intended recipients of 10 letters or their families.
Jersey, 22 kilometres off the French coast, and other Channel islands were in 1940 occupied by Nazi Germany, whose troops executed "spies" and "saboteurs" and deported at least 2,200 people to Germany.
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