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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