Citation
Jänecke, Joachim, 2021 compiler, My Three Brothers: Invisible Ink.
Subjects
War, letters, Germany, World War 2, Europe, history
Description
Joachim Janecke of the Ann Arbor Publishes Book
Joachim (Quin) Janecke recently published Meine Drei Bruder, My Three Brothers. The book contains a collection of letters from his three brothers written during the Second World War.
AlI letters, transcribed from the hand written originals, and all added materials have been translated into English. The book contains both the German and the English texts.
In the preface Quin writ es " I had three brothers. They did not return from World War II. It was very hard for my parents. My mother wrot e many letters to her sons. These were "Feld postbriefe", letters of the German military mail service.
She collected almost all her sons' letter s."
And then he writes "With this documentation, I want to keep alive the memory of my brothers. It was an upsetting time."
A niece, Professor of Psychology, gave her impressions. "I have read the letters of your three brothers and the other
documents, and I am very impressed ,
unsettled, and shaken. The letters are truly a great treasure, and for those who read them, the narrators come to life and emerge as distinct personalities. All three confront their own devastating journey to war, and they do so with great courage, as well as the will and readiness to
persevere. Each brother, in his own, unique manner of expression , tells of experience s w it h superior officers and comrades, as well as countries, cities, villages,
Iandscapes, forests, and people. "
A University of Michigan undergraduate student translated all letters and the additional material. In the Translator ' s Preface, she wrot e, " When I was approached by a client seeking to have a set of letters translated from German to Engl ish, I w a s not expecti ng the exciting,
emotional, and educational journey that lay
ahead. This set of letters provides a unique glimpse inside the lives of German soldiers during the Second World War and the ways that the war affected the loved ones of soldiers. The client himself, the youngest of four brothers possesses a collection of letters to and from his three older brothers during the war. Tragically, all three brothers were killed in action during the war."
Quin put years of work into this book and it means much to him as is evident from the
dedication, "For my mother Liesel Janecke, who wrote many letters and suffered much."