Overview

This paper examines the value of field post letters from the First World War as a historical source for historical research. As the only connection to relatives back home, war correspondence became an important medium for conveying soldiers' individual impressions and experiences of war and for boosting troop morale. Selected field post letters from the years 1914 to 1918 were used as primary sources and analysed in terms of their content and form. An analysis is made of selected aspects, including heroic death for the fatherland, the ideal of masculinity among soldiers, fear, illness in the field, hardship and deprivation, and the changed image of women as a result of the war. As authentic testimonies of the First World War, the field post letters reveal the individual fates of soldiers and their families. Their fascination lies in their subjective character, which increasingly shifts the focus away from the masses of the army and instead offers insight into the emotional world of the individual front-line soldier. The proximity to the events gives the field post letter a high degree of authenticity.

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