Correspondence, 1941 - 1944

The collection contains letters and postcards of Hans Höchersteiger, a technical sergeant of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Höchersteiger was captured in May 1941 and was held first in England and then in Ottawa, Canada. All the letters and postcards from Höchersteiger are to his family in Stuttgart, Germany, and are written in German. There is no translation for them at this time. There are also letters from the German Red Cross to Höchersteiger's family (probably his father) concerning his whereabouts after being captured. These letters are also in German and only a cursory translation was made to determine their subject matter. One letter to Höchersteiger from his father, toward the end of the war, discusses some vocational training and night school. There is a diary, also in German (no translation available), covering the period from 1 April to 20 July 1938. The collection also contains two of booklets of poetry and cartoons. One is a March 1938 issue of the Fliegende Blätter (Flying Leaves), a German weekly satire magazine. There is also a booklet titled, "Flieger-Meldung" (Flight Message), which appears to have lecture notes and flight observations. Each page represents a flight and includes observations (indicating altitude and time) and one or more maps. The booklet is in German, and there is no translation available at this time. Finally, there are seven photographs of German soldiers, only two of which have information on the back of the photo.