Letter From a German Prisoner of War to an American Woman

The letter was written in German on single sheet prisoner of war stationary, and it was written and sent by Obergefreiter Peter Wild at “P.W.E. 24” (Prisoner of War Enclosure 24) at Auerbach. Interestingly, the letter was written from that location in Germany on June 2, 1946, more than a year after the end of the war in Europe. The letter was mailed to a woman in Reading, Pennsylvania. There had been German prisoners of war in Reading, and it may be that Obergefreiter Wild was one of them. He might have met the recipient and then written to her when he was returned to Germany, where he remained in “prisoner” status into 1946. The letter shows age toning and it has some separations, but it is complete and intact.