Old Letters

I have lots of letters to my mum from her mother, my German grandmother, dating from 1940. Problem is it’s in old German script which most can’t read now.
I never knew my grandmother who was trapped behind the iron curtain but would love to read what she wrote all those years ago. I would never throw them out. Perhaps one day there might be a way that it can be done, online maybe. Or a very elderly German. With good eyesight, some of them are in pencil, but not all thank goodness.

I have had a similar experience LizS when clearing out my late parents' belongings and found lots of letters, including ones from me when I was young and like you, reminded me of times I had forgotten about. I still have them and I have taken photos of them to have copies. My grandchldren are fascinated with these things and old photos from the last century, seeming really ancient to them. It is a very personal thing as to whether to destroy these things or not, sometimes it's good to archive them for future generations, depending on what they are about. I tend to ask my family what they think about these things before making the decision.

After my Dad died, I found letters to him from my Mum - having recognised her writing from the envelope.
I burned them all - they were words between them and not, I believe, for my eyes.

I never work on the basis that one will be left, either at all or with mental capacity. Life can change in the blink of an eye.

karmalady

After my husband died, I destroyed all our letters to each other. They were ours and only ours and I did not want them to be read by anyone else after I die

We each still have all our old love letters. Whoever’s left will do the same as you, for the same reasons.

When my dear aunt died, I found many letters written to her by my uncle, when he was a prisoner of war near Nagasaki Japan.

They were an incredible historical record, but I felt that they were so very personal that I destroyed most of them, but I did keep a few because I think that they need to become part of the family history.

After my husband died, I destroyed all our letters to each other. They were ours and only ours and I did not want them to be read by anyone else after I die

I have destroyed letters and cards which my parents and grandparents saved, and I no longer keep any cards which I receive. If you don’t clear them out someone else will have to do so when you’re dead, and I take the view that any private writings are just that - private.

I would hate anything I had written to a specific person to be read by others, much less published, so to me there would be no dilemma if I came upon letters written by someone else. I would have a very cursory glance to see if they were personal or not, and if so I would destroy them.

In this case, as you wrote the letters there is no such dilemma (as far as I can tell). I would reclaim them, take the info you need and destroy them if you don't want them to be read when your own possessions are cleared out.

It shows that you have grown as a person. I also have lots of stuff kept from my younger days that I feel embarrased about but I think it's normal and healthy. I am not the person I was then and that's a good thing, isn't it?

If you are writing your life story you don't have to put in every tortuous detail- think about who you are writing it for. A general audience? Your peers? Your grandchildren? I think what you include and what you leave out depends on who is going to be reading it.

It is your choice- to hide or to tell?