Read an old German diary
Private German diaries and journals from the 19th and early 20th centuries were written in rapid personal Kurrent or Sütterlin. Upload a photo of a journal entry. FamilyLore deciphers the cursive lines, translates them into English, and flags uncertain words.
Your first three pages need no account and no card.
No diary on our shelf yet; here is a personal letter in the same hand
A dotted underline marks a word FamilyLore was unsure of; [?] is its own note on a doubtful reading.
Karl and Käthe Kollwitz to their son Peter · 17 Oct 1914
- 121
- Feldpostbrief
- Zurück tot [?]
- [Stempel: BERLIN NO / 17 [?].10.14. 10-11 V / * 55 k] [Randvermerk: Aufgabestempel [?]]
- An den Kriegsfreiwilligen
- Peter Kollwitz
- 22. Reserve [gestrichen] Armeekorps | 4. Kompagnie
Also on the shelf: Leo Meter’s 1943 letter in Sütterlin · Pastor Johann Kilian’s 1858 letter
How well it reads, measured
| Script | Pages | Characters read correctly | Names, dates and numbers right | Misread words it marked | Last run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kurrent and Sütterlin15 pages · 3 Nov 2026 | 15 | 83%Characters read correctly | 75%Names, dates and numbers right | 85%Misread words it marked | 3 Nov 2026 |
Measured on letters whose holders published a transcription made by hand, read the same way your page is. The figures rest on a few pages so far and move as pages are added. How well FamilyLore reads
Questions
- Can’t ChatGPT do this?
- A general chatbot can read some personal German journal entries, sometimes well, but it usually hands you clean text with no sign of which words it guessed, and its makers publish no figures for this script; FamilyLore marks the words it is unsure of and publishes how often it reads correctly, in the table above.
- What if it reads a word wrong?
- Tap a word to see the other readings FamilyLore weighed, and correct it if you know better. The translation is redone from your correction. Most misread words carry a mark, but not every one, so a name or a date that matters is worth checking against the photo.
- Can FamilyLore handle rapid, uncalligraphed personal handwriting?
- Diaries were often written quickly with heavy abbreviation and personal idiosyncrasies. FamilyLore marks words where confidence is low so you can inspect the original photo.
- Who sees my pages?
- Only you. A page becomes public only if you share it, and then only to people who have the link. Deleting your account deletes the photos you uploaded.
What FamilyLore doesn’t read well yet
- Entries written in pencil that have smudged against opposite journal pages.
- Marginal additions, cross-written lines, and heavily crossed-out sentences.
- Bound diary gutters where text curves steeply into the spine.
From photo to text in three steps
Take a photo of the page
Lay the sheet flat, in daylight and without flash. A phone photo of the whole page is enough.
Upload it
“German (Kurrent)” is already chosen. If you know roughly when it was written, pick the era.
Read it
You get the page as it was written, in modern spelling, and in English. Correct a word you know better yourself.
Rather read it yourself?