Read old German postcards
Millions of German postcards sent between the 1890s and 1940s carry brief family messages in Kurrent or Sütterlin script. Upload a photo of the card. FamilyLore transcribes the handwritten German message line by line, translates it into English, and marks any word it found doubtful.
Your first three pages need no account and no card.
A wartime message from our shelf, as read
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 Easter letter of 1943, in Sütterlin · Johann Kilian’s letter from Texas, 1858, in Kurrent
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 and cards in Kurrent script against human transcriptions. Accuracy figures update with each benchmark run. How well FamilyLore reads
Questions
- Can’t ChatGPT do this?
- A general chatbot can read some Kurrent postcards, 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.
- Can FamilyLore read text written along postcard margins?
- Yes, provided the writing is upright in the photo. If a sender wrote vertically in the margin, rotate the photo so the margin text runs horizontally before uploading.
- 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.
- 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
- Postmarks, postal stamps, or printed address lines overlapping the handwritten message.
- Writing that turns ninety degrees on the same page without a separate photo.
- Faded pencil or smudged ink. Faded handwriting is measured on only a few pages so far.
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), 1871 to 1918” is already chosen.
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?