Arbeitseinsatz - my grandfathers experiences being forced to work in Berlin

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Hello all,

Five years ago, my father inherited my grandfathers suitcase filled with letters he wrote and received whilst being forced to work in Berlin as part of the Arbeitseinsatz. He was sent to Berlin from Utrecht, The Netherlands in 1943 and was there until the liberation of Berlin in 1945.
My father has been posting letters and excerpts from both his diary and that of a friend he met there as they were sent or written 75 years ago. For me, it’s fascinating to see how the letters change over time, from fairly upbeat to really quite serious. Perhaps some of you here will be interested as well, it’s all in Dutch though (I’ve been contemplating chipping in by translating everything to English, maybe I’ll make some time for that at some point).
Here’s the link to the first blogpost: https://blogvanoosdebruin.blogspot.com/2017/07/

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This is really awesome. Gives you a real insight in what it was like.

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Here’s a post with some pictures from the immediate area where my grandfather was put to work. There are links to Google maps that show what the area looks like now. https://blogvanoosdebruin.blogspot.com/2019/03/5-maart-1944-oos-maakt-vandaag-fotos.html

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