By Catherine Raupe

The Miniatur Wörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch (miniature dictionary English-German) was my Oma’s when she lived in Berlin, Germany. My Oma, Isle Irmgard Hartmann, was born and raised in Berlin. Her father was a very successful merchant in Berlin, and she was able to attend private school. When World War II began, her father’s business began to decline in sales, and her family became extremely poor. They continued to live in Berlin during the war and struggled for food, often having to search for scraps. My Oma was 17  years old when World War II finished. When American troops entered Berlin, they began to give out ration cards to those who were working. She got a job at an American Troops Mess Hall as a cashier, where she was able to learn English.    

Finding work after the war was extremely difficult, and my Oma knew that her employment options would be better if she could speak and write English fluently. She eventually got a good-paying job with the US Military for Graves and Registration after studying English. She processed and recorded the names of US Airmen who were shot down during the war. The dictionary was given to her by an American soldier, who we only know by his first name, Johnny, and she carried it in her handbag while working from 1946 to 1948. The information of the Airmen was recorded from their dog tags that were sent to her office as graves were located in villages and towns. Her job was to write to the families of the Airmen in America asking if they would like the bodies to be sent to them for burial in America. Most of the families requested that the bodies be buried at one of the many memorial graves in Europe. My Oma eventually left Germany on a Troopship in 1948 after marrying my Grandfather, a US Military soldier from Boston. The ship left from Bremen, and it was a 13-day journey to America. The ship docked in Ellis Island, New York, where her name was recorded.  

The Miniatur Wörterbuch was most likely published sometime in the early 1940s. The writing on the publishing page says “Alle Rechte vorbehalten Mentor Verlag Berlin. Druck: A. Raabe, Berlin. Printed in Germany,” this translates to “All rights reserved by Mentor Verlag Berlin. Printing: A. Raabe, Berlin. Printed in Germany.” The dictionary is 2” x 1 ½ “ and 511 words. I could not find any information on printing and publishing as the only information that appeared while I was searching were other Miniatur Wörterbücher. On eBay I found many other dictionaries such as, Italienisch-Deutsch, Spanisch-Deutsch, and Französisch-Deutsch.   

My Oma kept this dictionary as to her it helped pave her future. Without the dictionary, she says she would not have had the confidence in her work at the US Military. She told me she continued to carry it in her handbag for her first few years in the US to remind her how she got here and to continue to perfect her English. I am very fortunate that my Oma is still alive and well at 93 years old and can still recount her youth and journey to the US in such detail. It is remarkable that so much depended on a miniature dictionary.