Letter From German Soldier Willi - 1943

This letter was from a German soldier named Willi who was writing to his parents telling them about his schedule and what he has been up to in the military after moving locations. Willi is quite sarcastic in this letter, and he makes quite a lot of jokes. For example, he jokes about how in boot camp he was taught something that he had already been studying for sixteen years and makes some stereotypical jokes about the scientists, engineers, and blacksmiths there at his camp. It seems like Willi is using this humor to cope with the stresses of war that he might be going through as he himself recognizes how bad the war is getting when he mentions the destruction of a German city, Köln, that he saw after it was bombed. Willi could also be trying to help his parents cope with his humor as he seems to be worried that they might not be taking the war well. 

Like many of the other soldiers Willi also wishes for peace and for the war to end soon but it is a little more difficult to figure out why he joined the military in the first place. He never mentions any financial reasons for joining the military and he doesn’t really seem excited to be there as he mentions that everyone at his camp only wants one thing, which is home leave, so it’s a bit odd why he is there. It seems like he might be a cook and that he has been studying cooking for a while so perhaps he has been forced to serve in the military because of that or he joined much earlier in the war with the mindset that many other young Germans had of war being a fun adventure and he has now realized that this is not the case (Willi 1943).