{"id":779,"date":"2018-10-23T13:13:20","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T11:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rita-dachner.com\/?page_id=779"},"modified":"2025-04-11T13:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T11:50:07","slug":"job-reference-from-my-great-grandmother-1918","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/en\/translating-your-old-german-documents\/blog\/job-reference-from-my-great-grandmother-1918\/","title":{"rendered":"Job Reference From My Great-Grandmother, 1918"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A hundred years ago, employers probably already had a hard time thinking about how to write a job reference letter, same as today. And what made it even harder for them, they didn&#8217;t have office software with text templates to choose from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a reference letter, written in <a href=\"https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/en\/translating-your-old-german-documents\/old-german-scripts\/\">Kurrent script<\/a>, which my great-grandmother received in 1918 for her work as cook at a big farm. It has a few spelling mistakes (AutoCorrect hadn&#8217;t been invented yet \ud83d\ude09 ), however, it sounds very favourably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em>Waltrop, 1st Nov 1918<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Reference letter<br><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Miss Lilli D\u00fcllmann from Fley near<\/em><br><em>Hagen worked here from 1st Nov 1916 until 1st Nov 1917  as<\/em><br><em> an apprentice cook, and afterwards until 1st Nov 1918 as a<\/em><br><em> support (cook). During this time, she did<\/em><br><em> very well, and excelled with diligence and honesty.<\/em><br><em> In the common as well as in the<\/em><br><em> finer kitchen she knew how to combine the good<\/em><br><em> with thrifty behavior very well, and paid highest attention to tidiness and<\/em><br><em> cleanliness. She was an example<\/em><br><em> for her subordinates and she was loved and respected<\/em><br><em> by the children. That is why we are sorry to see<\/em><br><em> her leaving. It should be my pleasure<\/em><br><em> to recommend her as a trustworthy,<\/em><br><em> well-behaved and peaceful person, and we let her<\/em><br><em> go with the here learned skills for<\/em><br><em> her further life.<br><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Respectfully,<\/em><br><em>Mrs. Jos. Schl\u00fcter<\/em><br><em> n\u00e9e Schulte Oer.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-772 size-large\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img data-opt-id=1357926211  data-dominant-color=\"ece1d6\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"685\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/mliqe6kzzid7.i.optimole.com\/w:685\/h:1024\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ZeugnisLilliDuellmann-scaled-e1744372105134.jpg\" alt=\"A handwritten reference letter in Kurrent script, with a stamp of the farm at the top.\" class=\"wp-image-1465 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #ece1d6; width:600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mliqe6kzzid7.i.optimole.com\/w:685\/h:1024\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ZeugnisLilliDuellmann-scaled-e1744372105134.jpg 685w, https:\/\/mliqe6kzzid7.i.optimole.com\/w:201\/h:300\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ZeugnisLilliDuellmann-scaled-e1744372105134.jpg 201w, https:\/\/mliqe6kzzid7.i.optimole.com\/w:100\/h:150\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ZeugnisLilliDuellmann-scaled-e1744372105134.jpg 100w, https:\/\/mliqe6kzzid7.i.optimole.com\/w:722\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ZeugnisLilliDuellmann-scaled-e1744372105134.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mliqe6kzzid7.i.optimole.com\/w:722\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ZeugnisLilliDuellmann-scaled-e1744372105134.jpg 1027w, https:\/\/mliqe6kzzid7.i.optimole.com\/w:722\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ZeugnisLilliDuellmann-scaled-e1744372105134.jpg 1327w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 685px) 100vw, 685px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">the original reference letter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A hundred years ago, employers probably already had a hard time thinking about how to write a job reference letter, same as today. And what made it even harder for them, they didn&#8217;t have office software with text templates to choose from. This is a reference letter, written in Kurrent script, which my great-grandmother received &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Job Reference From My Great-Grandmother, 1918\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/en\/translating-your-old-german-documents\/blog\/job-reference-from-my-great-grandmother-1918\/#more-779\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Job Reference From My Great-Grandmother, 1918<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":273,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"parvati_pageheader":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-779","page","type-page","status-publish"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Job Reference From My Great-Grandmother, 1918 - Arin Dachner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here&#039;s a 100-year-old job reference letter in Kurrent script from my great-grandmother, which I transcribed and translated into English.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arin-dachner.com\/en\/translating-your-old-german-documents\/blog\/job-reference-from-my-great-grandmother-1918\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Job Reference From My Great-Grandmother, 1918 - 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