Translating & transcribing historic German letters & documents

Kristin is a superb translator with the flexibility, involvement and passion necessary to ensure a project thrives. Kristin was the sole translator for multiple collections used during my doctoral work including: a series of over 100 letters both handwritten and typed between a refugee (Theodor Hirschberg) and various members of his family scattered across the globe; and the many hundred letters and handful of diaries of Marion Goldberg and her family.

Kristin not only deciphered difficult handwritten German text in both collections but also provided me with insight into the wider meaning of difficult-to-translate words and the wider context of some of the unfamiliar places, cultural references and organisations. As any researcher of family lives will know, deep diving into the narrative is key. Kristin was interested in the wider research and also what context I could add to the translations to make them more relevant and to help her better understand them to produce the best results. It was a true privilege to discuss the letters of Theodor and Marion with Kristin as the only other person to have read them cover to cover. Brilliant work!

An academic colleague recommended Kristin to me to translate correspondence in German between my aunt and her family and friends from the late 1930s and early 1940s. I could not have been happier with the result. Kristin was thorough, fast, put a number of perplexing remarks in context, and was remarkably good value. Very highly recommended.

Kristin has translated and transcribed numerous historical documents for me from the Nazi period, including many with difficult-to-read handwriting. She has done so swiftly and expertly, helpfully adding details which may be of interest, as well as clearly marking interesting references and giving linguistic context. I highly recommend her service.

As a professional historian, I had the privilege of working with Kristin Baumgartner, who translated over 100 family letters written in Kurrent script. These letters, written from the 1850s to the 1890s by members of my family, were sent from Silesia to Australia and contained a wealth of family history, including the names of many relatives and outline their changing domestic and financial circumstances. The letters also included place names, many of which have changed due to shifting borders. They also discuss transformations to the politics of the era, particularly the battles taking place across the region. Most importantly, Kristin never tired of translating the somewhat repetitive nature of these letters.

Kristin approached this complex and sensitive material with great professionalism, accuracy, and care. Her translations finally brought clarity to documents that had been inaccessible for generations. Beyond her expertise, she was an absolute pleasure to work with—always responsive and easy to communicate with. I am deeply grateful for her work and would highly recommend her to anyone seeking translation of historical or genealogical materials.

Kristin was a great help with transcribing some personal letters from the early nineteenth century that I needed for my research. She worked promptly and at a fair rate. I had many follow-up questions concerning personal names, interpretations of words and passages &c. and she took time to answer them all, as well as explaining particularities of script. I would very much recommend Kristin to private and professional researchers.

For many years, I've had this bundle of war-time letters from my mother, Irmtraud, and her boyfriend Helmut. They were written in 1943/44. The problem was that I couldn't read them. I have limited ability to read German if it's typeset, and zero ability to read most handwriting.

I was lucky to come upon Kristin Baumgartner in an online forum and contacted her. After some discussion, I sent her the letters. There were 55 in total: 10 from my mother in modern handwriting, 44 from Helmut in Sütterlin script, and one from Helmut's superior informing my mother of his death.

I was very happy with Kristin's work and got the translations back in Word files in chronological order. Reading these letters opened up part of my mother's world I hadn't heard about. Did she mean for me to see them? I don't know, but she did keep them. I suspect Helmut would have been my father, had he lived.