About this site
This site contains thoughts, letters and images documenting the life of one family over 100 years. There are thousands of pages, photographs and other objects in the collection.
Most of the letters covering the period from about 1914 to 1960 are in German. Later letters, are mainly in English, with a few in Norwegian and Danish. New content will be added gradually, as time allows. Please reach out if you want to if you have any questions, suggestions, would like to use some of the material, or have a project you would like to share.
This site is created and maintained by Peter Østergaard, who inherited all the material from his mother, Marie, the daughter of Sverre and Edith Eriksen (born Brandenburger) and grand-daughter of Richard and Meta Brandenburger (born Ross).
Content highlights
Content is being added gradually as it is digitised and transcribed.
Current focus: Letters between family members from 1928 to the start of World War II are currently being transcribed. This is taking a little longer than previous material published on this site due to much of it being in sütterlin script (other text has been transcribed from cursive script or letters that had been typed out by Leo Brandenburger - the oldest son)
Letters from Edith covering her life from 1928 until 1940 Published on this site May 2025.
Pictures of the journey from Europe and early days in Australia
English translation of letters covering the trip from Europe to Australia in 1929.
Words of love - a moving letter from Edith expressing love and gratitude to her mother, Meta, in March 1954.
Wartime journal - 1939-1945 - Unable to send letters to her daughter Edith in Australia, Meta wrote a journal about her life in Germany. These journals are also published on the wonderful German website Zeitstimmen that tells stories of people in the state of Brandenburg
Contact form
Friends forum
This site has a private Facebook group for anyone who would like to keep an eye on progress or be involved in this project.
