they offer two signed letters of the lawyer Otto Merckens (1878-1962) out of Bad Eilsen from 1958 and 1960.

Biography see below!

Addressed to retired Major Karl Thorner in Berlin-Dahlem (gb. at 4. February 1877 in Berlin as the son of the Privy Medical Councilor Eduard Siegesmund Thorner and Klara, née. Lehmann). His wifeLuise Thorner, b. Bartels (born 23. February 1880 in Berlin) was a daughter of the well-known doctor and ethnologist Maximilian Carl August Bartels (1843-1904) and a sister of the anatomist Paul Bartels (1874-1914). -- The letters come from an estate of the Thorner family.


1.) Typewritten, signed letter, dated Bad Eilsen via Bückeburg, the 15th. December 1958. Scope: one A4 page.

"At a time when the nerves of us old people, already afflicted with minus signs, are particularly strained by the Russians, with the par nobile fratrum Ulbricht and Grotewohl in league, I am pleased to be able to honor you with a memory from the old days for your registry to be able to do, namely hand drawings by you from the Strasbourg casino." (Concerns the time together in the 1st. World War.)

Then about his granddaughter, who is named after the former. German South West Africa (a son of a "combatant in the Battle of Waterberg in the former German South West Africa in 1904"). The granddaughter raises chickens and dogs and shoots leopards and a lion; She recently had a child.

Scope: 1 A4 page.


2.) Handwritten, signed letter, dated Bad Eilsen, the 23rd. April 1960. Thanks for happy birthday wishes; about health or the lack of it (especially eye problems; Merckens writes this letter "almost blind"). Then playback of mathematical games that he does before falling asleep (age in formulas). Merckens regrets not being able to visit Thorner in Berlin.

Scope: 2 A4 pages.

With a nice little portrait picture of Merckens (approx. 5x4cm); However, it is not an original photo, but looks like a clipping from a magazine.

About Otto Merckens (Source: Galerie Kunsttücke, where works by Merckens were exhibited):

Otto Merckens (1878 - 1962): Otto Merckens was born in Geilenkirchen-Hünshoven in 1878 as the son of bank director Eduard Merckens. After his training, the doctor of law worked in Aachen, Berlin and Lindau on Lake Constance - including for the Rheinisch-Westfälische Diskonto Gesellschaft Köln and the Sarotti company. He published numerous works, not only in the legal field, but also in the area of ​​local history and genealogy. His (active) membership in the Aachen Photographic Association is documented. He was married to Frieda Blancke (née 1882) and had two sons, Dr. Reinhold Merckens and Dr. Horst Merckens. He died in Bad Eilsen in 1962. -- Note: His exact date of death is handwritten on the first letter: January 23rd. August 1962.

Horst Mercken's son wrote the work "Bad Eilsen. A walk through two centuries", Bückeburg 1978.

Condition:Folded; Paper browned, with some tears in the margins. Pleasealso note the pictures!

Internal note: Folder 4c/7

Addressed to retired Major Karl Thorner in Berlin-Dahlem (gb. at 4. February 1877 in Berlin as the son of the Privy Medical Councilor Eduard Siegesmund Thorner and Klara, née. Lehmann). His wifeLuise Thorner, b. Bartels (born 23. February 1880 in Berlin) was a daughter of the well-known doctor and ethnologist Maximilian Carl August Bartels (1843-1904) and a sister of the anatomist Paul Bartels (1874-1914). -- The letters come from an estate of the Thorner family. Otto Merckens (1878 - 1962): Otto Merckens was born in Geilenkirchen-Hünshoven in 1878 as the son of bank director Eduard Merckens. After his training, the doctor of law worked in Aachen, Berlin and Lindau on Lake Constance - including for the Rheinisch-Westfälische Diskonto Gesellschaft Köln and the Sarotti company. He published