Echoes From The Past: An 80-Year-Old Letter Unveiled

Time-Capsule Discovery: An old letter offers wisdom for the future, dated back to July 1941, shared on city's official Instagram.
An 80-year-old letter found on a rooftop (Image credit: Instagram, AG VESPA)

Source: aajtak

A builder cleaning a rooftop stumbled upon an 80-year relic that has captivated the attention of today's generation. He was working in a church in Belgium when he discovered a matchbox hidden within a wall-mounted box.

Inside the matchbox was a folded letter highlighting the poor working conditions of the employees and advice for future generations. The letter was dated July 21, 1941. This extraordinary discovery was shared on the city's official Instagram account.

According to a report by Mirror UK, the letter contained a message that shook the past: 'Incredible. This craftsman found a note with a unique message from 1941 in the St. James Church.' The note bore signatures of four individuals - John Jansen, Jules Giselinck, Louis Chanteren, and Jules Van Hemeldonck - the same craftsmen who worked on this roof 82 years ago.

The translated message on the back of a work coupon read: 'When this roof is painted again, we shall no longer walk this Earth. We must tell future generations that our lives were not happy. We lived through two wars, one in 1914 and another in 1940. Does it matter? We work here nearly starving to death, they give us next to nothing to eat and make us work for mere pennies.'

The letter further advises, 'I want to give advice to the next generations, whenever the next war comes. Sustain yourselves with enough rice, coffee, flour, tobacco, cereals, and wheat to stay alive. Enjoy life to the fullest, and if necessary, take a second wife. Those who are married, take care of your homes! Salutations to the men!'

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