The Newsletter

The latest issue of the Newsletter (no. 123, August 2011) includes information about the lecture on 19 November next, the dislocation of the REME bench in the Hartenstein park at Oosterbeek, Battlefield walks from a German perspective, and the highly interesting story of the identification of British officers on a German photograph in September 1944. It is illustrated with five photographs.

History of the Newsletter

The first Newsletter appeared in November 1980, nine months after the Society of Friends of the Airborne Museum Oosterbeek came into being. The aim was 'to keep the members informed of what was happening within the Society and, of course, the Airborne Museum.'

Initially, the very modest Newsletter consisted of only two A4-sized pages. Soon afterwards, the now standard four pages appeared as a quarterly. We continue to distribute an English edition of the Newsletter as we have done since the beginning.

The so-called 'mini-story' was introduced as an appendix to the 10th issue. It came into being because the editorial committee regretted the 'lack of space in our periodical to present accounts about the Battle of Arnhem that had hitherto rarely or never before been available.' Please see the rubric 'Ministories' for more about these extraordinary tales.

The Newsletter has expanded to become more than just a quarterly with information about the society and the museum. New publications, including books, are reviewed, activities in and outside the region related to Operation Market Garden are described, and short historical articles (too short to be a Ministory) are also incorporated.

This website does not present the Newsletters in their entirety. They are sent to members as a matter of course and those readers have, thereby, access to the complete contents. Members may also order  back-issues. However, this website does publish compelling articles from both current and past issues on a regular basis.