Our initial idea is to write to residents to make contact, and find out who wants to get involved in the project. The letters will be hand written, as they would have been at the time of the war. Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, so we want the letter writing materials to be genuinely connected to the time.
Initial research into the kind of writing materials used:
The now commonly known ‘Biro’ was invented in 1938 by the Bíró brothers. In 1941, the Bíró brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, fled Nazi Germany and moved to Argentina, where they formed "Bíró Pens of Argentina" and filed a new patent in 1943. This new design was licensed by the British, who produced ballpoint pens for RAF aircrew as the "Biro". Ballpoint pens were found to be more versatile than fountain pens, especially at high altitudes, where fountain pens were prone to ink-leakage. So, at this time, biro pens would not have been the writing implement commonly found in most households.
For authentic letter writing, true to the time, we will need:
Fountain pens, Blue writing Ink, Blotting paper (pink), Rolling Blotter, Lined or plain paper.