Kladovo 18 February 1940              ב"ה 

 

My very beloved and precious children !עמ"ש

My sweet Feigale ת', on 16 February I received your letter of 6 February.  I, together with all those travelling with me, thanked the Almighty that after waiting so long I do indeed have news from you. However, I expected more detailed reports about what has happened to you during all this time. I also absolutely want to receive mail from Suri and Esti ת'. How are the dear relatives? Does Srul נ"י already have a position? Is Berl נ"י earning money? How is Suri ת' feeling there? You know how full of worries I am about you, my dear children. It is my misfortune that you are so far from me, and I don’t know at all when I will see you. I would be very happy to have pictures of you, at least. Gather together from everyone what you have and send them to me. There must be many pictures of Judit ת'.

I have written 6 letters to Mariemcie ת' for you. She did not trust herself to pass them on.  As I mentioned in the previous card, she sent me 300 dinars and 3 dollars. I have also requested her to send me what is most essential for Zwi נ"י, because he came on board to join me, with a lot of string-pulling, totally unprepared.  He had come in with Uncle Dawid just to see me.  Mircze ת' was ill just then, and the dear parents שיחי' know nothing about our צרות . They had to be prevented from seeing anything.  I could not have constrained myself.

We stopped in Pressburg for 3 weeks. Uncle Dawid visited me twice and brought me various things to eat. Bringing in other things was not allowed there. Zwi נ"י therefore left all his things there. I am very glad that he is here, we will hopefully indeed reach our destination and I will not be so alone.

Things here are ב"ה not bad. We are warm here ב"ה and have enough to eat. With the money I buy milk, fruit and the like every day. We are allowed one hour every day on the יבשה . We are located 60 km from a railway track between fields and water. What we suffer from most is lack of space. We sleep squeezed together like herrings. Hopefully it won’t last that much longer. I need no money to be sent here.  Where did you get the 6 pounds to send to א"י ? Have you, in the meantime, seen Rebb. Parnes? My debt of 5 pounds to her weighs heavily on me. Please pay 1 pound at a time as soon as possible.

Is the place where dear Suri ת' is getting her job far away? Does she already have the permit? I beg you to write long letters. I believe that the Simons family, with whom Suri ת' was previously, also manufactured coats. Will she be working there?  Why did she go away from there?

Do you have news from Aunt Jitta ת'?  Does she write concerning Srul נ"י? Before I left Vienna I received a card from her that was meant for Grosspapa. She wrote that she did not know of Srul’s נ"י whereabouts. In case you have any news please write to me, since I think about them all the time.

My brothers שיחי' have unfortunately also been driven out of their homes and have major צרות4. May the Almighty already have pity on כלל ישראל .

So far I have not written toא"י 6 in order that dear Grosspapa שליט"א should not find out.  But I will write to Rapaport ש' today and enclose a little note for the auntsשת' . I have no one to whom I must write in Vienna, except Schulim Schattner to whom I will איה"ש write. He and his family have lately been very supportive of me.  I will never forget that about them.  Here I find myself amongst total strangers in the hu ha.  I have to conceal my pain here as far as possible so as not to become burdensome to my surroundings.

I found one woman on the entire ship with whom I get along nicely. She is Mrs. Engelmann, a sister-in-law of the Engelmann siblings from 4 Schiffamtsgasse, a very nice woman. Efraim Bräuer is also with us. Having just turned 18, he was not able to travel with his parents.

Have you learned Hebrew over there? Please write to me what possibilities exist for you to come to א"י6. You should put yourselves in touch with Eretz about this and report to me. How often do you get together with שרה ת' ? Does she look good? Are you in good health? What about your hands, are they not red? And what about your feet, how are they doing? How come Tuli נ"י went to another Yeshiva? Does Srul נ"י keep a bit of an eye on him? Is he not superficial? Does he sometimes come to you or does anyone visit him? Has he grown?

Ah, my beloved children! You are all I think of and I want to know everything about you. You are the total content of my life, my entire hope. I beg you my sweet children, think of that at every opportunity, and conduct yourselves in every respect according to our example. I know how hard it is, but with small sacrifices it is possible.

With whom are you currently corresponding? Has Helena’s father already been freed? I’m sure she knows. I am curious.  Mrs. Goldflies has unfortunately met the same fate as we. The poor woman is now all alone. From Vienna they wrote to us here that she had emigrated, I don’t know to where.

I’m writing in such a disjointed way because I have trouble focusing my thoughts while writing.  So I simply write whatever comes to mind.

I had lost 9 kilo. I am now wearing the little bodices which you left behind; they are good for me. I gave along the corsets to Aunt because I was swimming in them.  With so much sitting here I am gaining weight without wanting to in spite of my hard bed in restricted space.  In January, 2 children were born here.

Accept my heartfelt greetings and kisses, and transmit them please also to the other dear children שיחי'!  I also greet and kiss dear auntשרהלי עמ"ש   as well as dear Gusti and the precious child עמ"ש!  Please all write to me about your circumstances. Best regards and kisses to dear Recha with those sweet children שיחי', as well as to the men in the entire family. I thank dear Srul נ"י for his regards              

Your Mama

Please write to me at the address that I indicated earlier.

Mr. Landsberg is a very upright young man. He is here with us.

I would be happy if something could be sent to him.

 

I also send many greetings and all good wishes,

Zwi

I just received post from Tuli and also from Mariemcze. She asked for the exact measurements of Zwi for a suit and coat.

 

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        Daughter of Guggy (who was the daughter of Uncle Herschel) and Leo Grahame.

        See note to letter of 3 November 1939.

        R’ Dovid Teitelbaum, husband of Chaye’s sister Miriam (Mircze) (and a cousin of R’ Yoel of Satmar).  They lived in Nitra with her parents.  Mircze and their five children perished with her mother in Auschwitz in 1944.  R’ Dovid died in the death march from Goleszow, a sub-camp of Auschwitz, in 1945.

        In the postcard of 8 March 1940, Chaye says that Mircze had just had a baby.

        Tsores – misfortunes.

        Yaboshoh – dry land.

        Eretz Yisroel – the Land of Israel.

        See footnote to the letter of 11 May 1939.

        This means the Maranowitz family.  See footnote to the letter to Sara of 1 August 1939.

       R’ Dovid Weinstock’s sister and the wife of R’ Elozor Horowitz of Mielec.

       Son of Jitta Horowitz, not to be confused with the Srul more often referred to who is Yisroel Weinstock, son of Uncle Herschel.

       Klal Yisroel – the Jewish People.

       Sara.

       Pappenheim.

       A friend from Vienna.  See letter of 15 June 1939.

       Surale, wife of Uncle Herschel.

       Wife of Berl Weinstock, R’ Dovid’s youngest brother.