Letter 1.)
My dear ones,
This is a farewell letter. We are going to a concentration camp in France, to Drancy. You know already what will happen to us after this.
I ask you urgently: send a message via Paris to Ana and to my mother. Perhaps one can still do something for us. I have the impression that everything is all right in Titmoning. Write to Father. The situation is distressing. Perhaps a quick rescue might still help.
My dear ones, keep this letter, it is perhaps the last one and perhaps you will show it one day to my dear mother. Tell her that I was with her in my thoughts until the last moment of my life. If my father should be rescued, take care of him and see to it that he does not do, God forbid, something stupid.
Life without me will be unbearable for mother.
I implore you, do whatever is still possible to rescue me.
Thank you very much for everything you have done for me, most of all, thanks to mother.
I conclude because my heart bursts with pain.
Remember me and do everything via Paris.
Kisses from me, Yours,
Hela
This is a farewell letter. We are going to a concentration camp in France, to Drancy. You know already what will happen to us after this.
I ask you urgently: send a message via Paris to Ana and to my mother. Perhaps one can still do something for us. I have the impression that everything is all right in Titmoning. Write to Father. The situation is distressing. Perhaps a quick rescue might still help.
My dear ones, keep this letter, it is perhaps the last one and perhaps you will show it one day to my dear mother. Tell her that I was with her in my thoughts until the last moment of my life. If my father should be rescued, take care of him and see to it that he does not do, God forbid, something stupid.
Life without me will be unbearable for mother.
I implore you, do whatever is still possible to rescue me.
Thank you very much for everything you have done for me, most of all, thanks to mother.
I conclude because my heart bursts with pain.
Remember me and do everything via Paris.
Kisses from me, Yours,
Hela
Letter 2.)
My darling,
On this, the last night of my life, I bid you farewell. Our days of happiness were short-lived, but beautiful. At this moment I am remembering our love, from its beautiful beginning until its cruel end. You were the love of my life, and I would willingly have sacrificed everything to save you. And our innocent little Otto – why has it been decreed that this rough, ruthless hand should put an end to his short life?
I remember my loved ones for the last time. If you are lucky enough to see them again, I send a last kiss to my beloved sister, to my brother and Olga, to Maxi and Lidi, and especially to Danny and Lianka, with all my heart. I wish them all a happier life than our own. They must fight bravely for our freedom and avenge the innocent blood of their loved ones.
My darling, thank you with all my heart for your devotion, your love, and for the happiness you have given me. Stay the way you are today – a dauntless hero who never gives in. I will think of you and pray for your rescue until my last breath. Lastly, please send my best wishes to all your friends.
Farewell, love of my life! Ellie and your little Otto send you kisses for the last time!
Goodbye Auschwitz Birkenau
My darling,
On this, the last night of my life, I bid you farewell. Our days of happiness were short-lived, but beautiful. At this moment I am remembering our love, from its beautiful beginning until its cruel end. You were the love of my life, and I would willingly have sacrificed everything to save you. And our innocent little Otto – why has it been decreed that this rough, ruthless hand should put an end to his short life?
I remember my loved ones for the last time. If you are lucky enough to see them again, I send a last kiss to my beloved sister, to my brother and Olga, to Maxi and Lidi, and especially to Danny and Lianka, with all my heart. I wish them all a happier life than our own. They must fight bravely for our freedom and avenge the innocent blood of their loved ones.
My darling, thank you with all my heart for your devotion, your love, and for the happiness you have given me. Stay the way you are today – a dauntless hero who never gives in. I will think of you and pray for your rescue until my last breath. Lastly, please send my best wishes to all your friends.
Farewell, love of my life! Ellie and your little Otto send you kisses for the last time!
Goodbye Auschwitz Birkenau
Letter 3.)
I am still alive. A carpenter, I lived in Warsaw in apartment 40 on 14 Krochmalna Street. On 15.2.1944, I worked at 8 Chucinska Street. I am still alive. I don’t know if I will be tomorrow.
I write at a time when there are no longer any Jews in Warsaw. I would like to see my beloved wife and my two beloved children, Wareczyk and Jurek. I wonder if I will still see them.
These are terrible days for me. I want to live, I feel the end coming. Kalezyk
If anyone should find what I have written, publish it in a newspaper, so that my relatives - who may have survived - will know that at this time I was still alive.
I am still alive. A carpenter, I lived in Warsaw in apartment 40 on 14 Krochmalna Street. On 15.2.1944, I worked at 8 Chucinska Street. I am still alive. I don’t know if I will be tomorrow.
I write at a time when there are no longer any Jews in Warsaw. I would like to see my beloved wife and my two beloved children, Wareczyk and Jurek. I wonder if I will still see them.
These are terrible days for me. I want to live, I feel the end coming. Kalezyk
If anyone should find what I have written, publish it in a newspaper, so that my relatives - who may have survived - will know that at this time I was still alive.
Letter 4.)
To my dear ones,
Dimitrios Athanasios Stephanidis, Ilias Cohen, Georgios Gunaris and all my close friends, Smaru Eframidu of Athens and other friends whom I will always remember, and finally to my beloved fatherland, Greece, whose faithful citizen I have always been.
I left Athens on 2 April 1944 after going through torture for months in the Haidari concentration camp, where all the time I received packages from the good-hearted Sfaru, and all that she tried to do for me remains in my memory forever in these terrible days which I am now experiencing.
To my dear ones,
Dimitrios Athanasios Stephanidis, Ilias Cohen, Georgios Gunaris and all my close friends, Smaru Eframidu of Athens and other friends whom I will always remember, and finally to my beloved fatherland, Greece, whose faithful citizen I have always been.
I left Athens on 2 April 1944 after going through torture for months in the Haidari concentration camp, where all the time I received packages from the good-hearted Sfaru, and all that she tried to do for me remains in my memory forever in these terrible days which I am now experiencing.
Letter 5.)
Beloved, precious children,
In these final moments, before I join your dearest father, and will, like him, lose my freedom, there is an urgent compulsion within me to tell you the following.
You are in our thoughts by day and night; our love for you makes our life even under these present difficult circumstances worth living; we long for the moment when we shall once more be able to embrace you with outstretched arms – you, our most precious possessions – and we have faith in the future, that this supreme joy will be granted us.
‘Beloved Sparrows’ – I must call you this once more, as I used to do when you were still very young – should circumstances alter course for us and we, according to the will of the Almighty, not meet again, I beg each one of you with all my heart to lead honest and straightforward lives always, and to support one another whenever necessary. Your young and only sister will receive your utmost thoughtfulness and love. And Hy, your eldest brother, who has missed you no less than ourselves all these years and who has suffered greatly through agony and fear, must also be close to your hearts. Unfortunately, uprooted as we have been here in Holland, we were never able to give him the secure parental home atmosphere for which he longed so much. Many times the longing for you and the desire to be reunited with you
Enschede, Holland
1 April 1943
were so overpowering and strong in us, as well as in him that we feared we could bear it no longer.
I know what a treasure we have in you, my beloved ones, and that you are committed and firm and of strong character, that – Baruch Hashem – you are all blessed with that essence of personality which makes you liked by your fellow men and will surely find favour in the eyes of the Creator. This knowledge brings me consolation. Never deviate from the path of God-fearing behavior and always be guided by the example of your beloved father. Our constant thoughts of you have accompanied you so far on your road through life, and our blessings will never leave you!
This letter will reach you through the efforts of a fine Dutch lady who was always wonderful to us and constantly gave us courage for the future, which we accepted gratefully.
My Precious Children – I bless each of you from a distance with the traditional blessing, also in Daddy’s name: ‘May you be happy and successful in life; cling one to the other; and never stray even one step from the path, from the precepts of our Torah.’
I embrace and kiss you and now feel truly united with you,
Always yours,
Mummy
Beloved, precious children,
In these final moments, before I join your dearest father, and will, like him, lose my freedom, there is an urgent compulsion within me to tell you the following.
You are in our thoughts by day and night; our love for you makes our life even under these present difficult circumstances worth living; we long for the moment when we shall once more be able to embrace you with outstretched arms – you, our most precious possessions – and we have faith in the future, that this supreme joy will be granted us.
‘Beloved Sparrows’ – I must call you this once more, as I used to do when you were still very young – should circumstances alter course for us and we, according to the will of the Almighty, not meet again, I beg each one of you with all my heart to lead honest and straightforward lives always, and to support one another whenever necessary. Your young and only sister will receive your utmost thoughtfulness and love. And Hy, your eldest brother, who has missed you no less than ourselves all these years and who has suffered greatly through agony and fear, must also be close to your hearts. Unfortunately, uprooted as we have been here in Holland, we were never able to give him the secure parental home atmosphere for which he longed so much. Many times the longing for you and the desire to be reunited with you
Enschede, Holland
1 April 1943
were so overpowering and strong in us, as well as in him that we feared we could bear it no longer.
I know what a treasure we have in you, my beloved ones, and that you are committed and firm and of strong character, that – Baruch Hashem – you are all blessed with that essence of personality which makes you liked by your fellow men and will surely find favour in the eyes of the Creator. This knowledge brings me consolation. Never deviate from the path of God-fearing behavior and always be guided by the example of your beloved father. Our constant thoughts of you have accompanied you so far on your road through life, and our blessings will never leave you!
This letter will reach you through the efforts of a fine Dutch lady who was always wonderful to us and constantly gave us courage for the future, which we accepted gratefully.
My Precious Children – I bless each of you from a distance with the traditional blessing, also in Daddy’s name: ‘May you be happy and successful in life; cling one to the other; and never stray even one step from the path, from the precepts of our Torah.’
I embrace and kiss you and now feel truly united with you,
Always yours,
Mummy