A Letter from Lili

I'm back to the family history blog!  One of my summer projects was to get back to this, and to try to organize all the material I have (a major challenge, especially since organization isn't one of my core competencies.....).  In the process I uncovered this letter from Charlie's Aunt Lili in Czechoslovakia to my father.  It also has an added note to Regina, who had just emigrated to the US from Palestine and a brief note from Charlie.

I managed to get this translated from the German, with the help of an acquaintance and Google translate.  I've left most of the awkward phrasing because I'm afraid of changing the meaning, some of which I may have unintentionally done anyway.

November 19, 1945

Dear Dago  –

Many thanks for your long letter.  First I want to tell you that Heinele is well.  As I told you he goes in the third grade in the elementary school, plus he learns Jewish [Yiddish?] and English in private and evening classes.  He picks up very quickly and the learning goes easy. 

On Saturdays once in a while he is called to the Torah, and we eat lunch in the Folkskitchen.  He often helps out there.  He speaks German in a dialect that he learned at home in Beuthen, but he prefers Czech.  This he learned in 1939 after deportation to Prague, and he kept it as his mother tongue.  With me and my husband he speaks Slovak or Czech, but in a short time he will also learn English.  

As of December 1, we hope that we will all live together.  Up till now he lives with my brother-in-law, Backer, who is out of  town. I myself have only a small room on the 7^th story far behind the city, but the child is in his free time mostly in my office, which is in the city center and very close to his apartment.  It is all very difficult because he was supposed to go to Gusti [her sister], but it is not working out.  Like I already told you I am trying to get Heinele to London. But this has to be done from the outside.  I have seen cases where it was successful, but in my case my hands are tied because I am here.

He writes his name “Jindra” or “Jindrich.”  We are using no German names because everything reminds us of Germany, and we are eradicating the language.  The child likes to go to the movies, normally on a Sunday afternoon.  We haven’t been in the movies in 6 years, and we do not miss it.  We are so tired and we have hardly lived. 

Chaskel [Uncle Henry] writes that they have a small jewelry manufacturer.  Here you see it in masses, these articles, there are such things, so it is not of value, but Chaskel says he is doing fine.  And Chaskel writes often and writes very well, and I like to hear from him.  Gusti writes me and we are happy to get posts from all these people.

Did you ever meet my sister Gusti?  She does not write well, but she is a beautiful person, of which there are few.  Even her husband is very steady and nice.  He wrote me that he has all the Saturdays and holidays free.  This has us very happy and it is my outspoken wish that our child is brought up in the Jewish sense, and so remains. We have seen the big businesses and the wealthy firms  that collapsed like a house of cards overnight and the original owner who fought to keep the business going and then collapsed. 

There is a lot to talk about, but we will keep it for ourselves, until we can speak in person.  I fear that our opinions may differ, but our views are still unchanging even after all we had to live through. 

Today I got news that a parcel that was sent by you from NY arrived here.  I do not have it yet, but in a few days I will pick it up.  Many thanks for sending that.

Now I have another worry, Gusti [her sister] writes that they sent a package to the address of a nephew of mine, Capitan Bernat Grun, Praha Karlin, Kralovska 59. Now, however, he was transferred and I do not know where he is. Actually my older brother who came from Russia was living with him, but it is possible that the son has taken the father, and both are no longer in Prague and the package has gotten into the wrong hands. This will make me very sick, because there are things that are very important for me:  winter coat, boots, and hats, which we need just as much as a bit of bread.

For now I close with many kind regards to all.

Send me please some pictures of yourself and especially of little Frances.  We sent you a picture of Heini and one of my husband and myself, which hopefully have come. 

Again warm regards,

         (signed)               Leonie

[Leonie continues….]

Here are a few lines from Heini. He writes in Czech, because he does not like to write in German:

Translation [into German, provided by Lili]:

Dear uncle.  I am very glad about your news.  Whenever I go to aunt, the first thing I ask about you.  I’m in the third grade in school.  I am busy learning and I am healthy.  I am happy that you are healthy and have good wives [sic!].  I would love to be with you, but it is very difficult, and God knows how long it will take.  I must learn a lot, because I missed four years, but it is easy and I hope it will all be for the best.

Otherwise I am healthy.  I have a coat, a lumberjack and a leather cap.  And now I am closing.

                        Jindrich Grun, /Heini/

[And Lili continues with this note to Regina]

My dear Ryfka 

From the previous lines you'll see everything concerning us and the child.  Heniele would very much like to know why you left Erez [Palestine] and if it is so that one cannot exist there. Since then, he heard that his uncle is not for Erez, he will not hear of seeking anything there, even though he initially showed interest in it. He is a wonderful child and is recognized by everybody because he is particularly beautiful ["schon" -- "nice" may be a better translation?].  He resembles Chaskel and Dago.  I love him very much and will give him the base to be a good person.  He’s very outgoing and we do not speak about the past, even though many times he is asking for his parents.  I cannot imagine a life without this child, but it is my strongest wish that he soon find a place that will be best for him.  Chaskel writes that he is fighting to get the child, but I want to make sure that I give him the basic education before we do anything else. 

Otherwise I don’t have much to tell, I am happy for you that you are happy and hope that you will find a nice man. 

My husband [Isidore] has a good character.  He is one of six brothers.  He’s the only one that survived.  God help me to protect him.  It was only by a small margin that we would have been destroyed, too.

Now, in conclusion, I remain sincerely,

        (signed)             Leonie   Isidor    Heini


And now some background and commentary from me:



Most of you will remember that it was Charlie's Aunt Lili (aka Leonie Schwarz) who tracked him down after the war ended, and then managed to contact his uncles and get him to United States.

Here's how Charlie describes the experience in his document "A Remembrance:"

In the papers that Charlie left are letters written by Lili to my father ("Dago"), Regina ("Ryfka") and Henry ("Chaskel") between May, 1945 and June, 1946. 

There are 25 of them, mostly typewritten, but written, of course, in German. I've managed to get two translated, this one, which I chose because of the note from Charlie, and the very first one I have, which is dated May 15, 1945, and which I'll reserve for a future post, because this post is getting too long.

I'll end, though, with a photo of "Heinele" and Lili and her husband Isidor, labeled "Bratislava, 1946."