August 4, 1939 |
Fahrlander Family | ||
| Haltingen, 4 August 1939 Dear Uncle and Family Again half a year has passed without my having written you. I received your Christmas letter and thank you very much for it. At present all of us are well, which I hope is the case for all of you and all members of your family. I am still employed in the same business in Haltingen. Our business is doing quite well. The only thing is that we have too few people to work for us. Mostly I spend 60 hours a week at the factory. An engineer from our factory went to see his sons in America a few weeks ago when he was on vacation. He has written me from there. He likes everything quite well. He will return after a year. He is not far from New York. I have not been to Siegelau recently and do not know much about it. Since my dear parents died, I get home very little. The youngest of us brothers owns the farm, I told you about this matter once before. My son Hansrudi has been attending modern secondary school in Lorrach for a year and is studying English industriously now. Perhaps he will be able to write you or your daughter Helene soon in English. Hansrudi is saying again and again whether it would not be possible for Helene to come to Germany on a visit. Dear Uncle, would it not be quite inexpensive to travel with “traveling marks?”* I am sure Helene would like to see the home country of her Father. We would be most happy if that would become a reality. I would be happy to take her in as a guest. It has been my dream to see your home once too, but there are many of such dreams. As I heard in our news, it has been warm where you live. We had a lot of rain this summer and cool weather all the time. Quite a few areas were devastated by the weather. The harvest has been fairly good here. At present the whole world is restless. Let us hope that this restlessness will disappear again soon. Especially we here close to the border. As you know, we are only two kilometers from the French border. We are happy if everything works out peacefully. We can still remember the last war quite well and do not wish that all those terrible events should be repeated once again. May God protect the world from a new war. Well, let us hope for the best.** I will send you a few pictures fairly soon. Until then we wish you health and happiness. Regards to you, from Vitus. * Not known what he means by “traveling marks.” **Sept. 1, 1939, 27 days after this letter, Germany invaded Poland; in March had already occupied Prague, Czechoslovakia. Sept. 3, England and France declared war on Germany. |
Letters Home |