October 5, 1930 |
Fahrlander Family | ||
| Haltingen 5 October, 1930 My dear Uncle and Family I received your last letter quite some time ago but have not found the opportunity yet to reply. All of us in Siegelau are well, which is what we hope of you too. As far as the future is concerned, it looks bad everywhere. Even in regard to America, one does not read anything good. I gave up my technical career in school for the time being and keep working by myself, studying from books until my circumstances allow something better. I am still in my position in Haltingen and hold down a good job here. Considering the bad economic conditions, one can be happy if one has work. Many larger businesses in the area here are completely shut down in part. One can not even imagine what all that might lead to. The Reichstag election has cast a crooked light everywhere, even here in Germany.* I do not think that ten years will go by without a war. The more countries arm, the more Germany reawakens to become one nation as it was before, for the immense burden of war debts can not be borne for many decades. As said before, things will get worse for us. I do not expect anything good to happen. With you over there too, circumstances are apparently such that only the big shots harvest and the smaller ones are exploited.** Agriculture with you will probably be suffering too from a lack of demand and a pressure on price. How did the harvest work out for you? Over here with us the weather was bad all summer. Fruit is rather small and the yield was scarce too. Cattle are not worth much either but the meat prices in stores are high. Well, let us hope that all that will improve again. No improvement has taken place with Father's eyes. He was supposed to have been operated on some time ago, but he does not want to. He can not write anymore. Father asks that you should write Benedict. Apparently he wants to go to America too and he seems to have some money in the bank somewhere. More I do not know about that. Dear Uncle, please be not mad that I ask you about money in my last letter. You must know that I am glad for knowledge, for to continue learning is the main thing today; whoever remains in one place will not get ahead. What I desire, I accomplish; thus, forget it.*** Now I conclude my letter hoping that all of you will stay well and write me again soon. Regards to you from all of us. Vitus I now have the opportunity again to learn English. We have a man in our shop who has full command of the English language. * He evidently refers to parlimentary election in Sept. 1930. After one cabinet had resigned, Mar. 27, 1930, Pres. Hindenburg, without consulting parliament, appointed the Bruning cabinet, Mar. 30, 1930, threatening to use the presidential emergency powers (which would have been practically a dictatorship) if parliament did not go along with it. Then in July 1930 Bruning disolved parliament because it did not support his authoritarian methods. So an election was called for in haste in Sept. 1930. The NSDAP (Hitler's party) won increase in seats. The Weimar constitution which gave emergency powers to the president, did not provide any restrictions or set any rules to prevent an authoritarian take-over by a president any time he might proclaim an "emergency." ** The stock mark market crash of 1929 affected Europe too, and at this time one of the members of the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party, or in German, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, from which the word "Nazi" is derived), Hugenberg, headed many newspapers, news agencies, and the Ufa film company, so at least those newspapers would probably have taken delight in emphasizing the plight of the U.S. in the depression years. *** I do not understand his references to asking for money, whether he was asking for some or about it in regard to the depressed economy, which condition he seems to be aware of. |
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