April 1, 1940

April 1, 1940

My dearest Mrs. Marianne,1

Yesterday I was at the Kanns on the third floor and to my considerable grief, I learned from your dear lines that unfortunately my suspicion was correct and my letter with flowers and pictures never reached its destination. I could have cried in despair because, since the beginning of January, since I received the first letter, I have been waiting daily for a letter from you, while I have to see how the Kann family receives letters from their son and daughter regularly; finally my longing should be satisfied, but it seems to be the malignity of things that prevents me and my poor brother — who is waiting for a message from his beloved child like someone dying of thirst, from receiving anything again. Please tell me, dear Mrs. Marianne, what was the main content of the letter? The most important thing: is the girl healthy and back in full activity? [or “back to full employment” ?] All her uncles, Uncle Karl from America, Uncle Max from Shanghai and especially Aunt Anny from Sydney, urge me to provide news from her and I cannot tell them anything. Thanks to your kindness, I already received on January 7, her first letter of December 17, 1939. I copied it three times, and sent it to all the [my] siblings and I sent the original to her father. But since then, my longing has remained unsatisfied, and meanwhile, I read many letters from Erwin and also shared the happiness over his success.2 Now we are all happy when we hear good things from friends and this is the case with both of the children of the Kann family. - Dear Ms. Marianne, I would like to thank you very much for the trouble you took, even if it was in vain, and I can only imagine that the letter may not have reached me because of the little pictures. - - - I ask you to forward this letter so that Giserle knows that she must only send very cautious letters and that she must only send personal pictures, no landscape pictures. - -
Dear little Giserl! As you can see from the above, we are having bad luck [with the mail] but it will get better. Write a long letter immediately and repeat what was most important as far as you can remember it. We are all interested in your health, what work you do, how you live, etc. 14 days ago, I received a letter from uncle Karl [Jellinek] which had been on the way since January 20, in which he asked about you with very keen interest; whether you are still there, whether you have already gotten married, what aunt Stella3 is doing, etc. etc. I sent him a copy of your first letter on January 8, but he probably only received it by the end of January, which means that he did not know anything about you [when writing his letter]. He is such a good uncle and he loves the three of you so dearly,3 like his own children. He also wrote that, thank God, both his children are developing splendidly and that Michili5 has become a little beauty. Bubi6 is six months old now and he is in a very good nursery, where people call him “Fatty,” probably because he is, touch wood, quite fat. - Uncle Karl sent affidavits for uncle Siegfried, aunt Martha and [their son] Erich, and also for Uncle Max and he telegraphed on February 1, saying that he has also sent an affidavit for uncle Poldi,7 which however, has not arrived yet, because the mail connection with the USA has been very bad recently. - However, it seems to have already improved; yesterday two acquaintances in the house here, —you surely know them, the Funk family,8 —they received letters from March 14, which meant that it went relatively quickly. I have not received any mail for 14 days from uncle Max and aunt Anny respectively, even though uncle Max has been writing regularly, so that until now I received a letter every week. - I hope that he will be in a better mood now that he is holding an affadavit in his hands.9 He wrote that he could not bear [spending] a second summer there. Aunt Anny diligently sends him money and so does uncle Karl; they simply are good siblings. -

Uncle Karl is working at an agency for arts and crafts jewelry and belts, produced by a lawyer’s wife from Eger, and Karl seems to be quite capable. I would never have thought that uncle Karl could make a good salesman of women’s fashion accessories. Aunt Karla works in the bank and makes about 20 dollars per week. Thank God, Karla’s sister, with her husband Bertisch and their two-year old child arrived there too on March 2310, and the lucky ones will spend the Seder there with good uncle Karl. Aunt Martha is leaving at the end of April.11 Write soon and be kissed a 1000 times from aunt Gisa.

[handwritten] Many regards also from me.

M. Robiček.

908 [number most probably added by censor]