Hedy exchanged letters with her parents from 1939 when she arrived in England until 1942 when her parents were sent on separate transports to Auschwitz. The following are translations of some of the letters Hedy received from her father and mother.
1939
1940
1941
1942
1939
May 20, 1939
My Darling,
Sing song, cling clong, a young lass went forth into the world. My young lass went forth and has given me great joy with her magnificent conduct and beautiful letters. Your essay is very good and I have given the new English girl and “A” for it. Now continue in the same manner, and we will all soon be most happy.
I think we will return home on Monday and will be waiting for further mail from you there. Enclosed is an international response coupon. Say: “I beg to change this coupon.”
Mrs. Rose wrote a very nice letter; I will answer after we return home. Did you receive all of your luggage?
I don’t have the address of B’nai Brith here with me. I thought you have an already addressed envelope. Write the necessary letter to them. At the top put the address. If the people who received you were primarily ladies, then begin your letter as follows:
My ladies,
I am very happy to respond to your kind request to share with you my first impressions, including how I feel about your welcome….
Please write to us in great detail about your visit to Mrs. Simon. You will be introduced to the Rabbi on the Holy Days. Don’t forget to thank him for his help.
Fondest greetings and kisses,
Your Father
My Dear Hedy,
With great joy I read your various letters and postcards. I am very glad that you had a good trip and were met by good friends. Judging from your dear letters, Mrs. Rose and her children are very nice to you and knowing you, you will adjust yourself very quickly to your new life. Write to us about your visit to Mrs. Simon and describe what kind of person she is. After we return home, we will write in greater detail. Give our best regards to the Rose family, we will write to them after we return home.
Stay well, heartiest greetings and kisses from your Mutti.
May 23, 1939
My dear Hedy,
We arrived home safely yesterday evening. This afternoon your dear letter arrived. We had been longingly waiting for it and are very happy to read only good things in it. In the meantime your should have received our letter, together with an international response coupon, mailed in Rueckingen. I am happy, from the deepest recesses of my heart, that everyone is so nice to you. Hopefully you will therefore not get homesick and will adjust quickly to the new situation. Write to us in detail about your daily activities. What kind of a lady is Mrs. Simon? Was she nice to you? And did she ask you questions about our family…
…Continue to be brave and good and receive heartiest greetings and kisses from your
Mutti
Did you ride the subway alone?
Dear Hedy,
I was on tender hooks because there was no news from you this morning. This afternoon I carried your letter home triumphantly. You can hardly imagine how very happy it has made us…As dear Mutti already wrote to you, we want to hear detailed accounts about the family with whom you live. Describe each person and give them descriptive names like the one on the train whom you called Snowflake. But the names must be chosen well, so that one gets the feeling one looks at a photograph of the person. Write to us also how you spend your days, such as at — o’clock I get up, wash my neck, etc. until it is night and you say to your friend with whom you share the bedroom: “I am very tired, good night, sleep well.” The letter has to read exactly the way you always have told stories. Don’t forget anything. How are you managing the tea, are you managing to drink it? Can you eat bread and butter and sausage, or is the family very orthodox?
Have all your dresses been pressed now? Have you received your geography book with the pictures and the envelope with the old, collected pictures?
By the time you will receive this letter, you will probably have spoken to the Rabbi. Write to us and tell us how you communicated with each other.
Is the dress style in England different that the style of your clothes?
Have you talked to Beatrice about our emigration and what did she say? We will write to her this week. In our next letter to you, I will enclose a few lines, addressed to the Rose family.
Write to us in detail now, please, because once you start to go to school, you will probably not have as much time and peace to do so.
For today I send you very heartiest greeting and kisses,
Your Father
May 25, 1939
Dear Good Hederle,
Yesterday, we received your dear letter, dated May 22. Your beautiful reports have made us very happy. So that you will have enough material to write about in your next letter I will list a few things we want to know more about. You don’t have to answer all of them at once.
In the previous letters you have written us a lot about the Mayers and the Roses. But you have not told us if you have new impressions and how you are disgusting all of these. Tell us once what you like and what you don’t like. For instance: How are you managing drinking tea? How do you like the different cuisine? It is especially important for us to know how you are being treated by the Roses. You can imagine what we want to know. Are the Mayers and the Roses the way we are? Are they very religious?
Have you talked to the Rabbi about school? Are you able to communicate with him? Is he a nice man? Please send us his address so that I can write to him personally about our emigration to England. If he knows German, let me know. Please write everything concerning emigration on a separate piece of paper. You know the reason for that.
Describe to us life in the Rose family household and what your room looks like. Are you able to help in the house? Does it give pleasure to Mrs. Rose when you do, especially those things that dear Mommy taught you lately?
By the time you have answered the above questions one by one, school will have started and you will not have as much time to write to us. Unless there is something special, it will be adequate if we write to you once a week and you to us. When you write again please proofread your letter, so that there won’t be words missing. If you need something, please let us know, and if it is possible we will send it to you.
For today heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Mutti and Papa
June 1, 1939
My Dear Hederle,
With your new letter you have again given us great joy. You know, of course, that every minute detail about you is of interest to us. I presume that you will want to start again to collect stamps. I have therefore purchased air mail stamps which I don’t believe you have and am putting them on this envelope.
The sketch of your bedroom was well done. Well, it’s nice when you’ve learned something. Do you keep all your underwear in the same dresser or is most of it in your suitcase in the attic? I am sure no English person can understand this. Kind regards to the whole family Rose. What are you called and how do you pronounce the names?
For today I remain with heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Father
June 6, 1939
My Dear Hedy,
Yesterday we received your dear letter, written on Saturday, and, as always, it made us very happy. You don’t have to get upset if you do not receive mail every other day. We write only when we receive mail from you, and you don’t have as much free time now.
I bought you four pairs of nice white socks and have given them to Mrs. Schwab. She did not have time today, so I will go back tomorrow to find out how you will get the socks…Does one only wear white socks in England? How are you managing your hairdo? I now have curls. They are holding quite well. Dear Papa puts them in four curlers every evening for me…When you visit the Mayers again, tell them that the little bit of money which you were allowed to take with you from Germany is almost all gone and ask if they can give you spending money. There are always expenses that you have, money to go to the movies, for toilet articles, stamps, shoe repair, etc.
Sending you heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Mutti
My Dear Hedy,
I just returned home and am very happy to be able to add my greetings. I can now mail small packages to you, weighing one pound. If you have any wishes, write them to us. Will you need toothpaste soon?
Heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Papa
June 18, 1939
My Dear Hedy,
I have often written and told you that your letters always give us great joy, but no letter was as beautiful as the one you wrote on the 16th of June. If I had you with me here now, I would take your head in both my hands and would give you an extra special kiss on each cheek.
You write that you can only wear white socks, that is why we sent you white socks. What other colors do you want? We can only send you one pair at a time because of the English custom duty. Do you need any sanitary napkins, because it will take another 4-5 weeks before Mrs. Lilienfeld will come?
Your pictures are very nice. They have been framed and are standing on the glass table, so that we can enjoy our good Hederle.
The essay: A Day in the High School, is really beautiful. That was only the first part, or was it only the introduction? Please write the continuation, a description of the various subjects, also the class schedule, and then how you are managing the understanding, a little English, a little German and a little with the hands…
…I have now written so much that there is very little left to write for our good little mother.
Sending you heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Father
Don’t you spend much time with the Rose children? You don’t write much about that.
My Dear Hedy,
As always your very nice and detailed letter has given me great joy. I am particularly pleased with the pictures. You look very good. I believe your dress has become a little tight actress the bust. Can Mrs. Rose alter it to add width or is she not an artist when it comes to sewing? It also appears to me that your hair is very long and that you are no longer combing it back. Please ask Mrs. Rose, if you have pocket money, to go with you to the hairdresser. She can express herself better than you and explain how you want your hair cut. Dear Uncle Max wrote and told us that Mrs. Lilienfeld won’t be leaving for another 4-5 weeks. If you need the sanitary napkins sooner, please let us know and we will send you a package…When I go to Lahr later in the week, I will buy a box of mending yarn and will mail it to you right away. I would love to send you some soup, but that is not possible. Can you get cherries and strawberries there now? Do the Roses keep a kosher home? Have you gone swimming yet?
Sending you heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Mutti
June 30, 1939
My Dear Hedy,
We received your dear letter, dated June 27, this morning. We were very upset yesterday and the day before because we are not used to not hearing from you for a whole week. The main thing is that you are well, and that you have given us great joy with the content of your letter…
…If the Roses don’t have any fruit, then buy some. You don’t have to tell them about it. Tell Mrs. Rose that you are accustomed to mending your stockings, that you did it at home and we are glad to mail you mending yarn, which doesn’t cost more than a postage stamp. Other parents are sending their children different things so that they can save the little pocket money they have. She does not have to feel put down or insulted because of that. She probably would do the same thing if one of her daughters were away.
I think you should put your hair in curlers again. Hopefully you won’t get caught in a rainstorm every day. Did you get very wet? Hopefully you did not catch a cold. Is that perhaps the reason why you did not write?
…Please write again soon, and receive heartiest greetings and kisses from,
Your Papa
My Dear Hedy,
You can’t imagine how happy we were when we received your letter this morning, we could not imagine what was wrong because we had not heard from you…If you want something, please, by all means write to us. After all we are your parents, and parents will do anything to give their child joy. You can say this to Mrs. Rose.
Very hearty greetings and kisses,
Your Mutti
July 28, 1939
We just received your letter, dated the 26th, and by the time this letter reaches you, you will have moved and will have recovered from the excitement.
You believe that you surprised us, but that was not so at all. But your absent-mindedness and numerous half sentences showed us only too clearly that something was wrong. While we decided not to write to you about it, we were, however, that much more upset. Now everything has turned out all right…It was really very nice that Aunt Beatrice took you into her home right away so that you did not have to continue being hungry…
…Please write to us what else happened in Edgeware and what Mrs. Rose said to you when you said goodbye. But write to us openly and honestly, the way you have been used to. To protect us is very honorable. However, now that you have done just that, we find it difficult to find peace of mind. I don’t like to be confronted with faits accomplis.
Sending you today very hearty greetings and kisses,
Your Papa
My Dear Good Hedy,
When I went to the post office this afternoon and received your dear letter, I thought it was not possible that this letter is in response to our last letter, therefore I concluded the letter contains either a pleasant surprise or the reverse, of course, it was the latter. Thank God it is over now and that your girlfriend was smarter than you. Aunt Beatrice is really more than good and kind in that she remedied the situation so quickly. Hopefully things will be extra good for you now. You are really a very good and sensible child in that you wanted to spare us the worry and concern, but we are pleading with you now. If there is ever anything again that bothers you, please share it with us.
We hope to hear good things in your next letter. Very hearty greetings and kisses,
Your Mutti
August 4, 1939
Dear Hedy,
I have repeatedly indicated that the Karpens are very hard-hearted people and have refused all requests for an affidavit… I don’t know what else to do today except to beg all of you there for personal intervention on our behalf. Perhaps we can still be rescued. Emigration to the USA has not speeded up any.
Sending you heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Papa
August 12, 1939
Dear Good Birthday Child,
This morning we received your dear letter and when you closed it with the words: “Your again Happy Hedy” you made us especially happy with those beautiful words…Now the most important thing. For your birthday I wish you, my dear Hederle, all the very best from my heart. May you remain very healthy in your new year, may you be happy over there, so that you can look forward to a happy and good future. On your birthday our thoughts will stand with you at the birthday table and we are not sad at all (as foolish as that may sound) that this time we cannot be with you. We will not rest, however, until we are all together again and then we will forget this time very quickly…I have to close now and send you heartiest greetings and kisses.
Your Papa
My Dear Hedy,
This time I felt just like you did when your happy letter arrived. I jumped clear across the big kitchen table, that’s how happy I was. See, I’m still a pretty good gymnast. Hahaha! It will be your birthday when this letter arrives. What do I wish for you? You know that your little mother would fetch the very best from heaven for you if that were possible in any way. It is not nice that I cannot spend this day with you, but it is better that way. Why should I say a lot about the time we live through now. I know that you are over there, that you are in the care of good people and that means a great deal of happiness for me.
Though I cannot bake a birthday cake for you this time, I tried to make up for it with cookies. When you eat them, then think that each one of them contains a loving greeting from my Mutti, and each one contains a good wish for the future. It is very nice that Mrs. Mayer has invited you for coffee and cake on your birthday. I hope you will have a very good time and please write to us about it in detail.
I am sending you today many loving birthday kisses,
Your Mutti
September 6, 1939
My Dear Hedy,
I am very happy to read good things about you in your postcard. We will write to you regularly as always, but if you do not receive mail from us regularly, then remember it will not be our fault. Aunt Beatrice will not be able to do anything now. There will be no use in your asking her about it.
Still heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Papa
November 16, 1939 via Holland
My Dear Hedy,
I was so happy when your dear letter arrived this morning. This time we had to wait a long time for it. Please write to us every week. I have another wish; don’t always write such serious letters, write again in your sunshine style. I am very glad that you are so well. We are also well and satisfied.
Heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Mutti
December 17, 1939 via Switzerland
Dear Hedy,
I hope very much that you are well and that your mail will arrive again regularly. We are always happy when we hear good news about you.
Heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Papa
1940
February 20, 1940 via Switzerland
Dear Hedy,
“Sing sang, cling clang, a lass went out into the world.” This is the text of the old song I gave you to take along life’s path and the lass has proven herself. Continue like this, my sunshine. I hope to have you with us again soon if nothing interferes with the plans Uncle Manfred carries out. But you must get our registration number from the Committee, turn that in at the Consulate. Our reference number is BA 19297. Our quota number at the Consulate is 20753.
Heartiest greetings and kisses,
Your Papa
April 16, 1940 via Geneva, opened by censor
My Dear Hedy,
Today we received your March 3rd letter and are very happy with it. From us I can report that we are also well and content. We are very happy that you are learning how to dance in school. That should give you a change of pace and pleasure and that is very necessary for you to have since the Simmons family still is not too friendly with you. Do you understand now why I always told you we are not learning from school, but we learn from life?
Have you talked to Aunt Bea yet about a new dress? We think you should have a new one. Please let us know one of the days how tall you are and how much you weigh. I am sure school is a lot easier for you now. Are you learning shorthand? I am of the opinion that that is very important. If you have the opportunity to learn shorthand, then be sure to avail yourself of that.