17. 2. 1941 Euren Brief vom 29. 12 nebst den Schönen Bildchen empfing dieser Tage und danke ich euch Recht herzl. dafür. Wie aus euren Zeilen entnahm, geht es euch gut, was G. L auch von uns allen berichten kann; durch mein salzloses Leben geht es mir wieder recht ordentlich und verspüre fast keine Herzschmerzen mehr. Nun hast du, l. Mitzi, auch noch gesehen, wie ich als Bub ausgesehen habe; dies waren noch schöne Zeiten für mich. Auch Alice war damals mit uns in Reichenhall und müssen sich doch auch ein Bild von Alice und mir (beim Fensterln) haben, was auch sehr nett war. Mir sind all diese Bildchen abhanden gekommen. In meinem letzten Brief schrieb dir wegen einer neuen Bürgschaft, was du aber vorerst unterlassen kannst, bis dir hierüber schreibe oder telegraphiere. | My dear children, I have received your kind letter of Dec 29 including the beautiful picture these days: thank you so much. As I could see, you two are doing well, which I can report from all of us here thank God, as well. Thanks to my salt-free diet, I am feeling well again and have almost no chest pain anymore. Dear Mitzi, now you could also see me as a small boy; those were the best days for me. Back then Alice was with us as well in Reichenhall and I should still have a picture of Alice and myself at the little window, also a nice one. Alas, I lost all these pictures. I sent two packages to Aunt Hans, but those were returned to me, as we are not able to do this from here. With the government’s permission you could send her something. She asked for a shawl, stockings, underwear, soup cubes and other non-perishable food items. But if you cannot send these, perhaps you could send her some money. As we’ve already mentioned, she met Rudo and Gertrud. Her address is: J. Koppel Flat K. Baraques .... Camp de Gurs Basses Pyreneés. In my last letter I wrote to you about a new sponsorship, but you can wait with it for a while, until I contact you again about it. I have asked today in Stuttgart whether my sponsorship papers of June 11, 1940 are still valid and now I am waiting for their response, because I heard sponsorship can be one year old. In Julius Kahn’s building a woman with the number 28,000 got her appointment now. You can now go to Stuttgart only if you have already a ticket for the ship, which has to be reserved from over there. Currently, these are very difficult to get, Kahn should be receiving one by May; I wonder if this will ever happen. You could tell Uncle Salomon that his friend Frohmann has to go to Stuttgart once more, for he had a small tumor on his neck, which has to heal first before he can go there again; whether he then still gets a ticket I don’t know. As soon as it is our turn, get in contact with Carl who knows exactly what to do. Otherwise, nothing else to report. Greetings to the in-laws, to House Salomon and warm kisses to the two of you from your father. Don’t forget the food we requested. Let me know the address of Max Herz. [At the top of this letter there are a few lines from Mrs Kossmann that are very difficult to decipher. To my best knowledge, it says something like: ]We are happy when the children are well. Father is, thank God, also doing well; we are healthy and content, for Father always worries about his children, whether they are alright. Warm greetings from Joh. Kossman |