10-22-1940

Zusammenfassung:

Martin berichtet über seine Verlobungsfeier an seinen Vater in Frankfurt und teilt den Hochzeitstermin zum Thanksgiving Day 1940 mit. Er stellt die Familie Hesky und Freunde vor, die Verlobungsgeschenke (Ringe) und berichtet von der mit der Wohnungssuche beginnenden Haushaltsgründung.

Der Brief enthält Bleistifteintragungen mit Namen der Personen, die noch über die Eheschließung zu informieren sind.

My dears,

You can imagine how I have been feeling, since we decided to get married after such a long waiting time. Mitzi’s family took it quite well, contrary to our expectations, and you can see on the enclosed photo how great our celebration of it turned out last Sunday. The people on the picture from left to right are: Hans Koplowitz (Beuthen, Mitzi’s brother-in-law) and his wife Hilda, Mitzi’s sister from Pittsburgh, who stayed with us over the holidays, then the engagement couple, then the parents. Mitzi’s brother, Heini, who works as a waiter in the Shoreland hotel took the picture.

Mitzi’s father gave me a wunderful ring; a sort of signet ring with a big, square lapis lazuli stone, and her mother gave her her own engagement ring. As I, too gave her a ring, she has to wear one on each hand now. As you can imagine, we are talking household budget, and looking at ads for apartments. It is not that simple to find a place in our area, where we would like to stay as many friends of ours live here. Our plan is to get married on Thanksgiving, which falls on either 21 or 28 Nov, after which we’d take two days off, or, if we find an apartment by Dec 1, then at the beginning of December. The exact date I will tell you later. I still have not told anybody here about our engagement. Soon I will visit Uncle Salmon and tell him all about it. Most of his friends will attend a concert Friday evening as Hilde is friends with the violinist Holberg, and at this event we want to surprise them. I will not tell the Americans as of yet.

I get along very well with the in-laws, although I still feel awkward about addressing them by their first name. They even offered us to move in with them, but I declined. The mother went to New York to attend the wedding of a nephew next Sunday. The father is in his late fifties, would like to have a job, but, other than a volunteer job (treasurer at a club) he has not found anything.

Now I have to stop as the post office closes in five minutes. Warm kisses, greetings to all.