Today’s letter to Helene’s children and nephew in San Francisco appears to have been added to the envelope of the one we saw yesterday – today’s is Clipper letter number 93a, while the letter from April 24 was number 93. The censorship numbers are also the same.
Vienna, 25 April 1941
My dear children, including Paul!
Do you know what day is today? Two years ago today, a certain pair of siblings went to Istanbul. Do you remember? It’s been 2 years but it seems like yesterday, but I can’t think at the same time that we have not seen even a single line written from you for such a long time. The second bunch of letters in this month has not reached us, but I have no right to grumble or complain because Paul’s happy news came yesterday and with every hour I am waiting for mail, that is another step into our heavenly kingdom. I do not trust myself to imagine what it will be like when you meet us at the pier, because secondly it always turns out differently than how one first thinks it’s going to be. If I think about the way Harry looked when we saw him when you were traveling through here at the Ostbahnhof [East Train Station] and when we received you there, my knees shake still. So different it must have been for the godly Faust when Gretchen uttered that famous quote. (Pardon, she wasn’t that crazy that she actually quoted Berlichingen. [another Goethe work]) I wasn’t in the mood to laugh then and in the later weeks I wasn’t either when I was thinking of any possible way that I could give my Harry, whose batteries seemed to have run out, a boost to get him on the right track. But I do not have to worry about experiencing such unpleasant surprises when I see you next and you don’t either. Papa has changed very little. There’s a little bit of grey hair around his temples, it actually looks quite nice. It fits his appearance and he looks now quite a bit like Uncle Isaac, maybe the way Isaac looked about 10 years ago. I however look like one of Verdi’s witches, but as such I would certainly get a beauty prize. You will see and in the first joy of seeing each other, you won’t notice it right away. I would love to call to myself: “get down off the goat [double meaning: goat/desire] because before we get the declaration from the Consulate and we’ve burned our bridges, it’ll take quite a while. I do enjoy imagining: “on such and such a date your ship will sail” and until then may my heart remain calm and not do anything stupid.
I hope the next wave of mail which comes to Europe will bring a few lines. I actually took the whole morning off this morning to write to Tillie and Hilda, but my thinking cap is not working well, especially for English it needs a detailed inspection and needs to be oiled. Please get ready for a whole pile of letters to arrive in the next few days which express my thanks. I greet all of you and all of our dear ones and I will end with my best wishes and my most sincere greetings to you.
I hug you affectionately and I kiss you
Helen
The first line of today’s letter resonates with me – like my grandmother, I am someone who remembers and likes to mark all important dates and anniversaries, much more than the average person. I often am surprised by the synchronicity of something that happens on a particular day that has echoes to the past. As I write this, I realize that my entire 2021 blog is based on this idea – what happened on this particular date in the past?