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For the next few days we will be spending time with the Zerzawy family during World War I. In this letter from soldier Paul Zerzawy to his brother Robert, we have a different view of the family dynamics than we’ve seen before.
Belgrade, 3 August 1916
Dear Robert!
Today I received a letter from Käthl where she complains that you hit her because of something very unimportant. From where I am of course I cannot judge if it is all as she claims. Whatever the situation might be, you should enforce your authority in other ways than by boxing her ears.
This letter as you can understand has put me in a very bad mood. You can imagine that this does not really make my stay so far away from home any easier. This reproach naturally is not directed towards Käthl, but towards you, and I hope this is the last time.
I have given Käthl very strict instructions to obey you, but not to put up with being hit, but instead to write to me immediately. And be assured that I am able to help without bothering Papa, even when I am in Belgrade and I am in Brüx. In the most extreme case, it would be entirely possible for me to appear personally.
I do not think it is valid that you object that I have no right to condemn you, because I also hit you guys once in a while. I regret it today and I would never do it again. By the way, also read my letter to Käthl. She also complains that you punished her for leaving books lying around, although you were messy yourself at the same time. Consequently, I wrote to her that in this case, you are right to try to correct her untidiness (except when it comes to hitting), and that it is none of her business what you do with your books.
Because if every head of the family could only reproach those things which he himself hadn’t done, it would be sad.
So please understand when I forbid you to punish with slaps in the face. Other than that, you have the right to tell Käthl what to do. I have great confidence that you will find the correct way to do so. At the same time, I hope that you conduct yourself with enough honor that you will respect my letters and that you will not look at any of Käthl’s letters without her permission. I am writing this because I have already had to teach you about the concept of confidentiality of letters.
Don’t consider this situation too tragic, but also don’t take it too lightly. The relationship that we two have with each other will not be affected by this “official” matter, so to speak.
Everything else will follow in a letter addressed to the “Family” Zerzawy.
Your Paul
Please be more kind to Käthl and please promise each other that you will trust each other. It is my wish that Käthl also read this letter and that you read hers, so that you both will know what I am writing to each of you.
In August 1916, Paul was just 20 years old. His father was away at war, probably called up before Paul was. Paul had felt he needed to be the “man of the house.” Now that he a soldier, his 17-year old brother Robert must take on that role. Robert is young and not prepared to have such responsibility. Paul finds he must try to fix the problems at home from afar.
Robert was not even 3 years old when his mother Ida (Helene’s eldest sister) died. He was the youngest of the siblings born to Ida – both of his brothers Paul and Erich were soldiers in World War I, and only their sister Klara remained at home with him. After their mother died, their father Julius married Ida’s (and Helene’s) sister Mathilda, who died when Robert was 10. Mathilda and Julius had one daughter, Käthe/Käthl, who would have been 12 at the time this letter was written.
This letter demonstrates clearly the effect that war has on the people left at home, even if they are far from the fray. Children aren’t allowed much of a childhood. Fathers are away from home. In the case of the Zerzawy children, there is no mother left to take care of them. Their grandmother Rosa Löwy has taken care of the household since her daughters died, but it must have taken quite a toll on her. She was no longer young, and she had had to bury her children, the mothers of her grandchildren. The prospect of being a soldier was doubtless looming over Robert’s thoughts of his future. My heart goes out to the entire family.