As mentioned earlier, I only recently began to get the letters translated that were written in old German handwriting. Today’s letter was translated on New Year’s Eve eve and seemed like an auspicious beginning for this year’s blog – a letter to Helene!
When I began to research and understand my family papers, I attended a meeting of the SF Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society at the San Francisco Jewish Community Library. It was a monthly drop-in meeting entitled “Brainstorming With the Mavens.” I had no idea that such organizations and resources existed. The “mavens” are amateur and professional genealogists who volunteer their time to help people like me get started or overcome roadblocks on their genealogical research. One reason I attended was that I wanted to know whether I needed to find a Czech translator as well as a German one. The WWI letters looked so foreign that I could not believe they were written in German. I brought a copy of a letter and a maven immediately confirmed that it was in German. That in itself was interesting information since my grandmother’s family came from the Czech area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Not uncommon for Bohemian Jews but I did not know it at the time.
Today’s letter was found in an envelope addressed to Paul’s brother Robert, so my archivist and I both assumed it was a letter written to him or to the Zerzawy family as a whole. To my astonishment, it was written to Helene, my grandmother and Paul’s aunt! I assume the letter arrived in the envelope it was found in because the envelope and paper look like the same stationery.
One reason it never occurred to us that the letter was written to Helene was that her name is completely unrecognizable (to me at least) in Sütterlin:
The name “Helene” written in Sütterlin
18 January 1918
Dearest Helene!
The dear k.u.k Fieldpost once again creates a lot of torturous suspense for me. But possibly it is not its fault and it is innocent and it is caused by the change of address.
Please for now learn the following facts:
I am healthy and I spent the day in the following manner which is usual manner during the truce/cease fire: partly military exercises, partly doing nothing. Very lazy. Once again I am commander of the unit in the company. The weather is very beautiful, clear and dry.
Your package with gloves and the letter with the rosette it seems has gone missing. It probably will be in Hungary or fallen into enemy hands.
I will write more when I am in a better mood, which will especially be the case when I will have heard from you and the other dear ones.
Yours with kisses
Paul
Translator Amei Papitto and I couldn’t figure out what a “rosette” was – something in the shape of a rose - based on images found on the internet, perhaps it was something out of fabric or rose-shaped cookies. I’d like to think that Helene sent him cookies for the holidays since she loved baking. The family’s wry sense of humor comes through when talking about the lost package.