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Today we have a letter from soldier Paul Zerzawy sent to his brother Robert in Brüx, Bohemia. Although he still addresses Robert as a law student, by this time he knows that Robert has taken leave from his studies in Prague. As with letters Helene wrote in 1939-1941, family members have taken to numbering their correspondence to track whether and when letters arrive.
#3
Fieldpost 211, 24 November 1917
Dear Robert!
First of all, many thanks for the letter dated November 17th ( #1), which I received last night. You can see from the number of this letter that I have not written since the 9th, and here is the explanation. The last news I had of you was on the 23rd of October, almost exactly a month ago. Then, suddenly the connection stopped. Meanwhile, I received some news from everyone else a few times. But about you, I only heard indirectly from Papa’s letter, which I received on the 26th of October, that he thought you were sick. Then another letter came a few days ago from Papa, already to this address, where he writes that he has not received any mail from you and only knows that you are in Brüx, and he is not clear about the reason for this. So, in order to be certain, I only wrote you the card from Morganda from the 2nd of November, then from Sink, from the 4th of November, and two which have been written here on the 7th and 9th of November. I wrote a detailed letter on the 14th, which I sent to Papa and I asked him to pass it on to you.
So, as you can see, I have been totally in the dark for more than a month about how and where you are, and I am still not somewhat confused about it (namely, regarding your well-being and your return to Brüx). Since I have not received your letter to Fieldpost 211 (with a card from Erich), I assume that it is most likely wandering around the 8 field companies. It would have been better if you had addressed it to Morganda. From there, everything reached me. But you were in no position to know that.
I am writing all of this in so much detail so you can picture for yourself how badly informed I am about my closest relatives. All the connections have been lost for me, and that’s why I am asking you to tell me again, starting with your enrollment in Prague, and about your current activities and plans. Have they fallen through? Are you waiting for an answer? What made you leave Prague? Are you all in a household together? I thought Anna had left by horse carriage? And now she is taking care of the housework for Grandmother? Does in fact Grandmother have any worries, since she is living with and getting her meals with Schleins? Have Käthl’s matters finally been settled?
I’m asking you such stupid questions, aren’t I? But, from those questions, you can see that I have no knowledge about the most important issues. Even though since our family has been dispersed in all directions, my letters home have tripled in number. However, the change in my position is partly to blame for this.
I am doing well in every respect. I am leading a life which is not much different from the life the officers are leading, except for the difference in pay. Every six or seven days, I am on duty as company officer of the day. Otherwise, I am lazy at the moment. With the current combat activity,or rather, inactivity, you do not have to worry about my safety for now. The Russians who are opposite us also are completely fed up with this situation.
I hope that our mail connection has been straightened out and will remain so, because in general the mail has been going okay. From Vienna, three days; from Prague, four days, from Brux and Przemyśl six days. Grandmother should excuse me for today that I only am sending her greetings through you. But in exchange, next time I will provide a grandiose description of the bombing of modern positional warfare: “Eastern Front in the Fall of 1917”.
Your loyal brother,
Paul
Paul mentions a November 2 letter sent from Morganda. He may be referring to his letter dated October 2. (see October 5th post). Perhaps he meant November when he wrote the previous letter – unfortunately I do not have the envelope with the postmark. We saw the letters Paul mentions from November 7th and November 9th in the November 9th post. I do not have the letter he mentions that was sent from Sink. Perhaps it never was forwarded from Prague with the others. In the November 16th post, we saw the “detailed letter to Papa,” stationed in Przemyśl.
Anna was mentioned in the April 29th post that included a photo possibly taken on her wedding day in 1915. I do not know how and whether she was related, but it’s clear she was an important part of their youth. I could not find her on the Zerzawy or Löwy family tree.
Paul mentions how long it takes for mail to arrive from each of his family members – his grandmother and Käthl were in Brüx, Robert had been studying law in Prague (until he moved home to Brüx), Helene in Vienna, and his father Julius in Przemyśl. In terms of distance, Brüx is the farthest at about 750 miles, about 500 miles to Vienna, and about 400 miles to Przemyśl. Although his father Julius was nearer than the rest of the family, like Paul, he is in the military and mail takes longer to reach its destination – perhaps due to censors on both ends. Here is a map showing where family members were living:
