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Today we see two letters from Helene and Vitali’s friend Paula in Vienna, one from 1952 and one from 1955. We saw letters from Paula in the July 11 and August 22 posts.
Vienna, Oct. 1, 1952
Dearest Helene,
Today I am taking time to write to you, my dearest. Thank you for your last letter, but don’t take it the way Franz said it. We know you love us very much. A friendship doesn’t just end like that. We have done enough together, and you are not like the others. As you know, we have helped many people and now they don’t want to hear about it, because we might need help, they all have excuses. I think you know what I as a friend have done to help. She wouldn’t be able to live abroad and I wrote to her that maybe she would like to lend us some money, she could have also demanded that interest be paid. We are not looking for a handout. Her excuse then was that she can’t get it for free, but previously I could do anything. Yes, my dear Helene, you can imagine that we are very sad. Franz could have rented a business and everything would have been paid back by now, but the poor fellow has to go as a representative where he only earns something when he brings in orders, no health insurance, no child support, nothing, I would like to work but unfortunately I can’t find anything, you know, if we didn’t have any debt it would be easier, everything was stolen from the old man at Salamander, and what he brought there he will not get back, believe me, dear Helene, I don’t write to the friend anymore because I don’t deserve this, she complains to me because she did transfer a few hundred Schilling and she thinks that is enough, you see, dear Helene, we can’t help this person any more, you can imagine that they will have to leave everything behind, but we aren’t helping anyone anymore. When Vitali comes, you are different, even though you have so many problems, you still think of us, but believe that better times will come for you, Vitali will come back as soon as he can and then things will be better for you dear Helene the package you mentioned has not arrived, please don’t send any more, it’s too bad about the money you spend and which is so hard to earn, and the others have it. Dear Helene, years ago you sent me a coat, I had it altered for Annemichen, and it turned out so nice that everyone thinks it is a new coat, you know, I sew every day to make something useful out of old things for the child, it won’t be long until I will have to go out in an Eva suit because my daughter takes everything away from me, I’m just glad I can sew everything. You would be amazed at all the things I can do, but it’s just that I can’t get work to help support my good husband which makes me very sad but as soon as Vitali comes he will tell us what to do. I often see him in my dreams and he encourages us, telling us he will come soon and stay in Vienna as far as we know, and you will come back to us and everything will be calm again and better times will come dear Helene forgive my mistakes but I am in a hurry because I still need to go shopping although I don’t know what I’m going to cook but I will find something my dear I’ll write soon and you must believe firmly that Vitali will come we really believe it and think he is doing better and he will soon have everything he needs.
That’s all for today my dear, a thousand kisses from me and the little one and greetings from my husband
Your Paula
Vienna, October 13, 1955
Our dear good Helene,
Please don’t be mad that we haven’t written until today, but unfortunately there is always a lot going on, here too, and it’s something different every day. Also, I am not as healthy as I should be, and my husband suffers a lot from headaches, and unfortunately he can’t afford a vacation. If I could contribute by earning something, it would be easier, but the ladies always want me to stay all day, and I can’t do that. After all, I have my own household to take care of. And, as you know, the occupying forces have left, but unfortunately Salamander can’t work here because the local shoe factories are opposed to that, and so it’s hard for my husband too, but with God’s help we will stay on here until Annemarie has finished school, and hopefully she will have a good job by next year and be able to support herself. So, my dear Helene, now about your question re Vitali. He is in Turkey, but why he doesn’t get in touch we cannot say, but please write to his sister and tell her to put a notice in all newspapers asking him to report in. And we will go to the Turkish Delegation here; maybe they can do something. I think by now he must have found the means to come here.
This Jewish man, Rosenberg, has not been here for a long time. I also don’t know if he may know something, I repeat how everyone left Buchenwald and he came along too, but then he stayed behind but did not die, my husband also says why does he keep quiet for so long, but it’s strange: I often dream of seeing him packing his suitcase, but we are very far from giving up hope about him coming. Whether your children believe it or not, that doesn’t change things. But you, Helene, must believe that you will see each other again. You know how many people were declared dead in this war, and now, gradually, they are returning and many women are married. If you were here, you would be amazed by everything that is happening. Dear Helene, as soon as we can, we will go to the Consulate here, my husband will go too, so that he can give an exact report, and his sister will certainly offer the money to put notices in the newspapers. Vitali must read some newspaper or other; it seems unlikely he would be somewhere else.
My dear, we wish you good health and don’t be sad, everything will be all right, it would be better if you were here with us, then you could handle it all better. America is no country for you.
Many sincere greetings from us all and many greetings and kisses from me
Paula
Paula’s earlier letters are stream of consciousness and manic – perhaps not surprising considering how difficult life was in in post-war, occupied Vienna. Letters continued to be censored, finding employment was near impossible, old friends seemed to have deserted them.
Paula felt that Helene was one of the few people who stuck by her, sending hand-me-down clothes and other gifts, not all of which arrived. Paula talks of going out in an “Eva suit”, which presumably was one of my mother’s old outfits that Helene sent for Paula’s daughter Annemarie/Annemichen. Now that her daughter outgrew it, Paula will wear it herself. Like with Paul Zerzawy’s recycling of an old dress shirt (see September 29 post), we are reminded how precious material and clothing was - not like how virtually disposable fashion has become.
Although my grandmother was a prolific letter writer – even after the war when she was reunited with her children – she saved a relatively small number of letters she received in the 1950s and virtually nothing from the 1960s and beyond. Did she stop writing letters after her grandchildren were born? As earlier in her life, did she write far more letters than she received? Or did she only save the letters that had the most meaning? Why were Paula’s some of the only letters she kept? Paula kept Helene’s hope alive that she would see Vitali again. By 1955, Helene’s children were trying to convince her that it was unlikely he had survived. It must have been so much more comforting to pin her hopes to the ravings of an old friend, one who knew Vitali well and who wanted to believe almost as much as Helene did in his eventual return.
Salamander was a German shoe company founded in the late 1800s by a Jewish man, Max Levi (no relation to my family), and a Christian man, Jakob Sigle. Max’s family was forced to sell their shares when the Nazis came to power and the company used forced labor during the war. According to Wikipedia, in March 2020, a memorial plaque was posted in Berlin acknowledging the company’s role in the war.