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After my friend Roslyn finished translating all the letters and documents I had in German, I was left with a handful of letters in Sütterlin, the old form of German handwriting. I had a number of letters written from Paul Zerzawy to his family in Brüx, Bohemia during World War I. Today’s letter was the first of these that Amei Papitto translated for me in December 2020.
Păltiniș?, 5 September 1918
Dear Grandmother!
As you know from my letters, I’m fine. My life flows its course, so I don’t know what to tell of it.
But one thing I can tell you about: the shipment of grocery items I am sending you.
Some time ago I bought 200 kg of wheat. The price was to be 90 pf/kilo. When it arrived, it actually cost considerably more, around 1.50 pf/kilo – still an acceptable price. I will send most of the 200kg to Brüx in individual mailings of small boxes. I hope at least that our household will get rid of its worries.
It would be best if I had been able to grind the wheat here, but unfortunately it is very difficult to do, and therefore the wheat contains some imperfections and impurities - corn kernels, straw, and so on. Because the mills here do not have any sorting machines, the wheat flour would go bad like the dark flour in one of the first boxes I sent. I know that grinding the flour at home isn’t easy either.
Above all, it has to be done secretly and I urgently recommend that you not tell anyone of the parcels I am sending. If the authorities learn that we have stocks of flour – or grain - they will either require that you turn it over or our bread rations will be limited. If there is a report and a reason to search our home, please tell them the truth that these supplies come not from the black market but from the Romanian military, which is allowed.
I will try to have at least part of the wheat ground here, but I am not certain it will be possible. Therefore, I would appreciate it if you can write to me at once if you can find a way without attracting attention and without being swindled if you can grind the flour in Brüx. (I am thinking of Syitz or Münk). You should end up with about 60% good flour.
I cannot really determine this from here where I am. Maybe Herr Hauptmann can give you some advice. Of course, I would pay him for his help. If not, I would have to wait until Robert is back in Brüx. In any case, I am asking for an immediate answer.
This thing is certainly important enough for you and I am not likely to have such an opportunity again anytime soon. Wholesale shopping in Romania is becoming more and more difficult and expensive by the day. We ourselves are living well, but can give only a little of our abundance back to the home country, as much as we would like to do so.
Meanwhile, while waiting for your answer, I will slowly send some of the wheat to you in boxes. The day before yesterday, one box was sent (marked with the number 5), as I already told you in my postcard. Tomorrow another box will be sent with about 8 kg and I will mark it as #6.
As long as there is no urgent need, you do not have to hurry to grind the wheat. Time will tell. Maybe it can be better done in installments.
When you store the wheat, you must observe some precautions. First of all: mouse proof. To do this, it would be best to store the wheat in the strong boxes in which I sent it to you. Store it there, tightly closed. As I wrote to you already, I urgently need boxes. You should send me other boxes as well as small bags and especially nails, since they are used to make boxes. That shouldn’t be overly expensive.
Secondly, store in odorless, dry rooms, not in the cellar. Otherwise, the wheat will go bad. Thirdly: from time to time (possibly every 10-14 days), spread out the wheat and let it dry. I do this in the following manner: I number the boxes and every day I take a different box and put it out in the sun, one after another. Wherever I will be able to get boxes for all this wheat is a mystery to me. Hopefully the boxes you and Helene have promised will be returned soon.
Finally, I ask you to keep this letter in a safe place, to hand it over to Robert when he arrives, and to follow my instructions precisely. Until the shipments arrive, please give exact instructions to Anna concerning drying, etc., and supervise these instructions personally.
I am relying on you to do this. If anything is not clear or is not possible for you, just wait until Robert comes.
Awaiting a quick reply. Your loving grandchild,
Paul
Please do not make any other decisions or directives. Above all, do not make any promises to anybody without my knowledge.
This letter from soldier Paul Zerzawy gives us a window into how difficult civilian life was during the first world war. Helene’s mother Rosa Löwy was caring for her youngest grandchildren, because no other adults were available: her son-in-law and oldest grandsons had been drafted, and their mother and step-mother (Rosa’s daughters) had died long before the war. Despite the distance between Bohemia and Vienna, Paul and the family remained close to his aunt Helene.
As in his letters written twenty years later, Paul is all business. His role in the family during both wars was to provide advice and assistance, often from afar. What a burden it must have been, particularly in 1918 when he was not even 22 years old. He felt a huge sense of responsibility. Here, he tells his grandmother how to take care of the household and is worried that she might not be up to it. Paul took on this burden again in the late 1930s and 1940s when trying to help his Helene, Vitali and his young cousins leave Vienna to come to America.
He is doing everything he can to keep his family fed and to make their lives as comfortable as possible. He is meticulous in explaining what needs to be done. Essentials like wheat were hard to come by for civilians, so Paul amassed as much as he could to send to his loved ones. This letter reminds me how easy life is for us today — I wouldn’t have the faintest idea what to do with boxes of unground wheat!
Although what Paul was doing was apparently legal, he is concerned that others might find out and turn the family in for buying goods on the black market. I imagine there would have been jealousy and ill will if it were known that they had such valuable stores while their neighbors were going hungry.
(We saw Aunt Anna mentioned in Erich’s letter posted on April 29, but I do not know who she was since the name does not appear on either the Löwy or Zerzawy family tree – perhaps she was an aunt in name only?)