Letters: Nunne
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Bahrenfeld,
April 24, 1946
Dear, dear Gisela,
I thank you most sincerely for your sweet letter with joyful surprises. You can hardly imagine how happy I was. I send you, dear Gisela, and your dear husband, my warmest congratulations on the birth of your little daughter.
On June 19, 1944, I received a letter from Miss Kirsten (?) telling me about your marriage. You can hardly imagine my joy. May the heavens continue to rain grace on you and protect you with happiness always!
Thus wishes you, my Pussel, as well as your dear husband, in all faithfulness, your Nunne.
I am also happy every day that I have seen Erich. You know how attached I am to your family - in all the difficult years, not a day has passed where I have not thought of all of you. The years I spent with your family were among the happiest of my life.
How are Lola, Renate and Anita? I would like to hear from all of you. Hopefully they are all doing well.
As for us, I can tell you that we are all still alive. After we had to leave the house in the Guhlerste (?) because of the construction of a bunker, we moved to the Landwerke. By chance we got a very nice floor and we felt lucky to have been accommodated so well. However, it was completely destroyed in July 1943.
We saved only our bare lives, my mother and Gertrud lost everything. 2 days earlier we had taken in my cousin with her husband and children, they arrived at our house in slippers. What we went through, I cannot describe to you in words. Since October 1943 we live in Bahrenfeld. After the house had already held various large and small damages, it was split in half on 20 March last year by bombs, whereby I lost many things. Since the house is uninhabitable, we now live in the neighboring house, which is also very damaged, so there are no unbroken windows in the whole house. It is all very simple, and yet we are happy to have a roof under our heads. We would like to build a small house with the material we have, but unfortunately we still do not have a permit from the military government. Most of all we feel sorry for our old mother, she has to do without any comfort, how we would like to make everything more comfortable and beautiful for her. She will be 93 years old in October, and her health is still good.
All our acquaintances and relatives are scattered, many have perished in flames, and they have also lost everything.
Dear Gisela, we thank you very much for writing to my brother, hopefully we will get comfort soon, we are curious what has become of the children.
Imagine, this Easter we had a joyful surprise. Gertrud came home the day before Easter beaming with happiness, with a package from Erich. Each package is a true outburst of joy. My mother was moved to tears. We celebrated Easter, coffee, butter, rice, and then good soap. You know my weak side, I am crazy about “delicatessen”…
For your birthday I am sending you my most heartfelt congratulations, in my thoughts I am with you.
I wish your children good luck, and I wish you, dear Gisela, and your dear husband, all the best.
and best wishes, I remain in faithfulness and gratitude,
Yours, Nunne
My mother and Gertrud join my wishes and thanks from the bottom of their hearts!!!
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My dear, my kind Gisela!
Today I have to thank you for two nice letters, which I received with great pleasure. 3 days ago Gertrud brought me your lovingly selected delicacies. You cannot imagine our joy, how VERY happy we were. In the evening we cooked some cocoa and the next morning we had a surprise cup of your wonderful coffee. We were in a completely different mood after that. It gave us quite a boost. For your loving care, dear Gisela, our deepest thanks.
We have experienced a lot of sadness in the last few weeks. Otherwise I would have written to you earlier.
Just think, we received the first letter from Heinie (?) on June 18. We were happy, except for the news that his wife had not been feeling well since April and was bedridden. This, of course, did cast a shadow on our joy, but we still believed then that everything would be all right. Sadly, our dear sister-in-law departed to Heaven on June 1 and our hopes were not fulfilled. You, my dear Gisela, can imagine how sad we all are with my brother. He had a very harmonious marriage, and knowing that he has made his wife happy will be perhaps a small comfort to him. Heinie writes to us regularly, every week. How we would like to be at his side.
Gertrud and I have often regretted that we did not emigrate with the children in 1938, because it is not pleasant. And when will there be a possibility for us to travel abroad at all!
Believe me, not a day goes by when I do not think of you, and if I could be with you in a word, I would have visited you long ago. Now I have a big request: don't put me in too favorable a light with your husband, it is really too kind of you, but should we meet again later, it will be sad for me if your husband experiences a big disappointment.
In the meantime I have received a letter from Anita. In all the years that she has been away from home, I have not heard from her, and can you imagine how happy I was about her lines. Therefore, I did not know that she is now also married. In the next few days I will write to Anita. I did not receive a letter where you wrote to me about your siblings. How are Lola and Renate doing, and the children? Hopefully all of them are doing quite well. How is Oskar?
The situation with my nephew Hermann has gotten worse and worse, since 1942 he has been unable to work. My brothers and sisters tried everything possible, but without success.
In June 1942 Erika's husband was killed in Russia. Erika has two children, a girl of 6 years and a boy of 2 years, who was born 6 months after the death of his father, they are very nice children.
In December 1944 Erika lost all her belongings.
During the shelling, they were in the house cellar, and we can only thank God that they did not perish in flames, she has been through a lot. Erika now lives with her parents in Neugraben, we get together very little due to the current circumstances. We can't leave my mother alone and the journey there is too exhausting because of the bad train connection.
Until today we still have no building permit, but we have hope that we get a couple of window panes through some negotiations, which would make us happy.
Yes, dear Gisela, now I would like to come back to your letters. How interested I am in everything you write to me!
How I would like to see you as a mother and housewife and admire your little children. Do you have a little picture of them and of yourself? I was very happy to hear that your parents are doing well. I wrote a few lines to them about Erich's marriage. Please send my warmest greetings.
It is nice that we can hear from each other again. I am already looking forward to your next letter, which is always a celebration for us. Your letters bring back the memories of the beautiful past times which are otherwise so far away today. Thank you again, my dear Gisela, for your package. I am especially happy that you yourself had these things in your hand and that they were in your kitchen. It is so touching.
I wish you, your dear husband and your children all the best, and I am in old, faithful connection,
always yours and grateful,
Nunne
My mother and Gertrud greet and thank you cordially.