My dear Lorle,

Today I received your letter and a package from Mama with 3 dried bananas, 2 pieces of fig bread, 1 box dates, 2 matzos, 2 fig sticks, 1 shirt and 2 caps.  Such nonsense as she could use it so much better than I.  There were also hazelnuts.  The shirt was apparently one sent from Marseilles or I could have slept on top of it while I was in camp.  I don’t quite remember.  It went right away into the closet.  I already wrote to you how it is with the laundry but since you want to know it again, I’ll write about it.  We change our underwear every Saturday.  It is marked with a number and everybody has a section of a shelf.

I also want to write to you in detail how it is with the food.  In the morning there is approximately 1/2 liter cereal cooked in milk and 1 slice of bread.  For the noon meal yesterday, there was cereal soup, turnips and paté for dessert.  There is always 1/4 liter of the soup and if there are seconds 1/2 liter.  There are seconds approximately once every day.  The turnips are not prepared like in your Home.  It is always ordinary turnips.    Once there were Jerusalem ‘chokes.  The quantity of the vegetables varies.  At 4 o’clock there is 1/4 liter milk, 1 slice of bread and sometimes chocolate.  Yesterday there was soup again, salad, hardly 1/4 liter and for dessert 2 sardines and as always 1 slice of bread.  Since I don’t have any scissors, I am drawing a slice of bread for you.  They are almost always 1 cm thick.  It depends on the size.

The school is divided into 4 classes.   I am in the highest class.  There we study French and Arithmetic and at noon with Bertie who used to be in the infirmary, German or Arithmetic.  We also have to make our own beds.  We don’t go for walks very often.  At noon, we are always in a meadow if there is no school.  Ilse Gottschalk is here in the infirmary.  You won’t know the other kids who are here from camp.  They are the 2 Zadeck brothers from barrack #20, 2 Steinmetz[1] from barrack #28 and Werner Schwarz from barrack #29.  You may know the Steinmetz, they were always wearing long pants made of blankets in camp.  We don’t get any grades here in school.

Uncle Sally is probably in camp now and Margot will probably have left.  I want to know how it is where she is going.  Hopefully she’ll like it there.  If Hugo manages to get out, then we are completely separated.  Everyone somewhere else.  Perhaps it will be possible that at least I can join you so that we are not completely separated and then it will not cost so much in postage.  It is after dinner now and today there was something extra.  There was soup as usual, then a good 1/8 liter leek salad and afterwards a good 1/8 liter white beans and 1 slice of bread.  Now I don’t know anything more.  Hopefully you can read my scribbles.  With hearty regards and 1000 kisses and hopefully your wishes, which are the same as mine, come true soon.

Your brother

MANFRED