Château de Grammont, April 9, 1942
My dear All,
Today I was happy to receive your letter. I was also happy to hear that Margot visited Papa and that he is better. Now I want to write to you right away so that you don’t have to wait a long time and so that you, dear Mama, don’t have to worry. You don’t have to worry when the mail does not always arrive on the same day as that is not my fault but the post office. So far I have received a letter from you every Saturday and then wrote to you on Sunday and gave the letter to be mailed on Monday at mealtime. If the mailman does not come for a while or the letter gets stuck at the post office it could take longer. You must have had to wait longer for the previous letter as Easter came in between and the postman did not even come on Tuesday so that the letter for you and the letter for Lorle together with your letter and Papa’s left, I believe, only on Wednesday. So you see dear Mama that you don’t have to worry anymore. Uncle Sally wrote me also and he wrote that I should send the answer to Grenade as he will be there on furlough. I did it, but I did not think of grandfather’s birthday until the letter was gone. Be so kind and congratulate him late from me as I don’t write separately to him as that costs too much postage. I made the previous drawing without model because when I was room chief my bed stood in front of the window so that I could copy it very well. Now I am not room chief anymore as the other came from the infirmary.
The food is always as follows. This week there was cooked green salad 3 times. Yesterday at noon there were Jerusalem artichokes. The quantity varies too. One time a lot and one time not so much. There were a lot of Jerusalem artichokes and the opposite of the cooked salad. I already wrote in the previous letter what we received for Easter. Dear Mama when you arrive in Perpignan with the petit [1] Hugo they will make long faces there. You will have to spend most of the day, just like me, in front of so little grub. How is it with coffee. Do you also have to go to the refectoire ? Are there again permits for Perpignan every month? Dear Mama, I notice absolutely nothing about Pessach. Hopefully your wish will come true that you will be able to bake for us at your heart’s content. If you made matzo balls it was just a little experiment. Dear Mama, right I only have 2 underwear with me? The other one was still hanging on top to dry. I am very happy that things are working out for Margot. Where is it located where Margot will go to? Lorle already wrote to me that you are getting an Easter package. It is not so warm here. Yesterday the weather was very nice but today there are already clouds. From where did the children get Easter………… From the Secours-Suisse or at the place where we got it for Christmas? Let’s see if Albert will be coming on Sunday. I am waiting for him every Sunday but he has never come. Now I don’t know anything anymore and I want to stop as the page is almost full and as the letter should still leave today. Hopefully you will be able to visit Papa soon. With my kindest regards and 1000 kisses and speedy recovery for Papa
from your MANFRED
By the time the letter gets to you Margot won’t be with you anymore
Hopefully you are able to read my scribbling. My pencil is dull.
[1] Hugo was close to 6 feet tall.