Dear Children,

I received Margot’s letter last Wednesday.  As I had just written to you, I immediately answered Margot to acknowledge the package received thanks to Miss Stern.  Margot will receive some news twice this way.  But if the letter had to make the detour through Pringy, she would have had to wait too long for an answer.  Not much is new here.  I did not go out last week as there were no permits granted and then only a few.  I don’t know yet what will happen this week.  In the meantime, the directrice will have returned to you and told you that she could not see me.  Mr. Waichsberger does not feel well at all.  His condition has worsened quite a bit.  Twice a telegram went to his wife to come but until now nobody knows yet whether she will come.  Since I want to see whether I get any mail today, I already wrote the address.  Is it legible on this beautiful wooden pulp paper[1]?

Mrs. Bear still feels very weak.  She was very pleased when I told her how much you liked the gloves.  Right now she is unable to work.  The mail just arrived: a letter from Albert with a luach [2] and 1 kg bread tickets, and your letters with the nice pictures.  I’ll have to show these all over the place.  Some day Margot’s picture will get here too.  Margot has wonderful dreams: a man who buys a roof chair as stockpile.  I think that tops Rabbi Akiva who said:  Everything has already happened.  And your talent in arithmetic, etc. dear Margot.  If somebody else would read this, who doesn’t know you very well, he would have to think:  she is really stupid.  One doesn’t have to know everything to still fit into this world.  Think of my knowledge of botany or of your mother and her left and right[3].  Is she stupid because she mistakes left for right?  And if your lady contradicts herself again, you have to act the pedagogue and subtly draw her attention to the fact that perhaps she is mistaken, and she will probably recognize it once in a while.

The different things that Margot would like are available here but since there is no rush, I don’t have to bother about it here.  Mrs. Jakob who stays in bed all the time has sciatica, according to me.  She gets little news from her (daughter) niece.  Katz’ daughter is in Savoie but I don’t know the town.  Wolf has had no news from his wife for eight weeks.

Dear Lorle, I think that we used to say gereinigt [4] and gefrottet [5] belongs to frottieren but local usage changes some words.  You just have a few children right now and less work and if Trudi has to work hard, I think that it is good for her.

Mrs. Untaglich is doing my laundry.  I don’t have much to mend but Mrs. Adelsheimer takes care of it which is better than Mrs. Unt.  I just barely managed with my money.  Sometimes one just has to buy less.   We don’t get much fruit anymore, it is only for those duly registered.   Last week there were chestnuts, three for 8.60, yesterday again at 15.-frs. but because many were rotten, I didn’t want any  at that price.  Once in a while one can get carrots.

I never saw Mama’s glasses and she never told me that she (needed) them[6]

[2] Jewish calendar

[3] A family trait to mix up left and right!

[4] Cleaned

[5] Scrubbed

[6] The rest of this letter, which is the last one, is missing.