Sister letters 1933

10 December, 1933

Beloved Family members.

A week ago, we received your dear letter and we were overjoyed to hear from you again. Yesterday, the photographer finally brought our pictures. We wanted to send them to you for Christmas. They were already taken in the fall but were not ready until now. We are wondering how David Klassens are faring? We have not had a letter from them for nearly two years.

With eating, it now goes relatively well. We always have bread, even in limited amounts, and we now have a cow, and until now we still have five liters a day. We also had a good harvest of potatoes and carrots. I also include grated or ground carrots in bread making. It requires less flour and tastes very good. We also have a little pig, but that will not be big enough for laughter until next fall.

Jasch is still always working at the school. I believe that I already wrote to you that we are no longer in the cooperative. During his free time from school, he is always repairing clocks and everything else possible. He always has a lot of work, because it is precisely in the evening that he has time for it. 

Should you now come to Gnadenfeld, you would hardly be able to recognize it. Many of the large homesteads are torn down, almost even with the ground level. For example, Nikkel’s Johann Toews’s and Johann Rempel’s homesteads were all badly cared for and then razed. Who knows where the owners are. Many are gone, had to leave, and others, predominantly Volhynians, are now here. They also had to leave their homeland. Rempel’s Sara, the Unruh’s, were also away for a good two years. A few days ago, they returned here again.She has two boys, six and four years old, and a little girl has died. She, Sara, is often ill and has a weak heart. Anna and Uncle Rempel are now with Heinrich in Alexanderkrone where he is a teacher. Uncle Heinrich and Marichen, Uncle Hermann and the Hans Dirkses are still residing in the grandparental house. Wadim is married to Anna Steingart from Waldheim and lives in the Crimea. Brother-in-law Peter is still unsteady and flighty. My father-in-law is still quite sturdy. We are already having a hard winter here. With the fuel situation it looks sad. In the evening, we have only a tiny little light so that there is no chance to think about sewing or mending.