[1] Letter II, dated May 30th, 1943
Dear Gentlemen,
We hope that this week, we will go to Neustrelitz, that is why we are hurry to write a couple of words to you.
You cannot imagine how much joy gives us that excursion.
Two teams are “fighting” for that. We usually lose, we are a larger group, and we are assigned to more complex work.
Thank you so much for the poems. They are passed around from block to block, from hand to hand. We make copies of them and learn them by heart. They express a lot of your hope, joy, and strength. “Szalony Maszynista” (“Creasy engineer” – translator’s comment) is excellent; everybody likes that one. “Bal” (“Ballroom dancing” – translator’s comment) reflects the dullness of our current life and escape to the past. For me, “Szałwia” (“Sage” – translator’s comment) was a lovely poem. Its author must have a joyful and sunny spirit. Thanks for the candies. The whole package ended up in the hands of our team leader. She was sitting and watching us with triumph in her eyes. Janka! We shouted in her ear, looking inside what we got in the package. She slowly pulled out and showed us item after item, saying with pleasure, “Oh!” Then she was looking impatiently for a letter. Regretfully, there was none, not even a note.
During an evening roll-call, I observed the following scene. The owner of a piece of chocolate turned to her two friends standing close to her, whispering something to them and giving them the chocolate. The chocolate was carefully surveyed, and half would be crunched up if not. The other girl said: “be ashamed” “we must enjoy it first,” and sure they enjoyed the smell and looked at it during an hour of the roll call. Dear Gentlemen!
We receive packages from home and inside them with some sweet stuff. But that chocolate from you was the sweetest one because of you. But in the future, we ask you to send us your poetry and letters and more letters. Thoughts exchange is the most important thing for us. Please do not share with us that you don’t have much. We hope that you will be strong spiritually and physically as well. Unfortunately, you do not look well, and that worries us. Your lovely faces are so sad and emaciated. The worst is behind us, our dear brothers. So, when we see you next time, you must look better and be more joyful. Maybe our outfits and our work horrify you. Gentlemen, we ignore that! We live for the future, not caring much about the present time. We lived through much worse situations. If God permits, and we see you someday in our Motherland, we will tell you what is impossible to write on paper. We shake your dear, lovely, courageous hands and see you again.
Sisters.
30/V.43
[post scriptum on the side]
This is written immediately after we parted with you.
We give it to you to know what we feel while approaching you.
Your Polish girls
[1] Calligraphy unrecognized – (Author unknown – translator’s comment)