13 May 1942

My dear Lore,

Although I still don’t know when I am going to send this letter to you, I am going to start it all the same today, 13 May, for I have enough time at the moment.

I have safely received your card from the 10th Feb and your letter from the 24th Mar.  Both of them gave me great pleasure and I only hope that they will soon be followed by another. I’ll ask you first to thank Uncle Max for his kind letter and I hope that he received mine.  I am very happy not to have made too many mistakes in my letter and I am going to send you this time - a small slip in order to explain yours to you. Did you receive my letter in which I was telling you that your photo had reached me safely? As I see you work late into the night and what time do you get up in the morning?

(Bold in English in original)

Here we go to sleep at 10pm and we get up at half six. I am very happy to see that you have finished “the examinations” well and I hope you have reached the standard in algebra and geometry, now. I don’t like geometry and I am glad, we haven’t it here. I don’t know the difference between “examination” and “matriculation”. Could you not explain it, please? Now, I will ask you something. I know you live with a family but I don’t know if you will go to school?

Tell me, please, if the construction of this last phrase is correct.

I am going to tell you a little about school now. I can’t tell you everything but you will know it maybe at my next birthday. In one month, school is going to close but I can say that we have seen an eventful academic year. School opened in October so that therefore makes 8 months up until now. During this time we have had 9 supervisors and the 2 that we have had up to now are going to leave in two days. This means therefore that each one of them stayed a little less than a month. 3 were shown the door, the poor things couldn’t do anything), one other received some bad news and had to leave, and the others resigned.

– We had a custom of “going AWOL” during the night. This means that one went out in the evening like you for example, three years ago when you went with your friends to look if the moon was reflected in the sea. Thus, we went out in the evenings and that was going well until the day where all fell apart. The General Supervisor knew everything and he was quite smart to wait until the day where he could catch the most students possible! You are surely asking yourself how he knew of it? It is very simple. He had planted in our midst an ‘information bureau’ and the agent or the agents are students but unfortunately we didn’t spot them. The ending thus, was very simple. One evening out of 50 students 16 had gone into town. The General Supervisor caught one of them and that had been enough. The next day they had a Disciplinary Board and these masters knew 14 names already. They called the first and let him know that if they were not told the names of those who were out with him, he would have to leave the school. So he said 2 of them and then these 2 said another 2 etc… Two of the “nocturnals” were not informed against for each had gone out alone. You know one of them!

Lets talk now about serious things. This year I am definitely going to do my internship in Annecy. I must start the 10th July but nothing is confirmed exactly still. Me, for my part, I am only going to start to prepare around the 1st July for from here to there is still 2 months and 2 months is a long time!

I am going to work again in the restaurant of a very good hotel and I believe that I am lucky. – I aks you however to continue to address letters either to the Pension or to Mr K. for they will always know where I am based. Could you not send to the latter one or several reply coupons?      

24 May
I still haven’t received anything from you. Today the Pentecost holidays began which will last for 5 days. I am always a little sad these days there, but I hope that they will go well for us.

27 May
Tomorrow is the last day of the holidays. They have gone quite well and yesterday evening we went to see one of my favourite French Dance Orchestras. It was very nice and they weren’t bad at swing. One song entitled “One is disgusted” was very well received. One also told us some funny stories and I am going to tell you one or two of them.

One day there was a stammerer who met a hunchback. Then he asked him: “Where.. where… where… are you... you... going?” – The other replied to him “I’m going to have my photograph taken” – Then the stammerer said to him: “You.. you.. must.. be..  be.. c.. careful that that that nobody takes you… you from from behind! “ – “Why?” The hunchback asked him. – Because nobody w.. w.. would be able to cl.. cl.. close the album!”

Do you like it? I can’t tell you more as I have run out of time.

- Listen my dear Lore, Uncle Max asked me in his last letter what my plans are. I replied to him that if one wants to be successful in my line of work, it is necessary to know how to speak the 3 main languages. I would therefore like to learn the 3rd but in the country itself as it is easier and quicker, do you understand? I am telling you this so that you know too. I am so attached to this plan that I would even interrupt my studies for a while if I were able to go there next winter. In the end, one will see.

I have decided to send the letter via the intermediary of Mr K and I am going to do it tomorrow. I had wanted to wait for your next letter but it hasn’t come. I’ll leave it with you that it will arrive  a few days after the departure of this one. (I wanted) crossed out  I had my photo taken yesterday and I wanted to send you the photo but as it didn’t turn out very well I won’t do it. It has been a year or almost, that our grandparents and I haven’t been able to write to each other. Time passes!

Before finishing I ask you to give a ‘hello’ to everyone.

I hug you from afar.

Your Oswald.

(In bubble on first page)
I will send you another letter in 3 weeks when the holidays will have started.