Another rather interesting letter, as this - apparently quite young - man had a strong and rather sarcastic sense of humor and enjoyed his innuendos and pop-culture references.
The letter was sent by Gefreiter Fritz Assenheimer of the 2./Artillerie-Lehr-Regiment (mot) 2 [2nd Battery, Artillery Training Regiment (motorized) no. 2], then at the Westfalenhof military installation in the Groß-Born [now Borne Sulinowo] training grounds in Western Pomerania to Doctor Kurt Ehrhardt and family in Weinsberg in Baden-Württemberg.
Here's what it says:
"Groß-Born, 10 Sept.
Dear Ehrhardt family!
Smile despite woe and a thousand pains! That is the state in which the red thing inside my chest is in. Thus, I will still attempt to cobble together a letter of thanks for your dear words. I have since been relocated to Groß-Born in Pomerania. It is there that I hope to encounter the mischievous, famous football club* on a colorful meadow. I have found the meadow and we are being toyed with. The projected 2 - 3 days have turned into 3 weeks, thus quite a postponement. After that, we were supposed to head west, if, yes, if, the Tommies didn't have such dirty underwear that they are so determined to hang on the Siegfried Line.** Thus, we may well find ourselves back in the east again, true to the song 'gen Ostland wollen wir reiten'.***
When it comes to culture, I can report the exact opposite to what I wrote in my last letter. I haven't read a newspaper - that 'bridge between the front and the homeland' - for 3 weeks now. However, we have a splendid cinema here, set up in an old, ramshackle garage. They show ancient, nice movies there, for example Karin Hardt as a baby or Marikka Röck in her first attempts at dancing. If I am lucky, I may well see Henny Porten in her first great silent movie next week****. In the evening, around 9 P.M., when the turbulent nightlife begins in Weinsberg, it's taps. Now for a sad chapter, sad because it is about love as such. We are prohibited from going to the neighboring villages, just because nearby countless "papilionaceous flowers" of fresh-as-dew age are gathered together in camps and attract the men like moths to the light. During the day, the girls are planting the furrows, with strong songs on their lips; some have already loved intensely and whispered thousands of words of love, which did not remain without consequences*****; thus, the ban. I don't quite understand that; for love is still a sweet mystery to me. Here, we are just vegetating, and in Halle, we were living. One has to desperately look to find any positive aspects here. One of those is the possibility to escape to a lake situated in - according to the flyers - idyllic surroundings. I extensively went swimming there, thus, in a way, got close to Kristina Söderbaum, who, according to "Immensee" also likes intense "outdoor swimming"!+
By now, the two "adolescents" will also have returned from their well-deserved, unpaid recreational school break holiday in the "Red Coal Scuttle"++, the "land of black earth" or something, surely rejuvenated, strengthened and full of energy in order to continue their intellectual training at school.
Who will now play table tennis, with whom, where and when? I wrote to Kurt. I would like to know where Hahn is fulfilling his duty now.
If you want to write me again, please do so soon, for otherwise we will have moved on and the mail will be hanging in the air again; and cargo-carrying gliders are scarce, after all.
Tough times call for tough hearts, and we act accordingly; on the other hand, as Busch said, he who has sorrow also has liqueur.+++
And so, I will come to an end for today and greet you
most cordially
your Fritz
Also, I kindly ask you to forgive me for writing in pencil. I haven't owned a pen in a long time; also this is more 'in-the-field-style'!"
*) The term "Football-Club" is written in English in the original text. Apparently a reference to the British army.
**) A reference to the period song "We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line".
***) Meaning "Towards the Eastern Land we want to ride"; a reference to an old folk song of settlers in the east dating back to the 12th century.
****) Three popular actresses of yesteryear. Karin Hardt was born in 1910 and started her movie career in 1931, Marika Rökk started out as a revue dancer in the Moulin Rouge in 1924 (at eleven years of age!) and began her movie career in 1930, Henny Porten was a silent movie star who first appeared on film in 1906. The letter writer is clearly being sarcastic here...
*****) Some nine months later, I presume.
+) Another popular actress and another pop culture reference: He's referencing a scene in her movie "Immensee" (The scence starts at 12:00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NcHsy6jSyQ ). Of course, she was also known as the "Reichswasserleiche" [The Nation's Drowned Body] as no less than three of the tragic characters she portrayed in other movies ended their lives by drowning themselves.
++) "Roter Kohlenpott" in the original German. "Kohlenpott" = "coal scuttle" is the nickname for the Ruhr area with its many coal mines.
+++) A reference to Wilhelm Busch's "Die fromme Helene": "Es ist ein Brauch von alters her: Wer Sorgen hat, hat auch Likör" [It is a time-honored tradition: He who has sorrow also has liqueur"].
Feldpost: September 1944
.
Bookmarks