Article about: Hello folks. Another in the Friesch/Klara chain of letters, dated 4th of February 1942. This one is my favourite visually, as it has retained its postage stamp. On all the others, the stamps
Another in the Friesch/Klara chain of letters, dated 4th of February 1942. This one is my favourite visually, as it has retained its postage stamp. On all the others, the stamps have either been removed or were never present in the first place.
This is a curious one for me, as the details of the sender are written on a piece of tape on the outside of the envelope. There is an ink stamp beneath it, but I can't make it out. The letter inside is much neater in presentation than the last ones, and appears to have been written with a pen as opposed to pencil.
It also seems this one was sent from within Germany. Some distance from the location of the last letter, although there is quite a large gap between this one and the one that preceded it. Would it be a reasonable assumption that our man has, at this point, been sent home from the front?
I am at work and don't have the time to translate the whole letter. But what I can see, Herr Friesch is with Genesungsurlaub at home.
So I think he might have been wounded or ill and is now recovering. He is happy to be with his wife and kid.
I'm sure Andreas will help you with the rest of the letter. And I am curious to read the rest too.
Thank you, Andreas. Your help continues to be indispensable!
It's very exciting indeed, watching this man's story slowly unfold. And to think, that for every story that we can read through Feldpost, there are potentially thousands or even hundreds of thousands of stories that have been lost to the passage of time.
I am greeting you from convalescent leave at home. It is a gift from fate that I still can hardly believe myself. My transport took some 26 days. Now I am sitting at home in cozy warmth and rejoice when looking at my wife and little Ulrike, get pensive when thinking about my comrades who are lying out there in snow and ice. But it is pointless to think about that. Fate tosses the soldier from rest into combat, from combat into wounds and death, from unbearable heat into icy winds, from the most tremendous exertion into the relaxed calm of leave. Highs and lows are so close to one another, alternate with such lightning quickness that it takes a tough heart and a steeled body to overcome it all.
I had been without contact to home since October. That was the most bitter aspect of that time. Gertrud will be saddened that I didn't get her parcel. She may take comfort from the thought that this has happened to all those who thought of me. In any case, I thank her very much.
Perhaps I will now attempt to come to Stuttgart. However, walking is still giving me a lot of trouble. I will go to Eßlingen for my mother's birthday. It may be possible by then. But I cannot promise it, though, no matter how much I yearn to see her again before returning to my unit. However, I must go to the replacements at Belfort.
I now greet you and your loved ones most cordially. I will write to you again before visiting you. Cordial greetings from my wife.
Your Friesch.
I just caught little Ulrike wetting the envelope with her lips, but not where it is required! "
*) Zell unter Aichelberg, a municipality in Baden-Wurttemberg.
A very deep and insightful one. The inner tribulations of a soldier immortalized with ink and paper.
I do wonder how Friesch came to be wounded, but I suppose he was very lucky. Being sent home may very well have saved him from a grisly end on the Eastern Front. Of course, there were still a few years of war ahead for him, and it's possible he may have recovered and been sent back. I have two more letters from him, from 1943 and 1944 respectively. They may yet shed light on the fate of this man.
Curiously, though he has almost certainly passed on by today, I find myself hoping that he came through it all in one piece.
Thank you as always, Andreas. Without you, these stories would have remained uncovered.
Friesch to Klara: February 1942
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