Object numberM2000/022
DescriptionA letter written in Hungarian by the donor's grandparents Miklos and Alice (nee Farkas) Fenyves, addressed to their children Clari (Clare) and Rudi (Rudolph) and granddaughter Sylvia. The letter was written shortly before boarding the deportation train to Auschwitz in 1944. The grandparents were murdered upon arrival.
"My Dear Children,
We are going; may you be as courageous as we are calm, for I do believe strongly that we meet up again. Do not worry, since our situation seems quite exceptional seeing other parents around us, all devastated about their children. (This is an explanation added by Jan: the other parents did not have any knowledge what happened with their children or their whereabouts. While family Masek lived in a relative safety in Bratislava and grandparents did know that). We carry with us our only precious possession, your lovely photograph, and the memory of the splendid days and years spent with you, resides in our soul. My dears, I thank you for having made those few years so beautiful for us. If only Rudi had come as well at Christmas time, that I could have hugged him.Sylvikem (Sylvia), my beloved little granddaughter pray for us,our will to live gives us strength and we know, that we are going to see each other and that we shall be happy. My children, I hug and kiss you, I wish you all the best and ask you not to be sad for us. Good bye, I love you all very much and our greatest sorrow is that we shall be missing your letters, although we have gotten used to this already, since for the past 8 weeks we had not sighted even as much as a solitary syllable. My dear Klari, my dear Rudi, my dear Sylvia, may God bless you. We kiss you. Apu s Anya (Dad and Mum)"
"My Dear Children,
We are going; may you be as courageous as we are calm, for I do believe strongly that we meet up again. Do not worry, since our situation seems quite exceptional seeing other parents around us, all devastated about their children. (This is an explanation added by Jan: the other parents did not have any knowledge what happened with their children or their whereabouts. While family Masek lived in a relative safety in Bratislava and grandparents did know that). We carry with us our only precious possession, your lovely photograph, and the memory of the splendid days and years spent with you, resides in our soul. My dears, I thank you for having made those few years so beautiful for us. If only Rudi had come as well at Christmas time, that I could have hugged him.Sylvikem (Sylvia), my beloved little granddaughter pray for us,our will to live gives us strength and we know, that we are going to see each other and that we shall be happy. My children, I hug and kiss you, I wish you all the best and ask you not to be sad for us. Good bye, I love you all very much and our greatest sorrow is that we shall be missing your letters, although we have gotten used to this already, since for the past 8 weeks we had not sighted even as much as a solitary syllable. My dear Klari, my dear Rudi, my dear Sylvia, may God bless you. We kiss you. Apu s Anya (Dad and Mum)"
Production date
Production periodWorld War II (1939-1945)
Subjectsigns of life, Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, transport, loved ones' final contacts, farewells
Object nameletters
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 145.00 mm
height: 230.00 mm
Language
- Hungarian My Dear Children, 1/6
We are going; may you be as courageous as we are calm, for I do believe strongly that we
meet up again. Do not worry, since our situation seems quite exceptional seeing other parents
around us, all devastated about their children. (This is an explanation added by Jan: the other
parents did not have any knowledge what happened with their children or their whereabouts.
While family Masek lived in a relative safety in Bratislava and grandparents did know that).
We carry with us our only precious possession, your lovely photograph, and the memory
of the splendid days and years spent with you, resides in our soul. My dears, I thank you for having
made those few years so beautiful for us, if only Rudi had come as well at Christmas time, that I
could have hugged him.Sylvikem (Sylvia), my beloved little granddaughter pray for us,our will
to live gives us strength and we know, that we are going to see each other and that we shall be
happy.
My children, I hug and kiss you, I wish you all the best and ask you not to be sad for us.
Good bye, I love you all very much and our greatest sorrow is that we shall be missing your
letters, although we have gotten used to this already, since for the past 8 weeks we had not sighted
even as much as a solitary syllable.
My dear Klan, my dear Rudi, my dear Sylvia, may God bless you. We kiss you.
apu s anya (Dad and Mum)
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Sylvia Kmetoni