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Collection: Eugen and Emma Klee Letters
Author: Eugen Haas
Recipient: Eugen Klee
Description: Letter from Eugen Haas to Eugen Klee, November 7, 1919.
Eugen Haas to Eugen Klee, November 7, 1919
English Text
Knittelsheim, November 7, 1919
Dear loved ones! Aunt and Uncle Klee!
With your last letter, which we received on October 19, you have made us really very happy. We were crying tears of joy when we were able to read about your great charitable activities. And our hearts were touched especially by the fact that you had read between the lines of my last letter what I had not written. And now that your charity has gotten off to such a great start and you want to give us so many things, I wish to be honest. My dear ones, I am simply not made out to ask, to beg for something. From early on I could not do it. My deceased mother raised me like that, by giving a thousand times more readily than taking anything. Her heart was big and noble. So please forgive me that in my last letter I was writing so hopefully and not bitter at all. It was only in a follow-up postcard that I was forced by neediness to ask you for some wool and such. We coped somehow, not starving but also not living a sumptuous life, and a brave heart can beat in threadbare, shabby clothes as well. And one has to be a little brave as the head of a family; for many a desolate hour shows up. If sometimes I consider how all my energy must be used
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just to stay alive, how every penny earned rolls right out the window again, just to secure the bare necessities, you then feel like crying. I am now a man at the best stage of his life, am at an age where I want to earn something for my old age, for my child. This is not possible. You get your salary on the 1st of the month and there is nothing left by the end of the month. We civil servants, who are fettered to the state's trough, are now practically the worst off in the whole nation; for the government has nothing to give to us. Any manual worker makes three or four times as much. There are rumors that things are going to improve as of January 1st. Will it come true? The fighting concerning schools is terrible at the moment. The extreme right and the leftists are battling each other. If the Reds yank forward, the Blacks rip back again. But we as teachers feel the disadvantage. We are living paycheck to paycheck, not even to mention the lost principal, the lost interest which we used up for our education. Life is no longer worth living and yet - and yet it is in Germany's teachers' hands that Germany's future rests; for youth belongs to us. Everybody knows that - not only here - but we have to walk weighed down and must suffer a lot. I am speaking figuratively and am just remembering
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my wedding motto when we got married, which can be found in the Holy Scriptures. And it says there to persevere despite miserable times. Oftentimes I ask myself why, what for. When you watch our nation perishing with greed, watch it dance next to its own open graveside, how all ideals, everything enlightened, everything sublime, all things German which were to rescue the rest of the world are gone - then you feel like wailing and despairing. Germany has turned into a madhouse. Theft, lies and deception, vampire behavior are ruling the land. Food prices are sky rocketing due to traffickers and hagglers, but not only for food but for everything. Prices are unbelievably high. The saddest part is that you can get everything, but you have to pay a lot of money. The finest sausages can be found hanging in the stores, the most delicious meats, the most expensive canned products, the most elegant clothes - but only wartime profiteers can purchase them or people who wish to erode their assets. It is not seldom that one's fingers are itching to attack one's principal - but Helenchen is standing there to admonish and to warn us. And thus you think twice again. Some examples only: 1 hundredweight of coals 10 - 12 M, 1 hundredweight of firewood 8 - 10 M, 1 liter petroleum 5 M, 1 lb. meat 10 M, 1 egg 1.20 - 2 M. 1 hundredweight of potatoes 15 M. 1 men's suit 800 M etc. Since the beginning of September 1919 prices are
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skyrocketing and there is no end in sight. The government is powerless; for there is no armed force that could bring law and order. Things are not half as bad in the unoccupied regions. We, for example, are being flooded by foreign goods, luxury goods etc., which lower the value of our Mark more and more. The same people, who only a year ago were willing to sacrifice everything, down to the brass handles of their front doors, now want to live in finery and prosperity. The sons of our farmers do not want to work anymore, they prefer dealing and brokering and trafficking. Our laborers in the factories make a lot of money, but there is no work for them because of a lack of raw materials. We out here in the countryside are leading a peaceful and quiet life, however, misery is definitely creeping into the warm cottages, slowly but surely. We are contented with our fortune, we have to be. You only become dissatisfied when you visit the cities and see all the many food products hanging resplendently in the store windows. I would never have believed that it would ever come to this in our Germany. But we must be thankful for one thing, for our good health, and as long as we have that we hope to make it through. I have recovered very well from the severe flu last winter, which nearly took me out - I was lying unconscious for several days - and am feeling quite, quite well. Lisabeth, too,
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who is still suffering from the painful aftermath of her very difficult childbirth and is again seeing a doctor for that even now again, is doing reasonably well. The person who is the most cheerful and the merriest is our little rascal, our Helene. So far, she has not ever been seriously sick and she was already walking at 10 1/2 months. She wants to play the piano all day long and when she hears music, she is full of fire and life. On the side, she might try the shoe blacking in the shoe polish box or lick the soot off the little oven door and play all sorts of possible or impossible tricks to us. She is our only joy in these miserable times. Thus our everyday life continues day after day, and you can just imagine what kind of joy was triggered by your happy message. Unfortunately we are now also worried; for the box has not arrived until now and so many things are being stolen on the railroad. Nothing is safe anymore. I contacted "the agency of the Atpac Forwarding Corporation with seat in New York in Hamburg", but the letter was returned as not deliverable because the address was incomplete and they didn't know which merchant company was the representative of the named business. Now I want to contact a Hamburg merchants' newspaper, maybe they can get me some information. Eight days ago, a man in Bellheim received a box which had been mailed on Sept. 21, ’19.
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It arrived intact. The next day he got a money order of $1,000. He received almost 20,000 Marks for those dollars so that he is now a rich man. Some days ago 7 boxes with food and clothing arrived in Herxheim, too. One of the boxes was half empty and refilled with bricks. Thus we are now hoping day after day for its arrival and will inform you immediately once it is here. Hopefully we won't have to pay too much duty; for those goods which until now could be imported duty free now have to be declared. In any case I will therefore have to pick up the box from some customs station. It really is nicer to be able to hope for something; for our lives have become so hopeless, so frugal. We also loved the newspaper clippings very much which you included in your letter - I as well as my faithful Lisbeth. While my Lisbeth was particularly interested in the cooking recipes and embroidered items put in by our dear Aunt, it was the report of the song festival, the support groups' reports and the listing of the American teachers salaries which were of importance to me. I also include some newspaper clippings, along with some photos. I took those during our fall vacation hike
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which I undertook on foot with some colleagues to the Northern part of the Palatinate - the Donnersberg area. Each and every picture has a caption about its significance. We also liked your dear photos a lot, Aunt with the car, Uncle in front of the train wagon, and then Aunt and Uncle together, and they tell us that you two loved ones are doing well and that you are happy. This past summer you spent some time in the mountains again and on the ocean and I am sure you took a wonderful rest. How often I love to think back to my hikes in America, in Italy and in Switzerland! Those were certainly different, golden times. We are already very happily looking forward to your visit here in the upcoming summer. We will try and make you feel very comfortable in our beautiful home with its nice [illegible] furniture. In the summertime the garden yields a lot of veggies and since I am going to farm my school field myself in the upcoming year, we will not be lacking plant foods. This year, too, we did not have any lack of that and the cellar is filled well. - I also hope to get to Otterberg some time soon; for my brother-in-law , teacher Bollmann, my wife's sister's husband, has moved to Höringen on October 31st, after they got married at the beginning of October. In the fall I also spent one day
[note: the words “in the fall” are smeared, then there is an arrow pointing at the smeared words, with the comment:] This is Helenchen's work, she also wants to write [/note]
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in Callbach. That trip took me three days. One day to get there, one day staying there, one day to travel back. That is how troublesome it is to travel here . At the moment the train traffic has been halted for 10 days. In C. things are reasonably well. Father has a lot of work and he is suffering extremely from the "hedge"crickets. He cried while complaining about his hardship. Don't be angry at him for not writing to you. He means you well and always asks in detail about your situation. He does not write letters anymore - not even to me. He does not want to see every letter exposed to criticism and that's why he prefers not to write anymore at all. Our pecuniary circumstances are still up in the air. He has now paid me 3000 Marks (three thousand marks) and the 1800 Marks that I had saved. He is claiming 2/3 of mother's assets and my 1/3 has been used up for my studies. He says that the assets would be divided up fairly between me, Else and Else's mother, I could rest assured about that. I trust my father completely and do not want to have anything attested to by the authorities. He is very much under the influence of his situation at home. I am asking you, when you get a chance, to let me know just how much my mother's assets were when they divided them up. - Lenchen Scheuermann was beaten up by her son Karl, who remarried (teacher Schäfer's daughter Erzhütten) so that she has now taken on a job as a housekeeper in Sippersfeld. Don't say anything to anyone about these things, and also don't write about them to anyone. I am happy to hear that Lizzi and Frau Liebe have gotten married! Say hello to all of them!
But to you, dear Aunt and kind-hearted Uncle, my most heartfelt greetings and kisses from yours: Lisbeth, Helenchen and Eugen
[Top margin, upside down:] Should you not have a confirmation of receipt of the box within three weeks from when you receive this letter, I ask you to please contact the shipping company.
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