[Partial translation]

23 February 1926 [Mother]

[...] We received your two letters as well as the last $10. With that, you are already done paying back our loan. I assume you can now start paying back what you owe Willy, so that he can buy a car […] Willy did end up sending Father belated birthday wishes. I am glad he did and wrote back to him. We were very happy to receive Willy’s photo and put it in a good location, a place where we can always see it. […] Willy would not like it very much if August left Nennah [sic]; this way, he always had someone he knew. […]Almost 4 months have passed since you started your business. If you were still here, you would not have anything yet. […]At yesterday’s trade association meeting, Father learned that there had been 167 self-employed carpenters with 168 journeymen and about 100 unemployed carpenters in Wiesbaden at the end of the year. […] Now they are renting a store for Paul Schmidt at Wellritzstrasse as well. There, he is supposed to open up a shoe store. We wish him luck, for there is nothing else left for him to do. He was unable to find anything anywhere. […] Last week, we found a renter for our shop, a Mr. Weimar. He used to own a cardboard box and packaging materials factory at Walkmühle. The British are renting his factory in order to store furniture. Many people came to look at the shop, but regular workers cannot afford to pay 1,000 marks. […] Father had to empty his shop from one day to the next [...] Weimar’s equipment includes 12 machines powered by electricity. Weimar would like to buy our house as well, but we cannot agree on a price yet. If we sold the house, we would like to receive enough to earn $1,000 per year in interest. This way, if you decide that you do not want to move back here, we would have enough money to live over there with you[…]The value of our house has appreciated by 1,200 marks. August Bender has been helping us with the paperwork. We will file our other documents here, so that you do not have to do anything. You would only run into all kinds of obstacles anyway[…]

On Sunday, we went to Nordenstadt. The flu is going around there as well. Ernst was feeling better again, but Wilhelm still needs lots of bed rest. He has terrible nasal congestion and quite a fever. Wilhelm seems to have a nervous disorder. His eyes keep twitching; it is hard to watch him like this. He still has not decided to get married. Now even his father has decided to drop the matter. Aunt thinks that he should have a thorough check-up by a doctor since he is still getting headaches. On Sunday, we wanted to try and listen to the radio. However, it did not work because the tube had burned out. The radio is different from the one in Frankfurt. We were able to hear the announcement of the time quite clearly[…]

Eight days ago, Father went to Beuerbach to settle the dispute, but was unsuccessful as well. Karl does not want to leave anymore. He wants his brother-in-law to move out of the house and is unwilling to compromise. Therefore, nobody can help them. […] My kindest regards, etc. Mother.