Lodz, 10 March 1931 Dear and precious brother, as well as nephew, Sol Zissman, and wife and son, I have received your letter of February 15 along with a picture of your dear son. My intuition told me at once that something new must have taken place because it is not your nature to make your uncle wait a whole month for an answer, and it was really with a great deal of pain that I read your recent letter in which you write that you have recently been ill with diptheria and that, thank G-d, you are already feeling better. Further, you write that business is going poorly for you, that you closed one store, etc. Yes, devoted Sol, I believe it all. It appears that you are not an exception among all those who have suffered during recent years from the pervasive crisis that has taken a grip on almost the entire globe. However, dear Sol, (there is) suffering and suffering...there is a big difference... I will remark, as you yourself once wrote to me, that the important thing is to become accustomed to bad times because good times will not come very quickly. And if a few people can be found among us in Poland who have it good, don't be envious of them...because they are fading away. In a word, dear Sol, I don't know what the situation is these days in America, but I can write you that in Poland it is very bad in general and for me in particular because I am not able to help myself and there is no means of helping oneself. We had a very difficult winter. For almost three months, I had no work at all, and for four weeks I have been working two or three days a week. I am enclosing a notice from the factory where we started to work two days (a week). We are still working this way. There are no prospects for an improvement in Poland in the forseeable future. To the contrary, the newspapers write alarming reports every day that a war or a revolution is inevitable. In any event, to live this way is extremely sad, and the entire population is hopeful that some sort of transformation will take place in the country. As to your asking the reason why I sent my Rifkele to Opoczno, I must explain to you, devoted Sol, that I always knew that my Rifkele was a sickly child because she was born in '14, during a time of war-hunger-shortages-powerlessness-darkness, so that we were simply not able to burden her with too much learning because, as a sickly person, she was not able to complete more than elementary school. I never sent her to work because the doctor didn't permit it. On the other hand, Balcia, may she rest in peace, was healthy, worked hard, helped in the house, etc. However, since we are already bereaved parents and our Rifkele, may she be well, began to have a heart problem this winter and I was not able to secure for her the appropriate attention that she required and since mere prescriptions are not effective to cure a patient, we decided to send our Rifkele to my sister in Opoczno. She has already been there for about four months. According to the letters and reports that I receive from her, she does not feel bad there and, if G-d wills it, she will come home for the holiday on Passover eve. On the one hand, I am delighted that my child feels better in Opoczno than she does at home. On the other hand, Aunt Malke and I cry ourselves out over the fact that our child must be "a fugitive and a wanderer," careerless, without a goal for the future. Yet, I accept everything with good grace if she will only regain her health. If G-d wills it, when she comes for Passover, she will write a letter to you. For the time being, you will have to be satisfied with regards from her. Further, devoted Sol, I can write you that Aunt Estherl gave birth to a daughter two weeks ago. May this be (a sign of) good fortune for her and all of us. She has, without an evil eye, seven "pieces," four sons and three daughters. Lazer even says that this is the last one, i.e., the "dregs at the bottom of the barrel..." But do you believe him??? I don't. It can all be discussed, but we'll determine the facts at a later time. Further, devoted Sol, in my last letter I wrote something to you about old clothing! So, I write again that it was very foolish of me. It's only that you ought not to regard or count your uncle as such an obvious parasite who thinks only of how to extract whatever possible from another person. No, dear brother, it's possible that, in this instance, you may not have understood the purpose of my writing, or you may have understood and forgotten your uncle (as he was) in earlier years. I waged a battle with myself for a long, long time as to whether I should write to you about it because you are not at all able to understand, Sol, how your uncle suffers when he has to write you a sad and tearful letter. You know me too well, and I know you too well. You know very well, Sol, and realize there in America that your uncle's life is completely extinguished. Sitting at home one time with Aunt Malke, absorbed in our deep contemplation, we thought thusly: "Even if we wanted to go out into the street to forget our troubles, we don't have an untorn piece of clothing to wear. And Passover is approaching. What will happen when Spring comes? Will we be able to sit at home forever?" In this state of mind, I wrote to my only one, to my most devoted one, to my most beloved one, from whom I conceal nothing in the world. I unburdened myself to you as to a brother, as to my only friend, feeling that I had lowered myself to the utmost... However, at the same time, I also made clear to you in my previous letter to read what I had written and under no circumstances to compromise your uncle, i.e., if you were not to have the wherewithal to satisfy the foolish caprices of your uncle, you were supposed to destroy the letter immediately so that no one in the family would be able to see it. Furthermore, I don't want to speak of it anymore and believe you (when you write) that you have no such used items that you no longer wear and that are lying about there. I have become convinced by my own action. I throw out or burn old rags since I don't want them lying around the house. In particular with you, Sol, surely there are no unessential items to be found because you think things through in advance when you do something. So, Sol, if I committed a foolish act in my life and wrote to you about such things, I ask you to give me your word of honor not to speak about it again in your home. I also don't ask you to send me anything from your house. I also ask you not to send me any matzos because basic food items are very cheap in Poland currently so that matzos is the least expensive item. Furthermore, I can get along with ten pounds of matzos for all of Passover. This year this will certainly not cost us more than ten gulden, i.e., about one dollar. It's surely much more expensive there, and it doesn't pay (to send it). So, I ask you not to send any matzos because it's a pity (to waste) a penny. I have not yet received the $10 that you wrote you were sending, but I'm sure I'll receive it soon. I thank you, devoted brother, for your generosity, although I'm not sure whether you might be doing yourself some harm with the few dollars that you send me. However, whatever the situation may be, I am forced to accept it in order to ease the need of my household somewhat, even though I find myself over my head under a mountain of debts. Nevertheless, I sincerely thank you, devoted Sol, for remembering your uncle and assisting him from time to time in proportion to your capability. So, nothing more of importance. Heartfelt regards to you and your worthy wife and dear son. I am very grateful for the photograph. I'm sure that you want me to express an opinion about your son so I write, without an evil eye, that he is a very handsome and well developed child, intelligent eyes, nice height, nice hair and a fair complexion, 80% like you and 20% like your wife. It would certainly be nice to enlarge the picture as a memento. I send him several kisses on the head with your help. What else should I write to you, dear Sol? It seems to me that I have writtten you everything. Although, in you last letter, you asked me to write you a long letter, believe me it's inappropriate because I feel that you take no pleasure from what I write. I don't want to write about bad things, and I don't have anything good to write about. I always have to write you tearful and miserable letters that you don't deserve to receive from me. But what can I do when, after all, I feel that I have no one to whom I can speak openly other than my only devoted brother, Sol? As to the Fair in Chicago, I understood and felt that they wouldn't let any people in from Europe. However, the newspapers don't have anything (important) to bluff about so they bluff about what they can. It's all nonsense. Nevertheless, in connection with the forthcoming Fair in 1933, a bit of revival and commerce may take place in Chicago in general and in your furniture store in particular. So, I close my letter with heartfelt regards for you and for your worthy wife and dear son from me and from my dear wife and dear children. Rifkele sends regards to you from Opoczno, and my son, Joseph, sends his sincere regards to you. He would write to you once in a while, but as of now he knows nothing other than Polish, and I don't know whether you will be able to understand Polish. In any event, he asks me to send regards to you in his name. In addition, the whole family sends regards to you, including Uncle Emanuel Lewin (and) Aunt Dina Raisel. Her daughter, her (daughter's) husband and two children left Lodz two weeks ago for Palestine. Further, I received tearful news from Kinsk that Uncle Yankel Lewin passed away suddenly two weeks ago. His son, Pinya, has a job in Lodz. Shmiel was married to (a girl) from Tomaszow, and Wolf lives in Belgium. There is no more news. In Opoczno, everything is as it was. All are well, may G-d be blessed. Surely they write to you about their life. So, I wish you a happy Passover and a healthy summer. Please answer promptly with a long letter. With respect, Your uncle, Wolf Lewkowicz All material Copyright 1995 by Marshall L. Zissman and Sol J. Zissman.