Both the letters that I read this last week were very sad but in different ways. Both women’s letters had a very fatalistic air to them. They seemed to know that the end was near.
The first letter that I read from Ida on October 9 1941 seemed to know that she was going to die. She knew she was never going to see her family or loved ones again. She was so sad that she wasn’t able to spend enough time with them and cherish them as much as she should have. She felt as if she took their love for granted. She always assumed that they would be there if she needed them and then suddenly that luxury was taken from her.
The other letter that I read was from May 14 1944 and it was much more brief. We know a lot about her history because of her surviving relatives. Her last letter was a short message stating that she was leaving and she was waiting for mail. Something about the shortness of the letter made it feel much more depressing than Ida’s long reflection of her life. It seemed so hopeless. She didn’t know what was going to happen and she just seems to think that whatever happens to her isn’t going to be good and she will probably die. That was the unfortunate reality of so many of the people that died during the war. They didn’t know what was going to happen to them, they just didn’t think it would be good. Some of them were more aware and had a pretty solid understanding that they would probably not live to see the response to their letters but some of them really just didn’t know it.
