Headline: Letter from Alt-Norka (Old Norka)
Norka, October 1st, 1921
To: Wilhelm Deines, Norfolk, Nebraska
Written in the name of the true God.
Dear Uncle and Aunt Deines:
We are happy to inform you that we safely received your letter and we are pleased that you are well. We are also glad to hear that you had a good harvest. We also thank you for the invitation to come to America. That would make us very happy because we have often longed to be with you, if only for a day. The route remains unsafe on account of the poor railway system here and without bread for the trip across country to a foreign land, it is a risky thing.
Ach! How great the emergency is with us. If you were here Uncle Wilhelm, and could see everything as it is, and we could tell you of our experiences then not only would you cry tears of water but also tears of blood.
(Now the writer states the high food prices with which our readers are sufficiently acquainted---Die Welt-Post Editor)
Vetter (uncle) Johannes, Vetter Konrad, Vetter Heinrich Howa (Huwa??) and your Brother-in-law Luka and their families are still well. On the other hand, your parents-in-law are both dead. Your sister-in-law Lisbeth and her husband and children are well. Because of the famine and other emergencies, the death rate is very high; from 5 to 7 people are buried daily. The largest of all complaints is: no bread, no bread! The people eat pumpkins and sugar beets and many do not even have that. For this reason, the bitterest of emergencies, we ask you to send us some food, as other people have received from their friends, flour, sugar and rice.
My parents are not yet drawn to America but I would gladly leave today, this very morning. As soon as travel improves I will write you. You must help me to return to America.
With the best of greetings to you all, I await your answer.
Your brother's child,
Jakob Deines
Written in the name of the true God.
Dear Uncle and Aunt Deines:
We are happy to inform you that we safely received your letter and we are pleased that you are well. We are also glad to hear that you had a good harvest. We also thank you for the invitation to come to America. That would make us very happy because we have often longed to be with you, if only for a day. The route remains unsafe on account of the poor railway system here and without bread for the trip across country to a foreign land, it is a risky thing.
Ach! How great the emergency is with us. If you were here Uncle Wilhelm, and could see everything as it is, and we could tell you of our experiences then not only would you cry tears of water but also tears of blood.
(Now the writer states the high food prices with which our readers are sufficiently acquainted---Die Welt-Post Editor)
Vetter (uncle) Johannes, Vetter Konrad, Vetter Heinrich Howa (Huwa??) and your Brother-in-law Luka and their families are still well. On the other hand, your parents-in-law are both dead. Your sister-in-law Lisbeth and her husband and children are well. Because of the famine and other emergencies, the death rate is very high; from 5 to 7 people are buried daily. The largest of all complaints is: no bread, no bread! The people eat pumpkins and sugar beets and many do not even have that. For this reason, the bitterest of emergencies, we ask you to send us some food, as other people have received from their friends, flour, sugar and rice.
My parents are not yet drawn to America but I would gladly leave today, this very morning. As soon as travel improves I will write you. You must help me to return to America.
With the best of greetings to you all, I await your answer.
Your brother's child,
Jakob Deines
Sources
Die Welt-Post, 12 Jan 1922, page 5.
This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.
This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.
Last updated March 3, 2016.