NYPL, Letters To Sala

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Introduction Sala’s Europe, 1939-1945 Prewar Jewish Life and Deportation Nazi Slave Labor Camps The Judenrat Geppersdorf Nazi Postal System Ala Gertner Sala's Labor Camps Jewish Holidays Harry Haubenstock Schatzlar Liberation In America

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Sala Grünbaum and friends
Postcard to Sala Garncarz, in Polish, Schatzlar, Czechoslovakia, March 5, 1945
NYPL, Dorot Jewish Division, Sala Garncarz Collection

Live for us 120 years!

March 5th is a happy and a lucky day for us. For today we are celebrating our dear Sala’s birthday; alas, still behind barbed wire. Oh, what a great holiday this would be if we celebrated your birthday in freedom, together with your loved ones. Let’s not lose hope!

Let good luck shine on you just like the bright sunshine that steals secretly through our camp windows.

Sala, sometimes, when the three of us are in the bunk, and you are asleep, we hear you call in your sleep: “Mommy, Daddy….” We do not want to wake you, for we know that, at that moment, you are happily with them. We talk it over: “Should we wake her or not?”

Forgive us, Sala dearest, that we sometimes disturb your sweet dreams. Someday, we shall let you drink deeply from the cup of happiness, with your parents and with your Harry, when we are free. May you find lots of happiness with him so that you are never deprived of his care…. And so Sala, may you always have your fill of it.

Sala dearest, may you live for 120 years, together with your loved ones, and with your Harry. May you celebrate your next birthday at home, and recall that a year ago, you were in Schatzlar, celebrating your birthday with your girlfriends; you will remember it happily, now that you have your freedom.

Your devoted girlfriends