Margaret (Peggy) Ewing to Rebecca Gratz - [September] 11, 1803

Richea Etting and her mother Rachel thank cousin Rebecca and her sisters for their visit and Richea describes her journey back and reception at home.

Kurt Kupferberg was born September 1907 in Berlin, Germany to an observant, middle-class family from Galicia. After World War I, their citizenship was changed to Polish, resulting in their being part of the mass deportation to Zbąszyń, Poland, in 1938. A Nazi policeman had warned them to leave. Kurt describes his return to Germany in 1939, as well as his deportation and experiences in Sachsenhausen in 1939, Dachau in 1940, and Buchenwald in 1941. He details the selections of Dr. Mengele and medical experiments performed on him in Buchenwald, describing his suffering from typhus following an injection of the microorganism under his skin. As Allied Forces approached Buchenwald, non-Jewish political prisoners sheltered Jews from the S.S. He was liberated by General Patton’s unit July 11, 1945. He married a survivor in Berlin in 1946 and emigrated with his wife and baby to the United States in 1947. Also see testimony of his wife, Hardy W. Kupferberg.

Rebecca expresses her belief to her sister-in-law Maria that God accepts all who worship him with a pure heart. While she affirms her faith, Rebecca considers Judaism a remnant of the past that is inconvenient to practice in contemporary America.

Margaret (Peggy) writes to her friend Rebecca with the primary purpose, as she makes clear, to receive a letter from the latter in return.

Rebecca tells her sister-in-law Maria about the health of family members and friends, particuarly about Ellen Hays Etting, whose newborn recently died. She also discusses the literature she is reading.