Rebecca Gratz to Maria Gist Gratz - February 10, [1840]

Margaret (Peggy) thanks her friend Rebecca for her well-wishes after a death in her family and discusses a planned trip to Philadelphia.

In repsonse to her friend Margaret (Peggy), Rebecca continues the theme of imaginary travel and romance and tells her of the visits of friends.

Rebecca tells her sister-in-law Maria about the community efforts to rebuild the Orphan Asylum after its devastating fire and updates her on the family. Hyman adds a note for Ben regarding business transactions.

Sarah Schwimmer was born in Irsava, Czechoslovakia on August 19, 1926, one of 15 children in an observant Jewish family. Her father was a blacksmith in a largely Jewish community and supported his family until antisemitic Hungarians confiscated his business in 1939 and those of other family members. Sarah and an older sister went to Budapest where she worked as a seamstress. Her sister, a beautician, tried unsuccessfully to obtain a passport from Wallenberg, but remained underground throughout the war at the Swedish Embassy. Sarah joined Dror, the Zionists underground movement. In September 1944 as the Germans were forcing all Jews into the Budapest Ghetto, Sarah and her sister hid for a short time, but eventually ended up in the ghetto and then got separated. She describes atrocities committed by the Germans soldiers as she and others were forced to dig trenches for Germans and graves for Jews.

In September 1944, Sarah was taken with other women on a death march to Hegyeshalom on the German border. Only one third survived for 10 days without food, water or shelter, to be transported by train to Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, Burgau and Türkheim. She vividly describes hunger, loss of spirit and forced labor. Yet she had the will to survive. She was liberated by a regiment of black American soldiers on April 28, 1945. She walked with other women through Russian, French and English zones to reach Marseille for passage to Israel.

Rebecca opines to her sister-in-law Maria on the latest fiction, lists the poetry her niece Sara is currently reading, and updates her on the health of family and friends.

Rebecca sends her friend Maria wishes for her sister Harriet's continued recovery and relates advice on nursing and news of scandals in New Orleans and Philadelphia.