Rebecca Gratz to Maria Gist Gratz - October 09, 1831

Rebecca tells her sister-in-law Maria of the education and health of Maria's son Howard, who is attending school in Philadelphia, and comments on the financial crisis in the country affecting family and friends as well as the Orphan Society.

Marian Turzanski, born January 18, 1934 in Zupanie, Poland, was one of four sons in a Catholic family who owned large forest land. Before 1939, he recalls good relations with the few Jews in his village, one of whom once hid in the Turzanski home. After the German invasion, hostile Ukrainians threatened to kill Marian’s father; a friendly Ukrainian intervened and urged the family to flee. In Hungary, they moved frequently, settling in Keszthely, where Marian attended a school for Polish children.

His parents had left their baptismal papers in Poland, to be used by Samuel Goldreich, the Jew they once sheltered.

Life in Hungary after German occupation is detailed: terrorization by the Arrow Cross and German soldiers, ghettoization of Jews and Poles, deportation of Jews and Gypsies. Marian’s father was active in the underground, together with Hungarian Jews and other Christians; Marian and his brothers became messengers.

He describes in detail the family’s deportation December 31, 1944, to Germany, via Prague and Vienna in sealed cattle cars and the luxury of bedsheets and decent food at the Wilhelmshaven work camp near Berlin. This contrasts with the starkness of the other camps he mentions briefly: Strashof, Bayreuth, Neumarkt. He describes brutal treatment by Ukrainians at Neumarkt.

After liberation by Americans in 1945, he lived in Displaced Persons camps at Neumarkt, Hochenfels, Annsbach, Wildflecken, Heilbronn, Ludvigsburg and Bremenhafen. He came to the United States on August 27, 1949 after losing all of his relatives outside of his immediate family.

Rebecca sends her condolences to her sister-in-law Maria after the death of Judith Bell Gist Boswell, Maria's sister. She also gives updates on the health and travels of family and friends.

Rebecca tells her friend Maria of her current activities for the Orphan Society and discusses the critiques of a Benjamin West painting on display in Philadelphia.

Amidst the Cholera epidemic, Rebecca and Jacob write to their sister-in-law Maria, sending their condolences on the death of her mother and express relief at their family's safety and good health.