Note: This is part four of a new Saturday series, in which I, with croudsourcing help, try to unravel the mysteries hidden in previously unkown letters written by my mysterious step-great aunt Dvora /Dora before and during WWll in Poland. For further explanations see previous post.

In the first three posts I asked the readers several questions that have come up so far when closely reading Dora’s lettters. I’m delighted to report that I received answers! Many thanks to Laura Green, Sandy Millin, Dorit Renov and Beata Gulati for their help. Special thanks to Beata who has wholeheartedly taken up this project!

First of all, I realize I should clarify exactly where Dora lived. I understand that there are places with similar names and spellings, not to mention the borders that were redrawn. The letters quoted in this post were sent from Brest in what used to be Poland. Today it is in Belarus (see map). This much information  I have known since childhoold, since that is where my own grandmother grew up. The letters I have are without envelopes, so I have no address. However, it seems that Dora wrote some of the letters on stationery from her father’s workplace. Their logo includes an address. Beata looked into locating this address. Street names have changed and Google maps does not help here. However, Beata’s following explanation has led to a little story I had never heard:

 

“Brześć n/B is on the river Bug in Polish n-for “nad” and “B” Bug the name of the river where Brest is situated :)))”

I asked my mother if her mother had ever mentioned a river in her tales. “Oh yes!” my mother said. “The river Pok. She grew up by the river Pok. She used to say that the reason they ate so much carp fish in those days was because the river was full of the fish and it was cheap”! I had never heard this story before!

Dora wrote that she took her matriculation examinations (“Matura” exams) in May 1938. I asked if it was safe to assume that Dora was born in 1920 in light of that information. Beata has located an example of a graduation certificate from the same year awarded to someone who was born in 1920 and heard from people that in those days people graduated at 18, so I believe this is a very reasonable assumption.

I was unable to make out the letters of the name of the “healthing place” Dora went to on her summer vacation. Everyone has agreed that she must have gone to the spa town Busko-Zdrój .

I also was unable to figure out what word Dora had written because it never occured to me that she might have begun a sentence with the word “much”. Beata explains:  “…those letters are written straight from the heart of Polish girl and just translated into English but the way of thinking is Polish. So it is not Blush or Hush it is “Much I can not write you” in the meaning I can not write too much because I am busy with my Matura exam.”

This post is quite long so I will begin the next letter next week. I will just tell you that it is undated but seems to be from late 1937 or early 1938.  A visitor from America makes an appearance and the letter is torn in places, resulting in missing words…