Letter sent by Pearl Klein from the Munkács ghetto to her daughter Rivka in Budapest
Yehoshua and Pearl (née Wettenstein) Klein were sent from Munkács ghetto to Auschwitz in May 1944 and murdered upon arrival. Their daughter Rivka survived in Budapest. Their sons Tuvia, Yissachar-Dov and Yosef survived too, and the four siblings immigrated to Israel. Another son, Tzvi-Hirsch, who was already married, was probably murdered at Auschwitz.
Munkács, 26 April 1944
My dear Riv'choka,
I already sent you a letter on Sunday. Richo should have left but she stayed, and the third dress [that she wished to bring with her] stayed here. If only you had your coat. Here the winter is back, and I don't know what you are wearing. It pains me so much to know that you wanted to come home, but, to my sorrow, I cannot tell you to return. Since you have been gone, we have been through so much, and God knows what will happen to us. So it is better that you eat a dry piece of bread and be satisfied with that than think about when you will be able to come home. The greater suffering is hard for us. We had to give up a lot of things that they took from us, but that was not the worst thing. Who knows where they are intending to send us and when we will see each other again. We can only rely on God that it will all work out for the best. We also receive worrying letters from Hirschy [Hirsch-Tzvi, Rivka's brother]. It is impossible to send even a postcard from there, and you can only move around in certain places. We will write to you as long as we can, but don't cry. We rely only on the Master of the Universe. The boys are not in the house, they went out to work, they work so hard and for that we thank God who watches over them. Father, to my sorrow, does not feel well; he doesn't sleep or eat from the terrible stress. We, thank God, are at home, but my love, if you saw how we looked you would not be able to stand it. […] He [Father] is so pained that you left without saying goodbye, but that was also for the best.
Rivka my love, once again, be strong and if possible, find yourself some light work. I will try to send you the dresses. I didn't find the red spotted one.
Rivka my love, please try to find Sara's brother and give him 100 Pfennig, he also wrote such a sad letter. He has not even a penny. If you can, this is his address: Shmuel Gross, 26 Kiriali Street, first floor.
Kisses from your loving mother
Write to me if you are still able to
Original in Hungarian
Yad Vashem Archives
Courtesy: Tuvia Klein