Thank you so much! This is so special for me and my mother. It's such a sweet expression of love and joy. It was before everything went dark. My maternal grandfather and grandmothers parents, about a dozen of their siblings, so many nieces and nephews, cousins, friends and neighbors were all murdered in the Holocaust. The letters went back and forth across the ocean until they abruptly stopped.

I have some letters to translate between my grandparents and their parents, many of which contain their fears and information about the harsh realities unfolding in their shtetl of Tiktin. I will look for the courage to translate them soon.

I'm working on a small video project documenting my mother's experience of growing up as a first generation American under a perpetual shadow of loss. This note will help to contextualize the contrast of how things shifted.

Thank you again for illuminating this note.

PS Although I never knew my grandfather, I am grateful to have his name.