Postcard from Rosa Stern to Beate Stern (Bea Karp), January 28, 1942

Date: January 28, 1942
Creator: Stern, Rosa
Format: letter
Category: Stories
Subcategory: Bea Karp
Repository: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Collection: Beatrice Pappenheimer Papers, 1990.153
People: Stern, Rosa; Karp, Bea
Places: Rivesaltes concentration camp; Château du Couret, France
Data URI: soh.sto001.00110.xml
Sender(s): Stern, Rosa
Sent from: Rivesaltes Concentration Camp
Recipient(s): Karp, Bea
Received at: Château de Couret

Mein liebes gutes Beatchen! Mit deinem letzte Brief habe ich mich sehr gefreut weil Du selbst geschrieben hast. Es geht doch sehr gut. Und wenn du mal einige Fehler machst ist es bei mir nicht schlimmm. Auch daß Du gesund bist und Du Dich jeden Tag warm waschen kannst freut sehr. Es wird auch den lieben Papa freuen daß Du betest. Frau Strauss ist nach Noe. Ich gehe jeden Tag morgens und mittags nach Ilot E und lerne dort Taschen und Schuhe von Bast arbeiten. Wenn ich es gut kann, wede ich dir liebes Beatchen auch ein Täschchen machen. Regine Ettlingen ist auch fort und ich bin auf Regines Platz gezogen, da ist es viel schöner als hinten und nicht so kalt. Tante Clara arbeitet in der Küche. Frau Lieberman sagt eben dass sie wartet auf Post von Rachel. Schreibe mir bald wieder. Bitte die lieben Mädchen daß sie Dir helfen.

Viele Küsse und Grüsse — Deine Mama

EXPEDITEUR Madame Rosa Stern No. 6371 Ilot B. Bar. 25 Centre Hebergement Rivesaltes DESTINATAIRE Madamoiselle Beate Stern Château de Couret par la Jonchère St. Maurice Hte Vienne

German | English (translation)

My dear darling little Beate! I was so very pleased to get your most recent letter because you had written it yourself. You’re really good at it. And even if you do make a mistake here or there, it doesn’t matter to me. Also, that you‘re healthy and have hot water to wash yourself every day is very happy news. Your dear Papa, too, will be delighted that you’re saying your prayers. Mrs. Strauss has gone to the camp at Noé1. I go every morning and midday to Block E to learn how to make bags and shoes from bast (inner bark) fiber. When I get good at it, I’ll make a little handbag for you, too, darling Beate. Regine Ettlingen has also left, and I’ve moved to take Regine’s space, which is much nicer than in the back, and not so cold Aunt Clara works in the kitchen2. Mrs. Lieberman just said that she’s waiting for mail from Rachel. Write me again soon. Ask the other kind girls to help you. Lots of kisses and greetings, from — Your Mama

SENDER Madame Rosa Stern No. 6371 Ilot B. Bar. 25 Centre Hebergement Rivesaltes RECIPIENT Madamoiselle Beate Stern Château de Couret par la Jonchère St. Maurice Hte Vienne

Notes

1. The internment camp at Noé in Haute Garonne was far inland to the northwest of the Rivesaltes internment camp, north of the Pyrenees and halfway between the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. It housed particularly ill inmates, and many inmates from the Baden (including Karlsruhe) departations were later sent to Noé. [back]

2. In Bea Karp’s book My Broken Doll she writes that Aunt Clara (sister of Moritz) and her son Gunter died of disease at the Gurs Internment Camp, but if this is the same Aunt Clara, then she was alive still at Camp de Rivesaltes in January 1942, after the move from Gurs to Rivesaltes. Her first name is sometimes spelled as Clara, other times as Klara. Her date of death is recorded to be August 16, 1942, in Auschwitz — the same day that Rosa Stern arrived at Auschwitz (probably on the same transport). [back]