Courtney Balcombe

Creative Editor

clb6264@psu.ed

August 2nd, 1942

My dear Clarissa,

As you know, leaving without a goodbye was not my choice. I was forced to leave with my family because the Germans were on a hunt for people like my family. It was the only choice we had to survive this war. Even your family could turn us in, you do seem to be Hitler’s favorite family, he even gave your father a job in Auschwitz. I wonder what he does there as a doctor. I’m sorry, but I will write to you every chance I get.

Your dearest love,

Mary

January 20th, 1943

My Dear Clarissa,

I am sorry it has taken me so long to write to you, my family hid in a very close family friend’s house until the war worked its way to them. We are now in the woods with other Jewish families. My father heard about these brothers helping Jews hide. They have weapons and some food. The brothers who started this rebel camp are from our village. Only four of the Bielski brothers are here, we don’t know where the other eight are, but the brothers believe they might be in one of those Jewish prison camps.

Your dearest love,

Mary

September 14th, 1943

My Dear Clarissa,

I miss you. This war is unbearable. Many of the Jews with us in the woods are dying of starvation or sickness. Every day more people find us and join the cause against the Nazis. My own father and brother have learned how to use guns from the Bielski brothers, each time the Nazis pass a road near us Bielski brothers attack and retrieve more supplies for our camp. Some Nazis have even made it very close to our site, but don’t get very far. Sadly, it is becoming harder for Mark to sneak into town with my letters to you, so I will not be able to write you for some time. Do not lose hope, I will be home again soon.

Your dearest love,

Mary

January 4th, 1944

My Dear Clarissa,

So much has happened since I last wrote to you. My father died due to the harsh winter we had in the woods, my mother is growing sicker each day like many of the other Jews here. I fear some will not make it through this war. Our supplies have reached such a low point that people fight for food and medicine. Mark and I have resorted to giving our food to our mother in hopes that she will survive this. I keep praying that the war will end soon, so we may come home and be with our family and friends again if they are still alive. I will be home soon though, I promise.

Your dearest love,

Mary

July 24th, 1944

My Dear Clarissa,

It hurts to say that I may not come home soon. It has already been two years and I don’t believe the end of this war is in sight. I cannot keep my promise to be home soon, but if  I do make it home you will be the first to know. Sadly my mother did not make it through the winter, she passed away a few weeks after my last letter to you. Mark and I buried her next to my father, it was hard to dig through all the snow and stiff ground but they are together again. I fear many more of us will die this winter, but I will write to you again soon.

Your dearest love,

Mary

March 19th, 1945

Dear Clarissa,

I am sorry that your life with my sister was cut so short, Mary died a few days ago. I’ve never lived a day without her and I didn’t know how to tell you she wouldn’t be coming home to you. I know the love the two of you shared is wrong in many religious aspects, but our family loved you both nonetheless. There is talk in our camp that the war might end soon, but I feel when it does many of us here will come back afraid of our own neighbors. I still have the blanket you made her, she brought it with us tucked in underneath all of her clothing and kept it with her as a reminder of the love you two had and that she had someone to return home to. I’m sorry you did not get to spend more time with her, but one day you will be reunited as she has with our parents.

Yours truly,

Mark

When the war came to an end in September, Mark had returned home to find all the letters written to Clarissa under a rock outside her home. He asked around the neighborhood and found her family had turned her into the Nazis for conspiring against Hitler. Clarissa died in Auschwitz where her father worked from starvation.