Letter from Max Rehder to Theodor Rehder, January 1931

1931 - January.jpeg

Document Translation Item Type Metadata

Translation

Westerland, Sylt, 15 Jan 1931


Dear Theodor & family!

I have received your lovely letter with all your news and I am really happy about it. Every time I hear about America, I get homesick. I have waited until today to write back to you, because I wanted to send you a check over 420.00 Reich marks. But I did not manage to do so because we are going through bad times, so I can only send you 200.00 marks today.

Dear Theodor, you have to be satisfied with this for today because money in Germany is starting to become a rarity. There is no money left. Business is slow because nobody has the money to buy anything. Just imagine, there are about 5 million unemployed people in Germany, you can imagine how trade is suffering because of that.
Of course, we own a large warehouse for our footwear, but what good is that when the purchasing power is non-existent. I could easily send you several 100 pairs of shoes, but that does not work.
But Theodor, you do not have to worry, even though the times are bad, your money is safe and I will repay you. I am sure that money is not so scarce where you are and that you do not necessarily need it now.
Health-wise, we are all fine, which is very important. Dad, mother, they are all still alive and well and my brother John is about to get married on Jan 20. His bride is from Gelsenkirchen, which is in the Rhine area. My brother, as you know, owns a café and a guest house in Kampen on Sylt and his bride is very competent in his business.
We can only guess what the next season will bring, but I am sure less than before, because travel is dwindling. But we do not want to lose hope, because even though we are going through hard times, we can make it through if we are cautious and save our money.
If Germany could only free itself from the damn Youngplan, a lot would change. But we have such a cowardly administration that says yes to everything our former enemies lay upon us. Now they started to organize a national administration for Germany and I think everything will be different then. Then we will have decent people back at the top and not all of the traffickers and Jews.
We do not really have winters here and only 8 days of snow, today it is raining again.
Tell me, when will someone of the family come over to Germany to visit us! Make it happen and come over or at least send Louis or George.
I seem to only hear from you, but I want to write to Uncle Peter today as well.
For now I send my regards to you and please write to me soon. Yours,

Hans Rehder

Stamps on the stationery:
Death to the lie, do away with the Dawes Plan!

Think of your child and the future! Become a National Socialist. The big daily paper of National Socialism is the People’s Observer Munich.

Dublin Core

Title

Letter from Max Rehder to Theodor Rehder, January 1931

Subject

German Relatives; Correspondence; Weimar Republic; National Socialism; Young Plan; Financial Trouble; Business; Marriage; anti-Semitism

Description

Letter from Max Rehder in January, 1931. He discusses financial troubles, the coming "national government," business prospects, and antipathy towards Jews. Of note are the National Socialist stickers attached to the letter.

Creator

Rehder, Max

Source

N/A

Publisher

Special Collections, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City

Date

1/15/1931

Contributor

N/A

Rights

N/A

Relation

N/A

Format

Letter

Language

German

Type

TEXT; IMAGE

Identifier

Box #1, Ted Rehder Papers, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa

Coverage

1931-01-15; Berlin, Iowa; Tama County; Schleswig-Holstein; Sylt, Germany; Westerland, Germany; Gelsenkirchen, Germany;