Without the help of my dear friend Martina Leitermann, I would not have been able to unlock the vast wealth of family information contained in these letters. I have had these letters for well over 20 years, having found them in an open wooden box with many old photographs, all virtually disintegrating in our parents’ attic. As soon as I found them, I sat down with Dad and had him tell me whatever he knew about each picture. I also made him promise to keep them in a better part of the house. With his blessings, I took the letters back home with me in the hopes of finding a way to decipher them. Old German handwriting, referred to as Sütterlin, is nearly impossible to decipher, even for most Germans living today. So the letters continued their slumber, this time in boxes under our bed.

Then we adopted our dog, Diego, a Galgo Español. Walking the dog every morning at the same time, you start to meet the same people walking their dogs as well. Sometimes you strike up a conversation and end up walking your dogs together. Such was the case with an older woman with a very friendly face, named Martina, and her dog Lizzy. It turned out that Martina had grown up in a village very near our condo in the Bavarian Forest, and she was very excited to meet someone who knew and loved her Heimat, or hometown. At one point during our regular morning chats, I mentioned the letters and my frustration at being unable to read them. She blinked at me and smiled. It turned out that she had learned to read and write Sütterlin in school and would be more than happy to take a look at the letters. Thus began our joint project of deciphering the letters.

At first Martina simply read and typed out the letters for me. I felt bad because of the amount of work she was doing. And, with the sheer volume of letters, literally hundreds, it meant that at that rate, it would be years before we got finished. So I began to try to my hand at reading them too. Martina, in addition to what she was transcribing, bravely corrected my crude attempts at deciphering. In spite of all the hours she was putting into this, she flat out refused to take any money for her efforts. However, she and her life partner, Hansi, love honey, and in particular honey from the Bavarian Forest. (He’s from there, as well.) I had once brought them honey after we had stayed at our condo and they were overjoyed. We then reached an agreement that I would bring honey from their neck of the woods whenever we were there. They were happy and I felt better about accepting so much help from her.

In time, however, Martina’s eyes needed surgery and afterwards reading and typing became just too strenuous. So now I transcribe them and she corrects them. We are currently about two-thirds of the way through. But don’t worry, the honey is still flowing.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Martina.