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Dvr H.Adler
PAL/30765
650, G.T.Coy R.A.S.C
“B” Platoon
C.M.F

12 February 1945

What a letter! I’ve read it many times and each time I understand a little more. It has everything, really…It has also a good lesson in modesty, which I accept humbly. “Living men are those who create”. I don’t accept the total sense of this thought but I accept the fine point you make about my sterile life. You are right, it actually was and is very sterile. As for the total meaning of this thought I don’t accept it because there are millions of men who don’t create but who nevertheless live. Even the striker lives. Even he without children lives. Even the cretin lives. And even I live, and with what intense force, darling! Although I don’t create and I wont create. In a word, your letter is very knowing. Even when you unveil a characteristic of mine, which up till now was unknown to me: hypocrisy.  For it seems that my letters are a poor mirror of my mood and my thoughts. But what makes me dream most of all is that you are happy with it. What complex feelings!

I only regret that your letters are so rare. Otherwise everything is perfect. You are good, darling, to take me by the nose from time to time and bring me down to earth. It’s not at all that I suffer the sickness of looking down at everything from a great height. But sometimes I fly too high in the sky of spiritual speculation, which wastes my capacity and risks breaking my neck. Then you are here to remind me of the order of the day and I thank you for it. From now on, when the mud reaches my knees, I will quickly lie down on the green grass and so keep my heart “pure” for after the war. That’s a promise, darling.

What’s happening here? Nothing. Compared with what’s happening in the rest of the world, nothing. I drive my vehicle where I am told and I admire the beautiful winter nature… The Royal engineers enjoy themselves repairing bridges and roads and I help them. And that brings joy to my heart. From time to time we hear some explosion long way off and we see ambulances passing- everything is well ordered… A while ago I was in hospital for 10 days; I had cold so badly that I almost lost my voice. Now all is well; healthy and in a good mood as you can see…

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