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.
Category: Letters
Letter 1945.3 – 30 January. Henri (650 Gen Tpt Coy) to Yvette
Three weeks with no letters. I can think of nothing else but this silence. And though I know that there’s no reason to be anxious, the feeling is stronger than I am, that’s the way it is.
Letter 1945.2 – 10 January. Henri (650 Gen Tpt Coy) to Yvette
Don’t forget that I am a dialectical materialist and an active member of a movement that basically is the reply, the only reply to all these complex problems.
Letter 1945.1 – 4 January. Henri (650 Gen Tpt Coy) to Yvette
In rare moments, I am perfectly happy. And why not? I have the right to be. I have you and I am conscious that in the moments of mortal danger to all humanity I did all that I could, given the circumstances, to help defeat that danger. It is humanity that is the victor of this war.
Letter 1943.46 – 25 December. Henri (650 Gen Tpt Coy) to Yvette
I hold that photo in my hands, my eyes are glued to it and there are so many things that crowd into my soul. I so much want to be with you and Ouri. After the war. Somewhere in a peaceful world where a man is allowed to be a man, to love his wife, to work in peace, to live. Sometimes I feel so old and sometimes so young.
Letter 1943.45 – 15 December. Henri (650 Gen Tpt Coy) to Yvette
Yesterday I received a lovely photo from Australia. Of little John – our nephew- dedicated “To Yvette and Henri, with love.” He is stunning, this little fellow. A very good looking kid! I am almost jealous of him.
Letter 1943.44 – 7 December. Henri (650 Gen Tpt Coy) to Yvette
Forgive this short letter. My finger doesn’t feel too good.
Letter 1943.43 – 3 December. Henri (650 Gen Tpt Coy) to Yvette
Let me remind you how many people are suffering at the present time: from cruel separations, separations without tomorrows, of hells left at their departure. Think of lovers separated, mothers witness to the massacre of their children. And then again of this: think of what is and what will become.
Letter 1943.42 – 26 November. Henri (650 Gen Tpt Coy) to Yvette
These narrow, winding little streets with their facades almost touching, where you can see only a tiny morsel of blue sky, where the beauty of the kids is hidden by a great layer of filth, where you smell the misery (that smell is the same everywhere, in Paris, Tokyo or Cairo. The smell of elegant women differs. But the smell of St.Ouen you find everywhere.), where promiscuity is the order of the day, where one sees the connection between architecture and sensuality – where however, everywhere, is reflected human beauty.
Letter 1943.41 – 16 November. Henri (650 Gen Tpt Coy) to Yvette
Yvette one must always remember that nothing has so debased man as much as fascism. And the generation to come will have a great job to accomplish – to detoxify the hearts and the brains of men poisoned by the bloody but refined regime. This operation can only lead to a happy result with an immense mass movement, like that which enabled a sixth of the world to succeed in creating a new man, a man knowing how to distinguish moral values.