All communication with Holland and Belgium ceased when these two counties were overrun and I had to correspond via relations and friends in the USA - and this of course came to an end when America entered the war.
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After that the only route to communicate was via the Red Cross. The messages had to be limited to 25 words and had to be extremely easy for the sensor to read. The authorities specified that the messages from England must be clearly hand written by Red cross officials in England. The messages from Germany were typed. Only 2 messages got through.
Ernst at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin in 2007
My first Red Cross message was dated 38th June 1941:
“Parents many thanks for letter of 13 March I am well. Many greetings for all Ernst”
(I had not been able to get an answer to the question of whether the address to which the letter was addressed was counted in the 25 word limit).
My parents replied on the back of the form with a message dated the 21st October 1941:
Dear Boy happy that you are well Aunt Harriet wrote about the present. We are well. Grandmother Aunt Lydia Hedzi Fritz send greetings. Uncle Werner sent nice pictures
My second message was dated 28th July 1942:
Dear Parents. Best wishes for Papa's (dad's) birthday. All well. Aunt Harriet has a new position I can nearly swim. Many greetings Ernst
To which they replied on the 28th August 1942 – all written in capital letters:
FOR YOUR WISHES BEST THANKS WE WISH YOU FOR THE NEW YEAR THAT IT WILL BE BETTER THAN THE OLD ONE PAPA
The holocaust memorial in Bikernieke Forest, Riga, Latvia
What happened to them?
Walther, Resi and Werner were deported to Riga on 19th October 1942. At least 952 people were transported on one train and virtually all were shot on October 22, 1942 in the Rumbula and Bikernieki forests shortly after their arrival. By a cruel irony this was also Ernst's 16th birthday. Of course he did not know this until decades later.
Walther https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=4121671&ind=1
Teresina (Resi) https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=4121773&ind=1
Werner https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=4121773&ind=1
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There is now a memorial to all the Jews murdered in Bikernieke Forest, the largest mass murder site of the Nazi terror victims in Latvia. 35,000 Jews were murdered there in 3 years.
http://memorialplaces.lu.lv/memorial-places/riga-and-riga-district/riga-the-bikernieki-forest/
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More details of the organisation of the deportation
https://deportation.yadvashem.org/index.html?language=en&itemId=5092668
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We visited the museum on the Wannsee in 2007 where the Wannsee Conference took place and the 'final solution' was agreed. They kept records and took photos. The most chilling thing was that it looked like any civil service meeting that could happen in any civilised country, except that the subject was so horrific.
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Caroline (Lina) Pincus was deported on 3rd October 1942 to the Theresienstadt extermination camp. The transport consisted of 1021 Jews, of whom 653 were women and 342 were men. The average age of the deportees was 67.2. She was 76. Her death is recorded as 10th February 1943.
https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=4125185&ind=1
https://deportation.yadvashem.org/index.html?language=en&itemId=5093054
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