Letter 24

Mid April 1933

My dear and admired Grandmother Hopkinson died, and I went over to England for a few days, returning to Berlin Mid April

Aachen

Well, it’s tomorrow morning and I am still alive. I had a carriage to myself most of the way. There was a good deal that I forgot to mention in the Hitler diatribe in the other letter. Firstly, I asked Corder’s permission to write something, but though he did not refuse it, he certainly didn’t grant it! He didn’t want the Quakers involved. Secondly I’d rather my name were kept out of the matter entirely. If my Tante Dorothee were to hear of it she would be dreadfully hurt. She is extremely fond of me and – I of her – and she is also a rabid Nazi. It’s no good to try to convince her otherwise. The papers tell her that everything nasty is lies and all good Germans believe implicitly what the papers tell them. I hope they haven’t increased their activities over the censorship of letters or you will never get this!

I read a letter in the Times re. Hitler’s Purity Campaign. I now know that Berlin (and likewise Hamburg) has lost its night life and put on sleeves and backs to its dresses. Well, well, well, one lives and learns. It was perhaps not without significance that the writer gave no address in Berlin (or Hamburg) but one in London. Perhaps he has been reading German newspapers. One can learn so much from them!