Letter from Edwin A. Shanke to parents, July 3, 1939 |
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Berlin, July 3, 1939
Dear Folks:
We've been kept awfully busy here the last couple of weeks with rumors which takes hard work to check and almost without exception prove incorrect. Most of them, of course, deal with Danzig and the Polish corridor. We feel that nothing will be done about them until after the harvest, but the English and the French press continues to predict that Hitler will move into
Danzig by the end of this month. It is highly unlikely and we certainly haven't any information to bear it out. You can be sure, however, that the Danzig question will be solved one way or the other this year.
I suppose you received my card from Danzig - or rather Zoppot which is an internationally known seaside resort about eight miles from the city of
Danzig but in Free city territory.
London was jittery that weekend with Goebbels speaking up there and was convinced something would happen. So I was sent up there by airplane, I had a wonderful weekend and only one story to report - a demonstration on Saturday night at which Goebbels spoke. The rest of the time I looked the city
over, took a boat ride on the Baltic from Danzig to Zoppot, enjoyed living in Zoppot's classiest hotel, and tried out some of Danzigs famed restaurants.
You can get anything you want up there, including whipped cream, something which can't be had for any money in Germany. The plane trip was wonderful,
both ways. It takes two hours by plane, but more than seven by train.
The office is very shorthanded now. We all have to work long hours and go without off-days. London sent Steinkopf up to Danzig this last weekend and it looks as though he will just sit there. He says the town is absolutely quiet and nothing is going on but the English papers continue to bring reports of tens of thousands of men from Germany entering Danzig, armaments pouring
into the Free city etc for the take-off the end of this month. Much of that is reported by English correspondents not even on the scene. They are in Warsaw where the papers are full of the same reports and many worse. With Steinkopf away and two of the staff vacationing, there are only four men in the office
to staff the clock around.
Before I forget it, will mother please send a few recipes for pies along so that Frau Volmer can try her hand at it. Pies, of course, are unknown here,
I suggest apple, lemon, a custard, and then the recipes for fruits pies such as cherry with that egg filling etc. Write them in German so that I won't have to struggle trying to find German expressions for the ingredients.
Well, the fresh asparagus season is over and we now are eating nothing but peas and carrots in the way of vegetables. That's the way it is here, when the season is on you eat one thing until you are blue in the face and then don't get a smell of it the rest the year. The lack of change in diet is very annoying. Frau Volmer continually complains about the high prices for everything.
I see by Bernice's last letter that Dad and Uncle still are pretty poor as fishermen go. It's too bad that I'm not around to show them how to do it. I also see that Bernice had trouble with
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Letter from Edwin A. Shanke to parents, July 3, 1939 |
| Description | Typewritten letter from Edwin A. Shanke to his parents, July 3, 1939. Shanke is writing from Berlin, about war rumors and his work trip to Danzig and Zoppot. |
| Creator | Shanke, Edwin A. |
| Date-Original | 1939-07-03 |
| Rights | This image is issued by Marquette University. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives. It may not be sold or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with a staff member. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please credit: Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University Libraries. |
| Subject |
Shanke, Edwin A. -- Correspondence World War, 1939-1945 -- Journalists -- Correspondence War correspondents -- United States -- Correspondence War correspondents -- Germany -- Berlin -- Correspondence Foreign correspondents -- Germany -- Correspondence |
| Format-Original | Typescript |
| Identifier-OriginalItem | Box 1, Folder 1 |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned as TIFF at 300 dpi on Epson Expression 10000XL. Display image is generated from the archival TIFF. |
Description
| Title | Letter from Edwin A. Shanke to parents, July 3, 1939 |
| Page No. | p. 1 |
| Identifier-DigitalFile | MUA_EAS_00115 |
| Rights | This image is issued by Marquette University. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives. It may not be sold or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with a staff member. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please credit: Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University Libraries. |
| Transcript | Berlin, July 3, 1939 Dear Folks: We've been kept awfully busy here the last couple of weeks with rumors which takes hard work to check and almost without exception prove incorrect. Most of them, of course, deal with Danzig and the Polish corridor. We feel that nothing will be done about them until after the harvest, but the English and the French press continues to predict that Hitler will move into Danzig by the end of this month. It is highly unlikely and we certainly haven't any information to bear it out. You can be sure, however, that the Danzig question will be solved one way or the other this year. I suppose you received my card from Danzig - or rather Zoppot which is an internationally known seaside resort about eight miles from the city of Danzig but in Free city territory. London was jittery that weekend with Goebbels speaking up there and was convinced something would happen. So I was sent up there by airplane, I had a wonderful weekend and only one story to report - a demonstration on Saturday night at which Goebbels spoke. The rest of the time I looked the city over, took a boat ride on the Baltic from Danzig to Zoppot, enjoyed living in Zoppot's classiest hotel, and tried out some of Danzigs famed restaurants. You can get anything you want up there, including whipped cream, something which can't be had for any money in Germany. The plane trip was wonderful, both ways. It takes two hours by plane, but more than seven by train. The office is very shorthanded now. We all have to work long hours and go without off-days. London sent Steinkopf up to Danzig this last weekend and it looks as though he will just sit there. He says the town is absolutely quiet and nothing is going on but the English papers continue to bring reports of tens of thousands of men from Germany entering Danzig, armaments pouring into the Free city etc for the take-off the end of this month. Much of that is reported by English correspondents not even on the scene. They are in Warsaw where the papers are full of the same reports and many worse. With Steinkopf away and two of the staff vacationing, there are only four men in the office to staff the clock around. Before I forget it, will mother please send a few recipes for pies along so that Frau Volmer can try her hand at it. Pies, of course, are unknown here, I suggest apple, lemon, a custard, and then the recipes for fruits pies such as cherry with that egg filling etc. Write them in German so that I won't have to struggle trying to find German expressions for the ingredients. Well, the fresh asparagus season is over and we now are eating nothing but peas and carrots in the way of vegetables. That's the way it is here, when the season is on you eat one thing until you are blue in the face and then don't get a smell of it the rest the year. The lack of change in diet is very annoying. Frau Volmer continually complains about the high prices for everything. I see by Bernice's last letter that Dad and Uncle still are pretty poor as fishermen go. It's too bad that I'm not around to show them how to do it. I also see that Bernice had trouble with |
