PC/4/1/5 - Letter, Wolfgang Hildesheimer to Patricia Crampton, April 1949
Reference code
PC/4/1/5
Level of description
Item
Title
Letter, Wolfgang Hildesheimer to Patricia Crampton, April 1949
Date/s
April 1949
Quantity & Format
1 leaf Letters (typescript)
Creator
Hildesheimer, Wolfgang, 1916-1991Creator
Crampton, Patricia, 1925-2016Administrative/Biographical history
recipient
Scope and content
Includes envelope, on verso the month of April can just be made out.
Letter addressed to ‘My darling Patsy’. Wolfgang tells Patricia that he cannot marry her on account of her father’s objections [due to anti-Semitism]. Includes envelope. Although the envelope carries a US stamp it was not posted in the US but in Germany through the US Army postal service. Patricia was in England when she received the letter.
“This is one of the unhappiest moments in my life ... I cannot marry you … I suppose deep down I must have known it for a long time – probably from the moment we got your father’s letter …”
"I have informed the British C.G. [Consular General] that we have changed our plans and that I am not applying for a visa at present."
This is ‘The Letter’ (etched in pencil on verso of envelope) to which Patricia and Wenda Focke refer to in their correspondence. This letter was also sent to Wenda Focke (along with photographs) for the writing of the biography on Wolfgang Hildesheimer. They were subsequently returned to Patricia.
The last paragraph is handwritten. Wolfgang signs off as ‘Chimp’.
See also letter dd 27/4/99 to Wenda Focke in which PC describes her father's anti-Semitism (PC/4/3/12).
Letter addressed to ‘My darling Patsy’. Wolfgang tells Patricia that he cannot marry her on account of her father’s objections [due to anti-Semitism]. Includes envelope. Although the envelope carries a US stamp it was not posted in the US but in Germany through the US Army postal service. Patricia was in England when she received the letter.
“This is one of the unhappiest moments in my life ... I cannot marry you … I suppose deep down I must have known it for a long time – probably from the moment we got your father’s letter …”
"I have informed the British C.G. [Consular General] that we have changed our plans and that I am not applying for a visa at present."
This is ‘The Letter’ (etched in pencil on verso of envelope) to which Patricia and Wenda Focke refer to in their correspondence. This letter was also sent to Wenda Focke (along with photographs) for the writing of the biography on Wolfgang Hildesheimer. They were subsequently returned to Patricia.
The last paragraph is handwritten. Wolfgang signs off as ‘Chimp’.
See also letter dd 27/4/99 to Wenda Focke in which PC describes her father's anti-Semitism (PC/4/3/12).
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PC - Patricia Crampton Archive
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PC/4 - Wolfgang Hildesheimer
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PC/4/1 - Correspondence with Wolfgang Hildesheimer, includes photos, 1949-1991
- PC/4/1/5 - Letter, Wolfgang Hildesheimer to Patricia Crampton, April 1949
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PC/4/1 - Correspondence with Wolfgang Hildesheimer, includes photos, 1949-1991
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PC/4 - Wolfgang Hildesheimer