Destination: The Americas
Brazil
Entre Rios | Sao Paulo | Immigration
Remembering My Great Uncles by Rose VetterLetter exchanges between brothers, Georg and Valentin Märzluft, my great uncles.
Georg Märzluft of Temerin, Batschka
From a third great uncle's family in Sao Paulo to his brother in the US (who first lived in Gladstone, ND and then moved to the Saginaw, MI area)
From the scanned copies I received from my American cousin, I could only decipher fragments of the letters . . .Below are the translated letters and to the right are the originals in German, my comments are in italics.
Letter from Georg Märzluft of Temerin, Batschka, to his brother, Valentin Märzluft, in the US
February 20, 1924
Dear brother, sister-in-law and family,
Thank God we are all well and we sincerely wish you the same. Dear brother, we were happy to receive your letter of January 20 and are glad that you are all healthy. Dear brother, the sad news is that Eugen Vecsey's (Valentine's sister Anna's son) wife died. Jakob Märzluft has gone to Argentina, South America with his family because he can't get a visa for North America. I don’t know his address. Our brother Mathias is going to Sao Paulo, Brazil with his family. There they have to work on the harbor docks for two years, and then they are free.
They are all leaving, but we have to stay here because I don't have that much money to pay for the trip to America…And I'm not going to sell my skin to the American millionaire before I get there. (Georg could be referring to agents canvassing people to emigrate to the US to work for large companies. Maybe he was asked to pay money up front?) I would rather go and work as a day laborer again and scrape out a meager living. Brother Mathias does not really want to go (to Brazil), but he has to go somewhere. He can't afford to buy a house and he can't find a place to rent; nobody wants to take him with all the children. And the biggest problem is with Kati, because she is insane (mentally handicapped?) and he would not be able to go to America with her.
Our Mother and sister Kati are well. Our brothers and their families are well. Our cousin Simon and family are well. His son Simon is still in prisoner of war camp in Russia.
Dear brother, you can come.....? I have bought 3 pigs for 4,500 Florint to fatten up. And I bought one from Mother, 80 kg for 3,000 Florint. Now I bought one, 79 kg for 4,000 Florint, but that's live weight. You can imagine how much fat I’ll be able to get.
There are poor people everywhere. Life is hard, because the government…? I have been working in the vineyards and wine cellars for two years.
Best regards to you all until we see each other again!
Georg and Rosa Märzluft
Easter Wishes from daughter, Agnes Märzluft of Sao Paulo, to godparents Valentin and Agnes Märzluft in the US
Dear godmother and godfather and cousins,
We wish you a happy Easter holiday and an enjoyable holiday.
Agnes Märzluft
Closing message from Anna Märzluft
Georg (son) also sends greetings to everybody. We close our letter with many greetings and kisses until we meet again. Please reply.
(signed) Anna and Mathias Märzluft
(In different handwriting, probably Mathias Märzluft)
Restaurant Otthon,
Märzluft Mathias
Rua da Mocca 413-A
Sao Paulo, BrazilNote from Mathias Märzluft’s wife, Anna, from Sao Paulo, Brazil. This could be the last page of a letter written by Mathias, as she writes no news of the family, only about the price of food.
Letter not dated (probably 1924)
Dear brother-in-law and sister-in-law,
Here (in Sao Paulo), 1000 Reis make 1 Mil (Brazilian currency). When we arrived, we got 8 Mil and 300 Reis for 1 Dollar. We are in Sao Paulo. 1 kg lard costs 4 Mil. Bread costs 1 Mil 200 Reis. 1 kg beef costs 7 Mil 500 Reis. 1 kg pork costs 6 Mil. 1 kg potatoes cost 600 Reis. 1 liter milk costs 1 Mil. 1 kg butter costs 12 Mil.
[Published at DVHH.org 28 Dec 2008]
DVHH < Destination: The Americas < Brazil < São Paulo < Märzluft Brothers' Letters
