Here two letters are published that were sent in October 1943 from Udeļnaja railway station near Moscow to Kotiņino near Kirow. The addressee Jagars R.J. lived in the country cottage of the oblast Executive committee.

In the war time a shortage of letter envelopes took place. People skillfully folded the sheet of a written letter that it looked like a triangle, wrote the address and stick the postage stamp on one side of the triangle. In the case of the letter published here, the postage stamp was later turned off. The triangles had two advantages - firstly, no envelope was necessary, secondly, the military censors could simply unfold the triangle and check the letter. You see on this picture the stamp of the censor certifying that the letter is checked. If the censors found secret information in the letter, they confiscated it or in a normal case carefully stroke out the relevant words.

Both letters are written in Latvian, but they began with a phrase in Russian: In the Latvian language. As all of the censors knew Russian but very rare of them Latvian, this phrase was the information for the censor, who as the first unfolded the triangle, that the letter should be delivered to the censor of Latvian letters. Of course, the censorship slowed down the mail exchange. The first letter was written on October 11, but received on December 1 (or 7). I think that before the War it took about 5-6 days for a letter to cover the distance Udeļnaja - Kirow.

Na latyšskom jazyke

Udeļnaja, 11.okt.

Mīļo māsiņ!
Šī jau no Udeļnajas uz dāču jau ir 6. vēstule. Vakar man laimējās satikt b. Jauntirānu, kuram iedevu vēstuli, lai nodod kādam, kas brauc uz Kirovu. Viņš teica, ka šinīs dienās laikam braukšot Silmanis, bet tas jau taisījās braukt kamēr vēl biju Maskavā. Papiņš, no Udeļnajas prom braukdams, teica, ka došot Silmanim vēstuli. Nez vai viņš to vēstuli visu laiku tur pie sevis, vai nosūtījis ar kādu citu.

Vai Vasilijs Timofejevičs pie Jums ar vēl nāk? Te ir briesmīgi daudz peļu un tās pa naktīm taisa tādu jandāliņu, ka briesmas. Divreiz jau sviesta burciņai bija papīru pārgrauzušas un maizi, ja paliek kādreiz pāri, lieku tagad "Zolotoje runo" kastiņā, jo citādi no rīta paliek tikai garoza.

Bibliōtēka nav te sevišķi liela, bet šo, to interesantu dabūt var. Kārtība te ir ļoti stingra - katreiz, kad paņemu grāmatu, jāparakstās.

Kā jūs kolektīvā tagad baro? Te dod apmēram tā - brokastīs putra (gandrīz vienmēr griķu) un otrs vai olu jukums, vai kaut kas no saknēm un vienmēr piciņa sviests. Pusdienās zupa - (skābi vai saldi kāposti), gaļas ēdiens ar kartupeļiem un saldais vienmēr ir rozīnu ķīselis). Launagā - šķēle maizes un tās virsū vai ikri, vai sāļā zivs un tēja. Vakariņās - gandrīz katru vakaru ir pašcepta maizīte un otrs - vai kāds pudiņš no putras, vai pankūkas, dažreiz olu kultenis, dažreiz arī gaļa.

Nemaz nevaru iedomāties, ka jūs 8-os ejat gulēt; te tad pulkstenis ir tikai 7, un vakariņas ir pus 8-iem līdz pus 9-iem.

Nu tagad beigšu. Daudz saldas bučiņas jums abām.

Jānīts

In the Latvian language

Udeļnaja, 11.oct.

Dear sister!

This is the 6^th letter from Udeļnaja to dača. Yesterday I had luck and met comrade Jauntirāns. I gave him a letter and he promised to hand it to somebody who is going to Kirow. He said that in the nearest days Silmanis would go, but he was going to go even then when I was in Moscow. Dad, when he left Udeļnaja, said he is going to give a letter to Silmanis. I wonder if he still retain the letter or has sent it with somebody else.

Does Vasilij Timofejevič still visit you? Here are awfully many mice and on nights they make an awful hubbub. They have gnawed through the cover paper of a jar with butter, and I now usually put the rests of bread, if any, in the box of "Zolotoe runo". Otherwise only a crust remains till the morning.

The library here is not very large, but something interesting is available. The system here is very strict - each time I take a book, I should put my signature on.

How is your food in the collective? Here we are offered something like this - at breakfast porridge (almost always - buckwheat) and as the second dish - either egg mixture or something of root vegetables, and always a small piece of butter. At lunch - soup (pickled or fresh cabbages), a meat dish with potatoes and the desert always is raisins-jelly). The second lunch - a loaf of bread with caviar or salted fish and tea. At supper - almost every evening we have a home made bun and as the second dish either a pudding of porridge, or pancakes, sometimes omelet, sometimes meat also.

I can not imagine how you go to sleep at 8 o'clock, at that time here is only 7 o'clock and the supper time is from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Well, I stop now. Many kisses to you both.

Jānīts

Comments:

I thought a lot, to understand what was the reason why Jānis lived in Udeļnaja town. May be he was in a kind of rehabilitation center for the militaries wounded in the warfare.

dāča - this Russian word was used without translation in the original text. It means the country cottage. The addressee lived in the country cottage for the staff of the oblast Executive committee. Before the War it was a cottage for privileged Soviet functionaries, but during the wartime the war refugees were placed in all possible premises.

Vasilij Timofejevich - here a cat is meant. In the standard case in Russian the male-cats are called Vaska that is a nickname for the full name Vasilij. The honorific patronymic Timofejevič is added just for better fun.

Zolotoe runo - This was the box of the best Soviet pipe tobacco. By the way, Joseph Stalin smoked it. The name comes from Greek mythology and it means the golden fleet. The mythic Greek heroes searched for the golden fleet in Kolchida that was situated in the region of modern Georgia, where tobacco was cultivated for the whole USSR. The tobacco Zolotoe runo was not easy to buy, and it was supplied in nice paper boxes and the emptied boxes were normally kept for something to put in. To tell the truth, one could not put a lot of bread in them, however.

Food - I think that the food in this organization was really good for the War time in the USSR. The main dish everywhere was porridge and as the best porridge the buckwheat porridge was considered.

Na latyšskom jazyke

Udeļnaja, 23.10

Mīļo māsiņ!

Šodien pie manis atbrauca mammiņa un atveda Tavu mīklu. Paldies par to. Es viņu jau uzminēju, arī Tev kādas sadomāšu un aizsūtīšu ar kādu braucēju, vēl gan nav neviens zinams. Tu ar pie reizes apprasies vai kāds nebrauc, mēs jau ļoti gaidam ziņas, kā Tev vienai klājas. Ļoti ļoti priecājos, ka Tev tik labas sekmes, turies tik vien uz priekšu ar tāpat, tad jau būs pavisam labi. Man ar nu ar veselību labāki, rīt jau iešu uz ēdamzāli ēst. Būs jau ar kādreiz uz Maskavu jāaizbrauc apciemot papiņš ar mammiņu viesnīcā. Šovakar te tā sakurināts, ka namaz nevar izturēt, būs jāvēdina kamēr no Kirovas atbraukušie kursanti dos koncertiņ.

Mīļi, mīļi sveicieni.

Jānīts.

In Latvian language

Udeļnaja, 23.10

Dear sister!

To day mummy visited me and brought your puzzle. Thank you for it. I have solved it, and I am also going to create another puzzle and to sent it with some traveler to your place, though I do not know anybody yet. You may also inquire if somebody goes, we are waiting for information how you are living alone. I am very glad that you have so good success, keep on the good work, then everything will be O.K. My health is better now, tomorrow I am going to the dinner-room for eating. I am also planning to go once to Moscow to visit daddy and mummy in the hotel. This evening the room here is warmed up so strongly that it is difficult to stay here; I am going to air the room, while I am attending the concert that the cadets from Kirova will perform.

Cordial regards.

Jānīts.