1949 letter from Tante Haller to Grandma's brother, Eugene Hinderer. Translate/transcribe German cursive to English.

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This letter was written to the brother (Pastor Eugene Hinderer) of my Grandma Clara Hinderer Baur in 1949. 

The authors of the letter are Uncle G and Tante Ottilie Haller. They still lived at the same address as in 1947, when they were feeling the after affects of WWII. This included a severe shortage of food.

The only family history item which may correspond to this letter is one of Grandma's cousins (Rudolph) was in a Russian prison during this time and the family is hopeful he will soon be set free. 

Eugene (Gene) was living in Hartland, WI when he received this letter. He had been the pastor of Zion Lutheran Church since 1946. He died 5 years after this letter was written at the age of 55. 

Eugene's wife's name was Melva. He had two children, Kathrine and Daryle. Kathrine was 17 in 1949.

Eugene spent a lot of time at Grandma's place when he was attending Seminary. Eugene married my Mom and Dad.

I can't find any exciting reason why this letter was written. However, there is another letter which was in the same envelope with different handwriting and signed by Tante Ottilie. I will post that later.

Please transcribe/translate this German cursive to English. Your help is appreciated!

WikiTree profile: Eugene Hinderer
in The Tree House by Jim Baur G2G6 Mach 1 (19.8k points)

2 Answers

+6 votes
Schwäb. Gmünd, 8. Mai 1949
Ledergasse 10.

Mein lieber Neffe Eugen!

Gerade am Osterfest traf dein lieber Brief
bei uns ein. Du ahnst nicht wie sehr Du
uns damit erfreutest, ist es doch das erste-
mal, daß wir liebe Zeilen von dir erhielten.
Wir sagen Dir darum ganz besonders herzli-
chen Dank dafür. Wir wissen es besonders auch
deshalb zu schätzen, weil Du in einer für Dich
so arbeitsreichen Zeit nicht die Mühe scheutest
an uns zu schreiben.

Wir wussten seither nichts Näheres von dir, umso
mehr sind wir erfreut darüber zu hören, daß
Du eine liebe Frau und zwei liebe Kinder Dein
eigen nennst. Ich möchte darum gleich zu An-
fang Deine liebe Gattin ganz besonders herz-
lich grüßen. Eingeschlossen sind natürlich auch
Deine beiden hoffnungsvollen Kinder, die ihren
Eltern gewiss recht viel Freude machen.

An Deiner lieben Frau wirst Du eine treue
Stütze im Amte haben, denn oft sind die Pfarr-
frauen, besonders in einer kleineren Gemeinde,
ganz unentbehrlich in der christlichen Liebes-
tätigkeit. 25 Jahre hast du nun schon segens-
reich in Deinen Gemeinden gewirkt und sicher
viel guten Samen in die Herzen Deiner Schutz-

---

befohlenen gelegt. Gott wird Dir Deine treue
und aufopferungsvolle Arbeit zu lohnen wissen.
Daß es Dir in Deiner jetzigen Gemeinde so gut
gefällt ist erfreulich zu hören, und ich möchte
von Herzen wünschen, daß das gegenseitige
gute Verhältnis recht lange anhalten wird
zum Segen beider Teile. Ganz besonders ist Dir zu
gönnen, wenn Du dieses Jahr einmal 4 Wochen
ausspannen kannst und Dich erholen. Und wie
nett wird es sein, wenn Du Gelegenheit hast von
Deinen lieben Geschwistern einige besuchen zu
können.

Nun hätte ich Dir gerne schon bälder geschrieben,
doch seit Ostern bin ich krank und zumeist bett-
lägerig. Ich habe ungute Magen- und Darmge-
schichten, die zum teil recht schmerzhaft sind.
Auch bin ich schrecklich abgemagert, wiege nur
noch etwa 100# (50kg). Ich hoffe zwar mit Gottes
Hilfe wieder auf die Höhe zu kommen. Ich muß
sehen, daß ich mir etwas zusetzen kann. Du
möchtest gerne meine Größe wissen. Ich messe
1,68m. Ich möchte Dich aber herzlich bitten, daß
Du meinetwegen Dir keine Entbehrungen und
Auslagen auferlegst, es wäre mir furchtbar leid.
Du hast uns ohnehin schon so viel Liebe erwiesen,
für die wir Dir zeitlebens dankbar sind.
Und nun möchte ich Dich und Deine liebe Familie
Gottes Schutze empfehlen und Dich und die
Deinen recht herzlich grüßen.
            Onkel und Tante Haller.

---

Schwäbisch-Gmünd, May 8th 1949
Ledergasse 10.

My dear nephew Eugen!

Right around easter your dear letter
reached us. You have no idea how much you made
us glad with it, as it was the first
time that we received such lovely lines [of text] from you.
We therefore say thank you for that, from an especially
heartfelt place. We particularly
appreciate it, since you didn't hesitate to write us
in such a busy time for you.

We didn't know much about you and
we're all the more happy to hear that
you have a dear wife and two dear child you can
call your own. Therefore I'd like, right from the start,
send your dear wife the most heartfelt
greetings. Of course that also includes
your two hopeful children, who certainly
fill their parents with gladness.

In your dear wife you'll find a faithful
help in your service, as it's often the parochial
women who, especially in a smaller community,
are indispensable in the Christian love
service. It's 25 years that you have served with
blessings in your parishes and surely
you've put lots of good seed in the hearts those you

---

serve. God will know to reward your faithful
and sacrificial work.
That your current parish is such a
pleasant place for you is nice to hear and I want
to wish you from my heart, that the reciprocial
well relation will last for a long time
to bless both sides. It's particularily great that
you have the opportunity to take 4 weeks off this year
to relax and refresh. And how
nice it will be, when you have the opportunity to
visit some of your dear siblings.

I wish you could have written you sooner,
but since Easter I'm sick and most of the time bed-
ridden. I have unwell stomach and colon
issues, some of them rather painful.
I also lost a terrible amount of weight, and I'm down
to about 100 pound (50 kg). Yet I hope, with God's
help to get back on track. I have to
see that I can gain some weight again. You
wanted to know my height. I am
1,68m [5'5]. But I want to ask nicely that
you won't go through hardship or
costs for my sake, I'd feel terribly sorry.
You have already shown so much love for us,
for which we'll be grateful our entire live.
And now I want to put you and your dear family
under God's protection and send you and those
close to you the best regards.
            Uncle and Aunt Haller.
by Patrick Georgi G2G6 Mach 1 (15.7k points)
0 votes

Here is something you may wish to consider.      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Translate

by James Collins G2G6 Mach 6 (60.8k points)

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