Kress-Ahnenerbe correspondence


 * Bruno Kress,
 * 76 804 Ramsey,
 * Camp L, c/o Chief Postal Censor Isle of Man
 * Liverpool


 * 17 July 1942

Dear Ahnenerbe, although it has no practical sense, since your work may cease during the war and I am held in a prisoner-of-war camp in England, I wanted to send a message to you.

I hope my letter reaches you and you can write a few words in return.

I have been in different camps and anytime when possible I continued my work on Icelandic grammar. Now I am nearly done and the completition won’t take much time, but I’m not able to finish my work with the limited possibilities here and my isolation from the living language.

On the other hand, the forced leisure of my imprisonment gives me an opportunity to study the examples of the written language down to the last detail. In this way I hope to validate all my work, once the war is over.

I also use the manuscript to teach some of my comrades, who were also deported from Iceland, thus providing myself with additional details.

If I had a typewriter with Icelandic letters I could make some copies, and deposit one with the Red Cross and maybe another with my family in Reykjavik, where the first part already is, which I had copied before my deportation.

My current camp is bearable, at least I can work here during the summer. My letters are limited to 24 lines. With best wishes and optimism.


 * Bruno Kress