Letter from Irena Kapinos to Maria Łotysz (Maryla Łotyszówna), dated 24.11.1942. - Manuscript, written on four sheets (two bifolium, six written pages) of smooth paper, in Polish. The letter was written in Równe. In it, the author described her friendship with Barbara Klimkowska who died in the Holocaust with her sister Jolanta and her mother. Klimkowska was friends with Łotysz and often wrote to her.
Full letter content:
"Równe[,] 24th November 42.
Dear Marylka!
You will probably be surprised that I am writing to you alone without a friend, but the this letter will tell You everything without my explanations. Anyway, Wiśka has already written to You, hasn't she? Marylka[,] there is so much I would like to write to You; thought after thought, memory after memory rush into my head, ever new, ever more strange, and yet so dear and unforgettable. I don't know[,] if this letter can convey what[,] what I'm feeling at the moment, and at the same time I'm afraid that I [simply] can't put my thoughts into words. I have long wanted to write to you all alone. I didn't do it the first time, but at the time it seemed wrong. I wrote to you with a friend, although she had nothing in common with Basia apart from the camaraderie (very nice, however). I think that here in Równe I was Your substitute to Her. I don't mean to say that Baśka loved me as She loved You in person. I was not that 'sweet Marylka' to Her. [2nd page] But She found in me a person who understood her, with whom She felt comfortable, and you have to know that here [not everyone] understood her. We were very much in tune with each other's characters and maybe that is why we found each other in a crowd of other friends, after all, it is said, 2 similar beings will always find each other and communicate. Marylka, you probably don't know how close we are to each other. After all, we share the friendship of one and the same Baśka. I think her death brought us even closer. We have all overcome her loss in the same way, perhaps not identically, but [certainly] with equal strength, and even now we still think of her; You there in Lublin, and I here in Równe. Our thoughts are directed to one and the same Person. So what if we are separated by a distance of several hundred kilometres, this does not play a role, because for thought there are no borders, no obstacles. Our thoughts in their world are similar and thus find each other, meet, and then already flow together towards the loved Person. You [certainly] did not suppose that here in Równe there was a person who thought and thinks so much about You, especially after Basia's [3rd page] death. Before that you were the Topic of our conversations, and I[,] if I thought about You[,] then I did not think much and rather asked myself: what might this Marylka look like? It is very different now. Do you know that sometimes it seems to me that we will meet in the future. I am often sure of this. I, at least, would have pursued this after the war ends. I think we would be comfortable with each other if we were both Basia's friends. You write that you cannot come to yourself after such a huge loss. It's the same for me, or maybe even worse, because I saw and talked to Her until the last day before she was taken away. You have not seen her for 3 years. I think because of this our personal suffering has sort of evened out. You knew that she was alive, thinking of You and loving You, and I saw her and talked to her. You knew her from those happy times in Gdynia, when Baśka was still that carefree little girl. I know her from later times, more serious, with Her own opinions about everything, different from everyone else's, which She always boldly expressed nonetheless. She was so different from everyone else. Such a person as [4th pages] She I have met only once in my life and I doubt[,] if I will meet someone like Her again, because these types are rare. Basia moved through my life like something[,] that leaves a mark forever. If You only knew[,] how great we felt with each other. We had so much in common: a whole world of identical thoughts, desires and similar views, and one goal: “to be a doctor always and everywhere; to live life in such a way as to be satisfied with oneself and one's deeds”. We talked so much about the future (you were there too). Even before June 1940, we had dreamt of studying together in Lwów. When I think about it now, something tightens up in my throat so much that... And come to think of it, people like Her don't live long either. How much good She could do in the future, [surely] She would have distinguished herself in some field if She had already attracted attention with Her person. And yet She had to die, and such a strange death, different from a normal one, because she was so different herself. Do you know that I can perfectly imagine her at that last moment, Her smile and her eyes, those eyes that could never hide Her personal experiences. Often when I looked into those eyes[,] I knew there was something wrong with Her, or that she was content and happy. [5th page] I have already written You so much, but I have not exhausted the topic at all. I could write You a whole volume about Her, every day and moment spent with Her could provide me with a theme. If You want to correspond with me, you will learn a lot about Basia in my next letters, because I really know more about Her than anyone else in Równe. I, personally, would very much like to make closer contact with You. Do you have a recent photograph of Her? You may not have had time to receive it, because I know Basia was supposed to send it to you. If you don't have it, I'll make a print of mine and send it to You, as I'd like you to have a last photo of Her. I'm finishing this long letter now, as work awaits and, at the same time, lunchtime is approaching. Write me something about yourself, will You?
Imagining the face of 'sweet Marylka'[,] I kiss Her with the kind of affection with which Basia
would kiss Her.
Irka [Sender:] Irka Kapinosówna Równe Świaskowa 26"
prepared by Monika Harchut
