26.1.43 Just think once of the past winter, of January. Recall your thoughts of that time and compare them with your thoughts of today. No, my dear, don’t do that. It would be terrible. I had death in front of my eyes for five months, and I escaped it. Today I can say that sounds like a fairy tale, but that is how it was, and I cannot forget it. You know, I often tell myself, I had death in my pocket, in my haversack, but I didn’t let it out. Oh, well, that’s over. We have each other, my darling, and I buy things again and wrap little packages, just like in 1941, as though nothing had happened.
(Ernst G. in: Sei tausendmal gegrüßt. Feldpost-Briefwechsel Irene und Ernst Guicking 1937-1945, Book and CD-ROM, Berlin 2001; also Feldpost-Archiv Berlin, shelf number: 3.2002.0349)
(accessed at http://www.feldpost-archiv.de/english/e8-loveletters.html)