“[…] being without news is worse than being without bread” – an epistolary conversation of Zofia Kossak with her husband (1939–1940)

Abstract

This article is a reflection on Letters to Oflag – a fragment of Zofia Kossak’s correspondence addressed to her husband, Zygmunt Szatkowski, conducted at the beginning of the Second World War. The material under analysis is an archival collection of more than one hundred letters, currently stored in Switzerland, which consists of correspondence from Zofia Kossak and other members of her family to the prison camp where Szatkowski was detained. The authors of the article prove the thesis that the correspondence constitutes a personal, family and social document showing the early occupation reality in Poland.

The authors of the article show how the correspondence between Kossak and Szatkowski was influenced by wartime regulations. They also demonstrate that Kossak’s letters contain additional content to the literal one – often hidden from censorship. The subject matter of the letters is discussed, with concern for the imprisoned husband’s basic existence, accounts of family life and emotional support coming to the fore. The correspondence also covered logistical issues such as the supply of food packs to the captive and the family’s finances.

The analytical article is supplemented by the publication of 14 letters from the collection in discussion. This is the first edition of Zofia Kossak’s family correspondence, which has not been published to this date. The text of the letters has been modernized in terms of punctuation and spelling.