Following are the complete letters from which the quotations were taken:

Letter from Paul to Anna Lefmann, 2 July 1915

“France, 2 July 1915

Dear Mother,

This evening the sketchbook and package no. 12 (the tin) arrived. Unfortunately, I again don’t have time to write much today. We came back from the fortifications at noon, and I was so tired that I immediately fell asleep and didn’t get up until 6 p.m. At 7 we had to line up for roll call, where we stood until 9. Now it is already dark, and I have to go straight to “bed” so that I can get at least some sleep until 1 a.m. My feet are fine now, and you don’t need to send anything for them anymore. The strawberries tasted wonderful, as did the smoked salmon and the gooseberries. All your goodies make up the main part of my lunch, because I simply can’t get down the food they serve here — it disgusts me.

Today there was a large military concert here — magnificent!

Music is the most beautiful thing in the whole world!

Warm greetings,

Paul.”

Letter from Paul to the Lefmann family, 19 February 1918

”(redacted), 19 February 1918

Dear Parents, dear Heti,

At last I have managed to snatch a free hour to send you some news. I am currently on a three-day cabaret tour. Base camp: the above-mentioned Ret[hel]. Yesterday we were in (redacted); today we go to the (redacted) camp; the day before yesterday (redacted), quite close to the front. Every evening after our performances, we are in various officers’ casinos. We are treated like real artists. The hospitality in the casinos is splendid. We now get so much to eat that I am overwhelmed — roast meat every day, twice a day, lunch and dinner. We are living in abundance. How I wish I could share some of it with you. But that’s impossible, because everything is served to us fully prepared. Now we eat from proper plates with knives and forks, and if something is missing, we press a button and the waiter appears.

Dear Mother, please don’t send any more packages now. I would be ashamed to accept them. So far, I haven’t had time to practice; there just isn’t any. My colleague, the second pianist, is currently on leave. Once he comes back, I hope I’ll have a bit more time. Since we have performances almost every day, I am earning money hand over fist — 10 marks per evening. In a few days I’ll send off my first hundred marks.

Captain Messner is an excellent fellow. I’ve already been out drinking with him and the other colleagues several times until 4 in the morning. Do you remember that before the war I sent my “Mosaic” pieces to a publisher? Max Marschalk is his partner. We recently had a long chat about it, and I’ll be playing them some of my compositions. Hopefully, you’ve sent some pieces to that colleague in Leipzig. I’ll meet him tomorrow. I would have liked to have my violin sonata here, but it’s too risky — the manuscript might get lost. The violinist, concertmaster Lang, would immediately perform it in a concert here.

Many thanks for Father’s letter of the 14th and Mother’s of the 8th.

A thousand warm greetings,

Your Paul.”