The letter written by Laszlo Ringel’s mother Anna Ringel to his father Mor Ringel

My mother Anna Ringel wrote this letter to my father from Onokovtse in 1915, when he served in the Hungarian army at the front during WWI. These letters were full of love, care, yearning and hope for the reunion. I found this letter bit by mice on the attic of our house, when I returned to Onokovce from the concentration camp.

My father Mor Ringel was born in 1881 in Transylvania. He was neolog. My father must have finished a school well since he managed to enter the Trade Academy in Transylvania. My father and grandfather served in the Austro-Hungarian army during WWI, he was corporal at the front. .

My mother Anna, Hanna in Jewish, was born in 1885 in a village near Uzhgorod, called Onokovtse. During the Czech rule it was called Domanince Hroni, but during Austro-Hungary it's name was Felsodomonya. Onokovtse is a part of Uzhgorod now where people have cottages and dachas [summer house]. My maternal grandfather Menyhert owned a pot-house, an inn providing hot meals, drinks, accommodation and a shed for cattle in a village. I don't know what education my mother got, but I think it was a secondary school or grammar school. At least my mother helped me to do my homework when I studied in a grammar school.

My parents met and fell in love with one another before WWI. When my father studied in the Trade Academy, he came to Onokovtse for training in my grandfather Menyhert's pot house where my parents met. In 1914 my father went to the army and they corresponded till 1918. After the war my father went to Onokovtse and asked my grandfather's consent for marrying his daughter. My grandfather knew that they were corresponded and loved each other and he gave his consent. My father stayed in Onokovtse till the wedding. My grandfather arranged a traditional Jewish wedding for them. There was a chuppah in front of the pot house, and the rabbi from the Uzhgorod synagogue conducted the wedding ceremony. There was a big wedding party in the pot house. After the wedding my parents moved to Uzhgorod. My father worked as an accountant in 3 stores owned by Jews. My mother was a housewife.