Mail Correspondence with Soldiers at War (“Feldpostbriefe”): Letter from German soldier Walter Sandhack to his son Klaus on his second birthday, August 1942 (Published on 08/12/2025)
(source: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, Letzte Lebenszeichen II – Briefe aus dem Krieg (2013), p. 160 ff. [translation from German language]):
“Tg, 2/8/1942
My beloved wife!
My dear little Klaus!
As you both celebrate your second birthday today, my boy, your distant daddy is with you in spirit, with all his thoughts and warmest wishes. I was fortunate enough to spend your first birthday with your dear mommy in our beautiful, cozy home in Wertheim. I was then blessed to experience a year with you, your constant cheerfulness, and your happy childish play. You were and are both our sunshine, our greatest happiness. I am so extremely grateful that I was able to spend this one year with you and your mommy, and I am now so happy that your mommy has you and you have her, where I cannot be with you.
As you celebrate your birthday, I am standing in enemy territory, perhaps even directly above it, fighting for you and your future, so that Germany may finally be free and great and strong, and then maintain its peace for generations to come. You and future generations should one day have a better life than your fathers, and be able to enjoy your youth and live undisturbed. My life, supported by the prayers of your mother and my parents, is in God’s hands. If He wants it, I will return to you once again and continue to care for you as before. But if He does not, then your mother will take my place and care for you just as I would have done. However, I hope with all my heart that I will return.
Dear boy, on your birthday today, I ask you to be a loving and obedient, open and faithful, brave and truly manly boy and son to your dear mother and me. May heaven grant you its blessing and preserve your cheerfulness and devotion. Your mother gave birth to you in pain, but welcomed your arrival into this world with a happy smile and took you into her heart with her deepest love for her whole life and beyond. Her whole life and all her strength belong to you. Never forget that in your life. A lifetime of gratitude is not enough to ever repay her. Even I am infinitely grateful to her for your life, and yet I can only express my gratitude to a very limited extent. But I know that the most sacred thing in this world is a mother. And you should always know that and never forget it, my boy.
Now you are still small and don’t understand anything your daddy is writing to you. And that’s wonderful. Because your childlike mind is still untroubled. You marvel at the things of this world, discover new ones every day, and regard them as games and enjoyable pastimes. These are the most delightful years for you and also for your parents. And parents who can experience this time together and do everything they can to make these years as joyful and happy as possible for their child are especially fortunate. I know that your mom will do this in my absence, and your smile and love will be her most precious reward.
To you, my beloved wife, I would like to take this opportunity to say once again that I am infinitely grateful for your love, which gave me our Klaus two years ago. May heaven keep you healthy and give you the strength to be a loving, cheerful, and caring mother to our boy! Only with your help will he be able to become what I wish for him today. More than ever, I will be with you in my thoughts and wishes on your special day and will quietly celebrate with you. And I only wish for myself to be with you again next year when this day returns. May heaven grant me this wish. But if that is too immodest, then I would like to experience it in good health.
So, my dearest and most precious ones, please accept my warmest kisses today and heartfelt greetings from your daddy!”
Pilot Walter Sandhack, born on 10/08/1913, in Stolp, was shot down and killed by Russian anti-aircraft fire over the Caucasus near the mouth of the Cholodnaja River into the Pschisch River on 20/10/1942.
(Head picture: German military cemetery Helenenberg Monastery,
November 2023)
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