4th December 1943

Loose translation using DeepL

Dear Hans, I have just found a card greeting from you in Mains, unfortunately I could not return the greeting as the field post number was missing. I also thank you for your letter of 10.11. and am glad that you are doing reasonably well and are also satisfied with your health, hopefully everything will continue to go well. -- Here in Berlin it is now very dicey, almost all nights and even during the day we have alarms and are disturbed in our sleep or in our daily activities. Here in Berlin the gangs have been wreaking havoc and causing a great deal of damage. I estimate that Bln. is about ⅓ destroyed and lies in ruins. Thank God that I still have a roof over my head and, as they say, got off lightly. Hopefully I will be spared further. Dear H. I don't know if you know that I have been very ill again, but if not, I would just like to tell you very briefly. At the end of August, my old complaint about my buttocks and rectum made itself felt again and I had to go to hospital. There I was operated on and when I woke up from the anaesthetic the next morning I was lying in bed with my cut-up stomach. Every few days I was examined, bandaged and treated; on these occasions the doctor inserted an instrument into my throat. During this procedure, the doctor inserted an instrument into my rectum (the thing looked like a nickel-plated door handle) and expanded it; this was a terrible pain, so that I roared like a lion. The doctor did not make a face at this, but I did some more. After about 4 weeks I was discharged, but still had to go for a check-up every few days and continued to be pisacked. I am satisfied with the course of the disease and my state of health so far. It cost me... (Message ends here)

Link to further correspondence with Hans Koebke