“THE ONLY THING THAT SADDENS ME IS THE THOUGHT OF YOUR SORROW.” LETTERS FROM THE CONCENTRATION CAMP WRITTEN BY MOTHER MARIA (ELIZAVETA SKOBTSOVA) TO HER MOTHER
Grzegorz Ojcewicz
SzczytnoAbstract
This article analyzes four letters sent by Mother Maria (Elizaveta Kuzmina-Karavayeva,
Skobtsova by marriage) to her mother Sofia Pilenko during the Second World War. Two of those
letters were written in Fort Romainville, a Nazi concentration camp located in France and the other
two in Ravensbrück, a concentration camp in Germany. The letters are not only a document of their
era but also an important link in the process of discovering biographical details describing one of
the most difficult periods of the future saint’s life and the inhumane conditions she had experienced
before she died in a gas chamber. The letters written by Mother Maria in a cryptic way illustrate
everyday life in the camp and express her worries about the fate of her loved ones, especially her son
Yuri Skobtsov, arrested by the Gestapo and incarcerated in the concentration camp with his mother.
The letters also describe her concerns about her mother, Sofia Pilenko, who due to old age and deep
emotional bond with her daughter experienced a lot of distress during their separation and lost her
hope for the improvement of their fate.
Keywords:
German occupation, letters from the concentration camp, first wave Russian emigrationReferences
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Szczytno
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