Ernst Jünger - A Letter to Fritz.

Côte Lorraine, 2 August, 1917

Another short letter to his brother. I’ve been terribly under-stimulated at work. Enjoy.

Dear Fritz, your two letters have reassured me. Save [for the fact that]I thought that the bullet had already been taken out of you. The poem from Wildgans

¹

is very good. I see it as the first fruit of a long leisure.

A year ago today I was wounded for the second time, in the badly shelled town of Combles. Here, in the fortified positions on the Côte Lorraine, I spend my time contemplatively; it is divided between trench duty, sleep and reading. I also collect fossils. In the following days, I will lead a patrol against the French positions. The bottle of the English lieutenant is filled with sherry brandy this time.

When I walk up and down the trench at night, I think a lot about the colonies. After the war, one should enlist in the Schutztruppe

²

, which is the best way to see the country and its people. When I was undergoing treatment in Gera, I looked at the collections of a Cameroonian planter in the museum, who had his son there at the Gymnaisum. The plants, fruits and animals were like samples of a more opulent world,

Your Ernst.

Pictured: Schutztruppen

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Wildgans

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutztruppe