„Jedyne, co mnie smuci – to myśli o twojej zgryzocie”. Obozowe listy matki Marii (Jelizawiety Skobcowej) do swojej matki
“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

Summary/Abstract: 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 thoseletters were written in Fort Romainville, a Nazi concentration camp located in France and the othertwo in Ravensbrück, a concentration camp in Germany. The letters are not only a document of theirera but also an important link in the process of discovering biographical details describing one ofthe most difficult periods of the future saint’s life and the inhumane conditions she had experiencedbefore she died in a gas chamber. The letters written by Mother Maria in a cryptic way illustrateeveryday life in the camp and express her worries about the fate of her loved ones, especially her sonYuri 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 deepemotional bond with her daughter experienced a lot of distress during their separation and lost herhope for the improvement of their fate.

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