“Dear Nathan,
It is in utmost despair that I am turning to you and the Uncle in the name of all our dear ones. Across the country family members are being gathered in the camps and placed in accommodation facilities that threefold exceed the capacity. Yesterday an order came from the Germans that even the people from the capital city should be gathered in the camps. They further announced that, should there not be enough space, they would apply the tested solution of the deportations. We are infinitely desperate and cannot do otherwise, but to complain about all those who are guilty of our unfortunate fate, in the final hour of our life, that, ultimately, they are responsible for our extinction. (...) Have the dispatch from Rezső sent without further delays, else the people in charge will be responsible for the lives of innumerable souls.
Do arrange immediately for the international Red Cross, just as in the past, sending a delegation to Hungary. Even here we mustn’t lose an hour: by the way, what has been done in connection with the Pope? It would have decisive influence on our Government and would be highly important overall. Yet all this requires more enterprise and sacrifice. Don’t count on timely end of the war. I remain with my last SOS call.
In hope that our pleas for help don’t end up in abyss, I am sending you and the Uncle my most sincere greetings,
Ernst (Gisi)”
24.9.1944, a letter to Nathan Schwalb