Felix and Erne

When the First World War broke out, Felix was studying chemistry at the University of Munich, where he also met his girlfriend and future wife, Erne Maria Schumann, who was born on October 29, 1887 in Papenburg. Felix signed up voluntarily and joined the ranks of the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 16 as an Unteroffizier. In 1916, he was promoted to Leutnant der Reserve (Lieutenant of the Reserves) and served in the Bavarian RIR No. 3.

A total of 540 letters, postcards and telegrams sent from Felix and Erne and a total of 740 letters from Erne to Felix, all written between the war years of 1914-1918 survive today. The couple married in the middle of the war on July 20, 1916 and had their first child, Alexander, on August 20, 1917.

The letters and postcard not only describe the love story between the couple, but also serve as war reports. In 1915, Erne was a nurse at the Western Front in Sedan. Felix was active on the Eastern and the Westfront, and injured in October 1914 near Berselaire, north-west of Lille in Belgium.

Some of the letters between Felix and Erne will be shown in this section.

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Felix to Erne, June 3, 1915

Döbnitz, June 3, 1915
Felix writes to Erne from Döbnitz, at the Eastern Front. He composes a poem and sends her a cornflower. The "blue flower" was the symbol of romance.

Mein lieber Erneschatz,

Ein Blümlein von der Heide,
Einen Gruss aus ferner Zeit
Auch es tut mir so leide
Dass von Dir ist so weit.

Dein Schatz

(A little flower from the moors,
A greeting from distant times
And it hurts me so
That you are so far away)
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Felix to Erne, June 11, 1915

Döbnitz, June 11, 1915
My dearest love,
I'm so looking forward to being with you soon; today is the last day, one more night drill in the regiment; tomorrow morning farewell talks and in the evening departure from Berlin. We will be arriving on Sunday morning at 7:14 in Munich. As I will have all my military equipment with me and a lot of luggage, and will be travelling with around 15 comrades, I would prefer it, for practical and personal reasons, if you would not pick me up from the station; I don't even know what is planned after we arrive. But if you wait for me at home with a lovingly prepared breakfast and a lovely, happy face, then I would be very happy, my darling!
Looking forward to seeing you and a big kiss,
Yours, Lix