val+and+becca

Axel, February 8, 1927 Happy new year to you too! Thanks for the reassurance that everything will work out, I really needed it. The past couple weeks have been pretty harsh, but things will only get better from here on out. Don’t you worry either; from the picture you sent me you look 15. Everything will work out; I will see you again one day, hopefully soon. Today it was announced that there are now 590,000 Balillas in Italy. I can’t believe there are that many! There are so many “fascists of tomorrow”! After our youth group today, my friend Dino and I practiced marching at my house. I go to school with Dino and he is in my youth group, so we’ve become really good friends. I’ve considered telling him my secret, but I don’t want to, just to be on the safe side. Anyways, the marching went well and we’ve improved so much! I miss you a lot and after reading your last letter, it seems like the girls where you live have to go through the same thing. I would really much rather pretend to be a boy and go to these camps that I enjoy rather than get married, as I have told you before. Well, I better go, mother is calling me for dinner. I’ll put in a good hello for you. Again, I miss you. Write back again soon please! Love, Benito

that was the last letter i wrote...the fifth one.

March 17th, 1927 Dear Bonito, Thank you for reassuring me that everything will be alright. I hope that we both will be okay. I pray every night for the both of us! I hope that I will see you one day again too! I’m shocked to hear that there are that many Balillas in Italy now! I am proud to hear that you have found some one that you can tell your secret too. I think you should wait a little while longer just to be safe. You never can trust anyone anymore. Your marching sounds like it is working out and you are making such great progress! Today was a tough day. I had to wake up in the very early morning and practice my marching and saluting. We had another rally before lunch with Adolf Hitler. Again I was too far away to hear him, but from what I could tell he was talking about all the great activities everyone is improving with and how soon enough we will be fighting in the war! After that is when the trouble started. There was a fight between two boys today that had disagreements on beliefs and they started wrestling and throwing punches at each other. I was thrown in, but to afraid for I was too young to know how to fight. I ended up getting out of the fight with only a couple scratches. Anyways the day got a little better, but that fight just reminded me that I am too young for this camp. Well it is time for supper and I must go! In the letter from my parents they say hi to you and your family as well! Tell yours I say hello and I wish them the best! Love, Axel Schmitt

Dear Axel, It was great to hear from you, I really needed it. I feel so cut off from the world. I was debating whether or not to tell Dino my secret or not all week. I know for a fact that he would never tell anyone, I’m just terrified that someone will overhear us talking about it and get suspicious. You can never be sure these days. Your rally seemed rather interesting. It’s scary to think that you’ll be fighting soon, especially since you are so much younger than the others. Its weird to think that two boys got into a fight, I’ve never seen that happen here before. I guess its because we can believe whatever we want here, so the discussions don’t come up as much as I’m sure they do in your youth group. I’m proud of you for not fighting, though I’m sure you’d do fine. Even growing up you were always a fighter and were always much more mature when it came to size. I’m sure you fit in fine with the older kids. But it is good to be on the safe side, and it was good that you did not fight. Thanks for putting in a word with your parents for me. My family and I are still awaiting on a reply from our last letter to them, but I’m sure it will come soon enough. Thanks for everything Axel, Benito