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a handwritten letter from a woman who was murdered by the nazis
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Estimate €1,000 - €1,500
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Description
MERMOZ Jean L.A.S. ‘Your little Jean’, Recife, Pernambuco, 16 May 1930, to his grandparents, the GILLETs; three and a half pages, in- format, on Via Aéropostale paper. A superb letter, written the day after he set his record for the longest straight-line distance in a seaplane (12–13 May, from Saint-Louis to Natal, aboard the Comte-de-La-Vaulx, covering 3,173 km in 21 hours 10 minutes). ‘A splendid journey, despite a number of difficulties caused by the very bad weather – difficulties which, however, are not insurmountable when one really wants something. And besides, I felt well protected… I don’t know why… or rather, I know that so many prayers were rising that evening, very intimately, towards the higher power that governs the destinies of each of us, and I knew I would arrive… just as I always will when I set my mind to it. Danger is a human sense of fear. For me, it is merely a trial… and a trial can always be overcome through willpower. And I had some very trying moments during those twenty-one hours between sky and sea… minutes that feel like centuries… yet so wonderful to experience when one feels rising above oneself. The letters arrived in Buenos Aires in less than four days. Laurent Eynac tells me that I have done France proud… I do not know if I deserve anything… but I am happy, very happy, at the thought that others will soon be following my example on a regular basis and that the experience of my first endeavour will serve them well and help them to complete the work I have begun. I am setting off again on 8 June from Natal for Saint-Louis in Senegal to make the return crossing – the very first of its kind – and I shall succeed. My engine and my aircraft are undergoing a full overhaul in Natal. Meticulous fine-tuning is required before every journey to ensure a successful outcome. The government of Recife-Pernambuco gave me a splendid reception. My fiancée arrived on the 14th on the liner Mendoza, which stayed in Recife for two hours; so I had the pleasure of seeing her with her mother. I knew the Mendoza would call at Recife and had telegraphed from Saint-Louis in Senegal that I would be in Pernambuco at the appointed time… which I did, having crossed the Atlantic. How many would not dare to make such appointments!!! Tomorrow I’m heading down to Buenos Aires, where everyone is asking for me… and then, to try and smooth over the bad impression caused by the accident we had in Montevideo, where Pranville, the Head of Operations in the Americas, Négrin, my temporary replacement in Buenos Aires, and three passengers lost their lives during the night when the ship struck the sea in the fog”… Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family
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About the sale Historical Memories
Auction location
Auction time 11/03/2026 at 11:00 AM
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