friday, july 21, 1944

dearest kitty,

i'm finally getting optimistic. now, at last, things are going well! they really are! great news! an assassination attempt has been made on hitler's life, and for once not by jewish communists or english capitalists, but by a german general who's not only a count, but young as well. the fuhrer owes his life to "divine providence": he escaped, unfortunately, with only a few minor burns and scratches. a number of the officers and generals who were nearby were killed or wounded. the head of the conspiracy has been shot.

this is the best proof we've had so far that many officers and generals are fed up with the war and would like to see hitler sink into a bottomless pit, so they can establish a mthtary dictatorship, make peace with the allies, rearm themselves and, after a few decades, start a new war. perhaps providence is deliberately biding its time getting rid of hider, since it's much easier, and cheaper, for the allies to let the impeccable germans kill each other off. it's less work for the russians and the british, and it allows them to start rebuilding their own cities all that much sooner. but we haven't reached that point yet, and i'd hate to anticipate the glorious event. still, you've probably noticed that i'm telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. for once, i'm not rattling on about high ideals.

furthermore, hitler has been so kind as to announce to his loyal, devoted people that as of today all mthtary personnel are under orders of the gestapo, and that any soldier who knows that one of his superiors was involved in this cowardly attempt on the fuhrer's life may shoot him on sight!

a fine kettle of fish that will be. little johnny's feet are sore after a long march and his commanding officer bawls him out. johnny grabs his rifle, shouts, "you, you tried to kill the fuhrer. take that!" one shot, and the snooty officer who dared to reprimand him passes into eternal life (or is it eternal death?). eventually, every time an officer sees a soldier or gives an order, he'll be practically wetting his pants, because the soldiers have more say-so than he does.

were you able to follow that, or have i been skipping from one subject to another again? i can't help it, the prospect of going back to school in october is making me too happy to be logical! oh dear, didn't i just get through telling you i didn't want to anticipate events? forgive me, kitty, they don't call me a bundle of contradictions for nothing!

yours, anne m. fran

k