My thanks go first to Erika Kounio Amariglio who, after initial hesitation, generously agreed that our grandparents’ love story should be made public. Without her blessing I would have struggled with my conscience. Her daughter, Theresa Sundt, has kindly provided me with family photos. Suzanne Bardgett of the Imperial War Museum, through her enthusiasm and her belief in the importance of the letters, encouraged me to cross that bridge of conscience and I am most grateful for this. Sir Martin and Esther Gilbert were also among the first to appreciate the significance of this collection. I must thank, too, Chris Szejnmann of Loughborough University for his support and in particular for putting me in touch with Jan Láníček, without whose wide knowledge of their historical context these letters would have been so much less meaningful.
Thanks, too, to family and friends – you know who you are! – who have backed this venture through all its stages. I am especially indebted to my husband Tim for his constant assistance and for his relentless detective work which helped broaden our knowledge of so many of the characters who appear in the letters. And last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank our son Jeremy for discovering the letters in the first place.
Kate Ottevanger