Resposta 12. 1946

It’s been 7 years since you left. So much has happened. So much has changed. It’s been several years of war. 7 years of pain. And you left. Sometimes I feel angry about it. You had the chance of leaving and not going through what we went through. You were protected, and I am so happy for it. But it is not always easy to understand. And I know is not easy leaving. But it wasn’t easy staying either. 7 years, Kathe! I’m a different person. The war changes you in a way that I never thought it could be possible. It changed my notions of home, of love and of life. It destroys so much of what you were before. All of those dreams, all of those plans. Everything then seems so volatile. And you left. And I stayed.  We went through so much. Bombings, family members and friends dying, people running. I never knew what happened to you. I tried. I’ve sent letters. And I still send them. And I never heard from you. Maybe the new life made you well. Maybe you realised that you had nothing to do with this land anymore. And for those staying remain the thought of what could have been. 

Now the bombings are over. People are returning. But you have not returned. And whilst the fighting has stopped, maybe it will take much longer until the war is actually over.  For me.

Photos by ©Andreas Chasomeris

Text by Gustavo de Carvalho