16 June 1945, 19:00
The work continues, but the group is very dispirited and exhausted, as the food is truly meagre. Yesterday I was so tired that I couldn't even greet my dear Mother — I didn't have the spiritual strength to pick up a pencil — so I make up for it belatedly now. God grant her long life! I pray to God that we may see each other again as soon as possible and that I may say it with a kiss of her hand. Today I did not go to work as I was on barrack duty.
24 June 1945, 14:00
A great deal has happened in the meantime. My camp has changed. I am now in the city — Chernihiv — where there are 500 Hungarians and 1,000 Germans. From here we go out to work, clearing rubble. I signed up as a carpenter's apprentice, so I haven't been out in the city yet. The food here is also very poor — nothing but water, no thickening whatsoever. We receive 60 decagrams of bread and even that is like mud. Very little news filters in, so we know nothing definite about home or Hungary. What can be happening at home? It would be so good to know. I sold my fountain pen for tobacco — got two tins for it — but already there's none left again. When will we be able to go home, dear Lord? That thought never leaves a person's mind for a single moment, and perhaps that is also why our days are passing so wretchedly.
1 July 1945, 10:00
Work continues; we are out in the city on a building. I have become not a carpenter's but a bricklayer's apprentice. The work is not too hard — bearable — only the hunger is constant. The camp is about one and a half km from the workplace. We come back to camp for lunch every day. Reveille is at 6 in the morning; we must be at the worksite by 8. At noon we set off back to camp for lunch; at 2 in the afternoon we must return to the worksite. At 6 we head back to camp; lights out at 10. My health, thank God, is very good. I haven't received any tobacco from the camp yet, but there is a way to get it out at the worksite. We worked on St. Peter and Paul's Day too. It occurred to me that at home we would already be harvesting by now. Here harvest is still a long way off — even the winter barley is still green. Today is Sunday; we are home. After breakfast there was bathing and a change of underclothes — I now have Russian underwear. The word is that we will be going home soon; God grant it.