Summary prepared by Karola Nick , a free-lancer for the Frankfurt Jewish Museum, working on the Nachlass Hans Julius Wolff (see here), advised by its historian Michael Lenarz. Here is the transcription of the original letter, and here is the scanned manuscript: page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 .
Acknowledgement: I very much thank Karola Nick and Michael Lenarz, for their kind permission to post this interesting letter here, and its summary.
Page 1: Ludwig tells his grandmother that the condition of her apartement is O.K. In a joking manner he names grandma Anna "Secretary for art and sciences" in the state's household of the family. Obviously Anna Pinner is highly respected by Ludwig. Therefore he tells her his current reading list. He is reading: Goethe, Faust I, and he really likes it, but he does not like as much Goethe's Faust II, since it is "indigestible", due to the symbolism.
Page 2: He is also reading the Bible, but only parts of it. The Song of Songs, Esther, Judith, Sirach, and Job, and the Pentateuch. Ludwig likes very much the language of the Bible, he likes the Job, and the allegories of the Song of Songs. He is very interested to learn about the social relations in Judae and Israel. He believes that they are better than today. He is eager to learn something about the quarantine, the cleaning, the sacrifices, the taxes, the help for the poor. For him, the school is too one-sided. He states that Christianity is no progress. "You must love your fellow man like yourself" is already written in the Old Testament.
Page 3: Ludwig judges the criminal law as a savage punishment. He thinks that to destroy completely the Ammonites and the Moabites was a very bad action. He is also reading: Riehl's introduction to philosophy, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche's "Zarathustra". In his judgements of the 3 philosophers we can see how gifted Luwig must have been. He is very sceptical. [Note by K.N.: with this he is totally right. Nietzsche's superman was a first step to Hitler's lunacy and madness]
Ludwig than is describing his school holidays: he is reading "Michelangelo" (Romain Rolland) and Charles de Coster "Till Ulenspiegel". He wants now to model in the zoo, and he will make a portait of his friend. He is also taking sunbathes and do gymnastics. Without great success he is repairing his bicycle. Ludwig sends his greetings also to "Julo" which is vacationing with grandma Anna. ["Julo" was the nickname for Hans Julius Wolff', Ludwig's cousin]
In the PS, mother Elfriede Alexander (b. Pinner) wrotes that "the good boy" has written this "Geschmiere" (scribble?) late in the evening till 1 o'clock.
Page 4: Elfriede is regretting that Ludwig has written his letter on the stationary from his fathers business- papers. Then she is describing for her mother her various duties for the day in details. But she also writes how happy she was having her sister Katherina around her for a while.