{"id":210388,"date":"2019-04-17T01:44:59","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T05:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=210388"},"modified":"2019-04-17T01:44:59","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T05:44:59","slug":"i-love-you-because-i-know-you-century-old-love-letters-found-in-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/04\/17\/i-love-you-because-i-know-you-century-old-love-letters-found-in-winnipeg\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I love you because I know you:’ Century old love letters found in Winnipeg"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The letters from 1918 and 1919 are addressed to a Rebecca (Becky) Rusoff in Winnipeg from a soldier in Halifax named Soko. (Photo by Debby Hudson\/Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WINNIPEG \u2013 Century-old love letters are being returned to a family after they were uncovered by a construction crew working on a historic building in Manitoba.<\/p>\n

The slightly yellowed letters were found in the basement of the Paris Building in downtown Winnipeg on April 3.<\/p>\n

Workers weren’t sure where the letters fell from, but Sonya Berthin, general manager for the company that manages the building, said they were in near-perfect condition in a pile on the floor.<\/p>\n

Berthin took them back to her office and started reading, quickly realizing just what a unique find they were.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s like reading a romance novel, except knowing this is real life,\u201d Berthin said.<\/p>\n

The letters from 1918 and 1919 are addressed to a Rebecca (Becky) Rusoff in Winnipeg from a soldier in Halifax named Soko.<\/p>\n

In the earlier letter, the man talks about life of as a soldier in Halifax and how he had to build courage to send Becky a photo \u2013 although the photo was not located with the letters. Soko writes about how he thinks about Becky all the time and believes she is the perfect treasure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I think of you, I feel a perfect well of tenderness pouring from my heart. I feel I could love you until death.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the second letter, Soko is bearing his soul to Becky.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a funny thing, this love business. It has wrecked this calm exterior I have built around me. It’s even painful. I understand the bride’s tears at a wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The writer describes about how love is changing him, making him substitute others’ names in love songs with Becky’s.<\/p>\n

But he also shares more information about their relationship before he travelled East.<\/p>\n

Soko writes that they have known each other for five years and reflects on her beauty at a party they both attended.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you because I know you. You are not a mystery to me, not an angel, but a girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter ends with Soko writing that he hopes Becky also has feelings for him.<\/p>\n

Berthin said she later learned the writer was Hyman Sokolov, who became a prominent lawyer and journalist in Winnipeg. His love letters appeared to be successful, because he eventually married Rebecca and they had three children.<\/p>\n

Berthin has since been contacted by the Sokolov’s grandson and said she is working on returning the letters to the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is nice that these people care and want it, and want to share it with the rest of their family,\u201d she said. \u201cSo many people let go of history.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one is quite sure when or how the letters ended up in the basement of the building now run by McCor Management.<\/p>\n

Many businesses have called the building home since 1915, including the Western Jewish News, of which Sokolov was the managing editor.<\/p>\n

Until 1925, it was the tallest building in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

Berthin said treasures from bygone eras can show up when crews are working on older buildings.<\/p>\n

But, she added, this one will stay with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cConstruction is messy and dirty, and its nice to come across something nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WINNIPEG \u2013 Century-old love letters are being returned to a family after they were uncovered by a construction crew working …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":210389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle","mauthors-kelly-geraldine-malone","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210390,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210388\/revisions\/210390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}