ALS. Loder writes of his situation and that of friends and family during the Napoleonic Wars, from Narva in 1806 and from Moscow in 1813. In the first letter, he bemoans the defeat of the German states; mentions the student unrest at the University of Halle and the subsequent closing of the university as yet another setback for the German nation; and sees Russia as the only "nation" which can now hope to defeat Napoleon. Loder, educated in Germany, was born in Riga, Estonia, and thus could be considered a Russian. In the second letter, he expresses fierce Russian nationalist sentiments, for which uncharacteristic effusions he explains that he cannot give reasons in writing. Probably he meant to appease the Russian censors. In this letter he details his efforts to organize and oversee the operation of the field hospital in Kassimoff and describes Moscow before and after the siege.
