just to share...

[Souldier]

I've been today in a meeting, and there were someone old. when I realized he was 89 years old, and he was alive during ww2, and he even started to tell some memories... I didn't know what to say. I've never had the opportunity to sit next to a person, spontaneously, and talk about the war. Just when I got back home I realized how I missed this opportunity to talk about things from a person from my time period. I was too confused and overwhelmed. I am now at home. my heart beats fast. People think it's "cool" to know you were in ww2. they are WRONG! nothing is cool about that. its an endless suffering. I wish I wouldn't feel anything of that...

 

[Eva1942]

I know how you feel Souldier. For a time (1935-1942) I was in the SS-Helferin while my other half was in the SS (along with other unpleasant things 1931-1942). I am not ashamed at all to have been in this, but it still elevates a certain amount of well.. shame really I’m proud of what we achieved in secret in our relative SS positions ( kept the persecution and murder of the Jewish DOWN for SEVEN years) but the rest? No, but we are both working on that.

Eva x

 

[AlteSeele]

Regardless of which side you fought on, WWII was traumatic. I also have scars from that lifetime I am trying to sort out. I grew up with veterans who fought for the Germans and the Americans. I also grew up with friends who had parents and relatives in Concentration Camps and in Gulags. For the most part, these people just wanted to talk so that's what I did: let them talk while I listened. Not all their stories were sad, though many were. But because I had a WWII lifetime I was able to identify with everything they were talking about. It was therapeutic for us both.

Were you German in that lifetime?

 

[Souldier]

Regardless of which side you fought on, WWII was traumatic. I also have scars from that lifetime I am trying to sort out. I grew up with veterans who fought for the Germans and the Americans. I also grew up with friends who had parents and relatives in Concentration Camps and in Gulags. For the most part, these people just wanted to talk so that's what I did: let them talk while I listened. Not all their stories were sad, though many were. But because I had a WWII lifetime I was able to identify with everything they were talking about. It was therapeutic for us both.

Were you German in that lifetime?

I was born to a German - Jewish family. we moved to Lodz (Poland) before the war broke out. Right after the German occupied Poland we moved to the ghetto in the city. I managed to escape during one of the Aktions, and joined to a resistant group / Partisans.

 

[Eva1942]

I was born to a German - Jewish family. we moved to Lodz (Poland) before the war broke out. Right after the German occupied Poland we moved to the ghetto in the city. I managed to escape during one of the Aktions, and joined to a resistant group / Partisans.

A lot of the shame for 'modern day' Germans come from being associated with Hitler. The Allies were under the impression that all Germans were 'Nazi's', but some only considered their work/membership to the NSDAP/the Reich as 'just a job'.

It's a case of knowing only one side of the story and making a judgement on that. Winners write history. while the loser's truths are buried. People would rather hear a winner's lie than a loser's truth.

Eva x

 

[AlteSeele]

I was born to a German - Jewish family. we moved to Lodz (Poland) before the war broke out. Right after the German occupied Poland we moved to the ghetto in the city. I managed to escape during one of the Aktions, and joined to a resistant group / Partisans.

Oh my! What a lifetime that must have been. Poland took a beating during WWII from both the Germans and the Russians. All they wanted was to be left alone. Does the name Witold Pilecki mean anything to you? He was a Polish hero and part of the resistance.

Eva is correct: history is written from the winner's perspective. It is very evident with WWII.