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by spike021
407 days ago
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This was how I felt when my grandfather passed in 2021. He was always my hero since he was first a Holocaust survivor and then was drafted at 16 to go back to Germany on D-day, where he almost drowned (his lander didn’t fully make it to shore and he couldn’t swim), and then was later caught by the Nazis. Just an insane story and connection to that period in time and once it’s gone, it’s gone. This is why i try to encourage everyone to keep chatting with your older folks before their time comes. |
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Normandy is beautiful even without its rich history, but enriched with the Bayeux tapestry and the D-Day landing it's an amazing region.
After reading several by the minute historic acounts, I visited there. We were joined by a U.S.-American couple and our guide was a young French lady who pointed out many French were angry about the number of French people killed by the allied bombs that prepared the invation (in error, due to bad weather).
My late German grandfather was working as a prisoner-of-war for a nearby farm after the war, and spoke very fondly of a baby girl called "Francine" that he would sometimes babysit after his work; sadly, he could not recall the name of the village or the family (we tried to get in contact by phone in the 1990s), as he never spoke French. The farmers were very good to him, treated him like a family member, and later even funded his train ticket home.
And you are right, talking to seniors in order to preserve their memories good and bad is important and highly interesting. (Nodwadays, I'd recommend recording such conversations to secure the ability to transcribe the treasure stories provided of course folks consent.)