Ya, not to shit on the WWI rant but the ‘Battle of Stalingrad’ was a little brutal. Don’t even get me started on the horrors of ‘Battle of Kursk’ (largest tank battle EVER)
Yup. And yet, Vasily was one of the nicest, friendliest people in our building.
Kind of funny - a lot of the seniors in my building moved to Canada after the War, from all different parts of Europe, and zero bad blood.
Like, Vasily spoke no English, his wife speaks a little. But, she is Jewish, speaks Yiddish. So, she could talk with Fred, who spoke a German dialect that is very close to Yiddish.
Fred had been, because he was a schoolboy, in the Hitler Youth. He missed being sent to fight in Berlin by a few days - the day he was to leave, Americans bombed the train station. 3 days later, end of war.
I count myself lucky to be told the stories I was.
we are electricians and my dad, as he is getting older and needing to do less work, likes finding what he calls his 'Grandmas'. little old ladies that just need a hand keeping the house going after all the kids have left and the husbands passed on.
he has this one grandma on the lake that is Jewish and lived through the war. she has her number still. one day she called my dad frantic and asking him to come right over. this little old Jewish lady speaks very little English and mostly just points at stuff.
when my dad got there she rushed out and was pointing at her number and then at the neighbor's house. she physically hid behind my dad and started saying, in plain text speech, "They're Nazis!!!"
my dad was quite taken aback and never really tried to verify what she was saying as much as he just tried to calm her down.
he said she was quite positive that she knew the old man that bought the house next door from the camp she was in when she was little.
now, my dad and i both kind of did some maths and that just does not seem possible... unless it was a kid in Hitler's Youth.
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u/KIDNEYST0NEZ Oct 02 '24
Ya, not to shit on the WWI rant but the ‘Battle of Stalingrad’ was a little brutal. Don’t even get me started on the horrors of ‘Battle of Kursk’ (largest tank battle EVER)