Berlin - Summer, 1945

gimmesometruth27

JimmyV said:

I stumbled across this video this morning and was mesmerized. Planned to only give it a quick look but watched through to the end. It shows the destruction in Berlin after the Reich fell. Cleanup is underway but it is very early on. Guns and tanks have been replaced by politics and allied rivalry - the city has already been divided into zones. Really good look at the horrors of war that linger long after the shooting stops.

https://youtu.be/R5i9k7s9X_A

unreal.

it took them decades to rebuild.

mcgruff10

hedonist said:

mcgruff10 said:

The holocaust museum in dc is amazing. STanding in that cattle car was surreal.
Didn't relaize your patient had Alzheimer's. That s so terrible. I always kick my self in the butt for not asking my grandfather more questions about his experiences in ww2 before he passed.

Wow, they have that there? I can't begin to imagine the feeling of seeing one, let alone entering it.

It really was creepy. I can't imagine being crammed in one of those for five or six days let alone an hour.

Bentleyspop

There is also a cattle car that can be seen at Whitwell Middle School in Whitwell, Tennessee.
It was featured in the documentary "Paperclips"
https://youtu.be/ofIHRaim06A

g under p

Happy Victory Day May 9, 1945

I just told Bob that and that he's a hero to have survived WWII.

Peace

hedonist

He's lucky to have you caring for him (not just in the physical sense, either). Did he realize the meaning of the day when you told him?

My husband and I were recently talking about my dad, and he essentially said the same thing as you said to Bob. He told me how honored he was to have known a WWII vet, and to be married to the daughter of one.

So few survivors left, whether those who lived through (no words) or those who helped to liberate them. I hope they, and their stories, are never forgotten.

gimmesometruth27

i watched "the rise and fall of the third reich" last night. unbelievable that the german people essentially handed power to that madman, and even when they knew the war was unwinnable, many of them never turned on hitler. they stayed loyal to the end. and then they were left to pick up the pieces and rebuild their own bombed out cities, living on near starvation rations for another 3 or 4 years.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

gimmesometruth27 said:

i watched "the rise and fall of the third reich" last night. unbelievable that the german people essentially handed power to that madman, and even when they knew the war was unwinnable, many of them never turned on hitler. they stayed loyal to the end. and then they were left to pick up the pieces and rebuild their own bombed out cities, living on near starvation rations for another 3 or 4 years.

The entire scope of the madness wasn't readily apparent at the outset.

By the time many German people realized what the reality had become, it was too late to do anything other than to sink with the ship.

The entire period is shocking, but we have not learned anything from it. Look at Yugoslavia for example: Sarajevo hosts the Olympics in 1984... and within a couple of years, a cruel and brutal civil war breaks out with a horrific genocide that even pitted friends against each other at the center of it.

JOEJOEJOE

My dad (passed-away in 2011) was a survivor. He never talked about his experiences, but one night, on the way home from dinner, he started to dish-out a few facts. It was a very emotional experience, to say the least. I am glad there is this discussion going on here!

mcgruff10

I was teaching the holocaust last year to 8th graders and the day's lesson was about auschwitz, transportation process and zyklon b gas....etc. not the easiest topic to teach let alone when you have a substitute teacher in with you. well i'm talking, answering questions and the substitute teacher (in for my resource room teacher) is just kind of sitting there and i try not to really take notice of her. at the end of the class the lady introduces herself and says I gave a really really good lesson. I thanked her for her compliments; she then proceeded to tell me that both her mom and dad were auschwitz survivors and met in a displaced person camp after the war. I was blown away.

mcgruff10

gimmesometruth27 said:

i watched "the rise and fall of the third reich" last night. unbelievable that the german people essentially handed power to that madman, and even when they knew the war was unwinnable, many of them never turned on hitler. they stayed loyal to the end. and then they were left to pick up the pieces and rebuild their own bombed out cities, living on near starvation rations for another 3 or 4 years.

I saw that last night too, amazing show!

hedonist

mcgruff10 said:

I was teaching the holocaust last year to 8th graders and the day's lesson was about auschwitz, transportation process and zyklon b gas....etc. not the easiest topic to teach let alone when you have a substitute teacher in with you. well i'm talking, answering questions and the substitute teacher (in for my resource room teacher) is just kind of sitting there and i try not to really take notice of her. at the end of the class the lady introduces herself and says I gave a really really good lesson. I thanked her for her compliments; she then proceeded to tell me that both her mom and dad were auschwitz survivors and met in a displaced person camp after the war. I was blown away.

That was moving to read in itself. Can't imagine (yet again) being in that moment yourself, learning of that..

Hopefully warm (yet bittersweet too, I would think) for their daughter.

HughFreakingDillon

I took my nephew to the canadian human rights museum in winnipeg a while ago. The holocaust floor brought me to tears.