Although I don’t remember my granddad (he died when I was two) I have a strange compulsion to visit the prisoner of war camp he was held in for 3 years.
I’ve always been fascinated with world war two and embarked on a school history trip to Germany and Belgium to see firsthand what it was like.
I want to look at the walls he stared at for weeks on end and the outdoor conditions of the region he was kept captive in. I want to share something with a person I don’t remember and have a little bit more of an understanding of what happened in his life.
On my history trip my whole world changed, I had always been an emotional person that watched neighbours and would cry if the dog died. Yet this trip toughened me up. During the week we visited places I didn’t know existed, places of torture and humiliation; places that decisions were made that changed the course of history. The Nuremberg trials, the Wansee conference and the Berlin book burning.
I think the most memorable part for me was visiting Bergen Belson. The huts where Jews were kept like cattle have been burnt down and a tranquil place of grass and forest surrounds what was a death camp.
Mounds of grass covered earth were scattered around the site with plaques that sad here lies 100 people. On one occasion I looked at a patch of grass that was the size of a cricket run, there were 1000 people piled in there and left with no identification. Its sights like that that make you think how lucky we are to be in a safe place.
Sooo to conclude I want to personalise what i saw there and see how a family member coped.
1 comment:
It amazes me how the older generation lived, the amount of stories people have my Grandad had loads (they changed from time to time lol). The best one is about how he spent weeks on a boat after his ship was bombed they couldn't go to land because they weren't sure if the country had been taken over. It does make me wonder how boring my life will seem when i'm old lol
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