My grandmother lived through both World Wars and the Depression in between. Reading about those times in history books I'm SO grateful that I was born when I was. Of course both of my parents (as children) lived through WW2 in Liverpool which was regularly and heavily bombed because of its industrial and port facilities. Definitely not something I would've liked to experience (both have mentioned a few of their memories of that time). What most of us are going through these days in the West seems positively mild in comparison. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
So did mine. Both my grandfathers had to go to WWI, one was even in Verdun, not a place you would want to be. My parents were both born in 1928, just early enough for my father having to join WWII in the last couple of weeks. Still, they always called themselves lucky to have lived in a village where a. they weren't bombed and b. they could raise their own food and so didn't have to go too hungry like many inhabitants of larger cities. They also took in refugees, my mother and her two sisters shared their room (and beds) with three other girls for a couple of years. So, yes, nothing compared to what we had to go through. Actually, we didn't have to go through any hardships and I'm not sure whether this is going to be the same for our children. Everything is always a matter of perspective. My parents had a neighbour who was completely paralysed since her teens (she lived with her nephew and his family). Any time someone would complain of any aches, pains or anything else, my father would say, go to my neighbour, have a look at her and call yourself lucky to not be in her shoes.
Verdun... EEEK! As far as I know my grandfather served in North Africa in WW2. My Mum has a photograph of someone (found in my Nan's effects) of a cavalry officer in WW1. I'd like to find out who he was.... My dad was 10 when WW2 started and he told stories of picking up shrapnel and bomb fragments with his mates after air raids. My Mum thinks she saw a V-1 strike but I couldn't find any evidence that they ever hit Liverpool so I think she probably saw a bomber crash landing. She was 9. When I worked in London the typist (yes, back in those days) who was coming up for retirement told us a story of her school days when on the way to school in the morning a German fighter plane machine-gunned the street she was on presumably using up ammunition before returning to its airfield in France. My Aunt, who was evacuated to North Wales when the bombing got really bad, returned after several years away unable to speak English. She had to learn it all over again! Harsh times all round!
Of course we've lived our whole lives under the possible threat of Nuclear War. I was alive during the Cuban Missile Crisis but was too young to remember it. I remember in the 70's when the Cold War got REALLY frosty and for a few days we had alert fighters sitting on runways with their engines running to intercept expected Russian bombers. We had a few rough months of political unrest and rolling blackouts in the early 70's and, looking back on it, I realise that my parents were pretty worried about things. Again I was luckily too young to take much notice of it. Like you I wonder what kind of world my nieces and nephews are going to grow up in. It's not a given that it'll be better than our one....
Definitely agree on perspective. Count your blessings and all that.
My parents were five when the nazis got elected and 16 when the war ended. My father had four older brothers, two were killed in Russia, the two others heavily wounded, they had problems until the rest of their lives. If they hadn't gone, the whole family would have been deported. So they went. My mother had one older brother who was killed in Italy - by German bombers. My grandfather (the one who was in Verdun) had warned people not to vote for the nazis because he had read the book and said, he only wants war. He had to go into hiding.
Compared to that, our threats about a nuclear war was nothing. At least we were allowed to speak about it openly with our pears. My parents had to keep quiet about a lot of things, like listening to the BBC (they did German broadcast and, of course, it was forbidden to listen to them). I guess I could write a whole book about this.
My next book review is about the BBC in WW2 and there's a lot in there about broadcasting to Europe in multiple languages including, of course, German.
Have you ever thought about putting your family's experiences down on paper?
I think a lot of Germans have a huge family history throughout the war. Well, a lot of Europeans will have.
Your book sounds interesting. I know they did a lot. My mother always said, if it hadn't been for the BBC, they wouldn't have known anything.
You are right, I probably should write all this down somewhere, if not for me, then for my children, nephews and nieces and anyone who comes after us. Mmmmmh ... that might cut into my reading time ....
Europe (and I'm including the UK in that as I consider myself to be a European!) has a LOT of history. Maybe *too much* for one area! Thankfully things have been a lot calmer since 1945.
Book review will be up tomorrow. There are many references to people all through Europe, France & Germany in particular, who listened to BBC broadcasts during the war in defiance of their governments to discover what was *really* going on. Although the BBC didn't always give out full details they tried as much as possible to be the truth-teller during the conflict.
I think your children & grandchildren would appreciate to know details of their family history. It doesn't have to be much. I'm sure that notes and things would be OK. Just a thought.......
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Or the fifties.
Indeed! Kids of today have NO idea.... [grin]
And often that is for the best.
My grandmother lived through both World Wars and the Depression in between. Reading about those times in history books I'm SO grateful that I was born when I was. Of course both of my parents (as children) lived through WW2 in Liverpool which was regularly and heavily bombed because of its industrial and port facilities. Definitely not something I would've liked to experience (both have mentioned a few of their memories of that time). What most of us are going through these days in the West seems positively mild in comparison. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
So did mine. Both my grandfathers had to go to WWI, one was even in Verdun, not a place you would want to be. My parents were both born in 1928, just early enough for my father having to join WWII in the last couple of weeks. Still, they always called themselves lucky to have lived in a village where a. they weren't bombed and b. they could raise their own food and so didn't have to go too hungry like many inhabitants of larger cities. They also took in refugees, my mother and her two sisters shared their room (and beds) with three other girls for a couple of years.
So, yes, nothing compared to what we had to go through. Actually, we didn't have to go through any hardships and I'm not sure whether this is going to be the same for our children.
Everything is always a matter of perspective. My parents had a neighbour who was completely paralysed since her teens (she lived with her nephew and his family). Any time someone would complain of any aches, pains or anything else, my father would say, go to my neighbour, have a look at her and call yourself lucky to not be in her shoes.
Verdun... EEEK! As far as I know my grandfather served in North Africa in WW2. My Mum has a photograph of someone (found in my Nan's effects) of a cavalry officer in WW1. I'd like to find out who he was.... My dad was 10 when WW2 started and he told stories of picking up shrapnel and bomb fragments with his mates after air raids. My Mum thinks she saw a V-1 strike but I couldn't find any evidence that they ever hit Liverpool so I think she probably saw a bomber crash landing. She was 9. When I worked in London the typist (yes, back in those days) who was coming up for retirement told us a story of her school days when on the way to school in the morning a German fighter plane machine-gunned the street she was on presumably using up ammunition before returning to its airfield in France. My Aunt, who was evacuated to North Wales when the bombing got really bad, returned after several years away unable to speak English. She had to learn it all over again! Harsh times all round!
Of course we've lived our whole lives under the possible threat of Nuclear War. I was alive during the Cuban Missile Crisis but was too young to remember it. I remember in the 70's when the Cold War got REALLY frosty and for a few days we had alert fighters sitting on runways with their engines running to intercept expected Russian bombers. We had a few rough months of political unrest and rolling blackouts in the early 70's and, looking back on it, I realise that my parents were pretty worried about things. Again I was luckily too young to take much notice of it. Like you I wonder what kind of world my nieces and nephews are going to grow up in. It's not a given that it'll be better than our one....
Definitely agree on perspective. Count your blessings and all that.
My parents were five when the nazis got elected and 16 when the war ended. My father had four older brothers, two were killed in Russia, the two others heavily wounded, they had problems until the rest of their lives. If they hadn't gone, the whole family would have been deported. So they went. My mother had one older brother who was killed in Italy - by German bombers. My grandfather (the one who was in Verdun) had warned people not to vote for the nazis because he had read the book and said, he only wants war. He had to go into hiding.
Compared to that, our threats about a nuclear war was nothing. At least we were allowed to speak about it openly with our pears. My parents had to keep quiet about a lot of things, like listening to the BBC (they did German broadcast and, of course, it was forbidden to listen to them). I guess I could write a whole book about this.
That's quite a family history!
My next book review is about the BBC in WW2 and there's a lot in there about broadcasting to Europe in multiple languages including, of course, German.
Have you ever thought about putting your family's experiences down on paper?
I think a lot of Germans have a huge family history throughout the war. Well, a lot of Europeans will have.
Your book sounds interesting. I know they did a lot. My mother always said, if it hadn't been for the BBC, they wouldn't have known anything.
You are right, I probably should write all this down somewhere, if not for me, then for my children, nephews and nieces and anyone who comes after us. Mmmmmh ... that might cut into my reading time ....
Europe (and I'm including the UK in that as I consider myself to be a European!) has a LOT of history. Maybe *too much* for one area! Thankfully things have been a lot calmer since 1945.
Book review will be up tomorrow. There are many references to people all through Europe, France & Germany in particular, who listened to BBC broadcasts during the war in defiance of their governments to discover what was *really* going on. Although the BBC didn't always give out full details they tried as much as possible to be the truth-teller during the conflict.
I think your children & grandchildren would appreciate to know details of their family history. It doesn't have to be much. I'm sure that notes and things would be OK. Just a thought.......
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