My great uncle landed on Normandy Beach, and made his way through the countryside. He took me in his basement years ago to show me photos he personally took of mass burials. I will never forget those images! He also had a Swastika Flag that he ran up behind a German tank and grabbed, covered in what I presumed to be Jewish Blood. The deniers should see what my uncle Tony has seen.
We saw a documentary in black and white 35mm film in Junior High IIRC social study class, I was out the day before, on the day they were to show it, the teacher came up to me and said if I couldn’t stomach it I could leave the classroom, I stayed and watched.
Both my parent, were Holocaust survivors. My Dad and only one brother survived. All the others in his family, etc, Grand parents, parents, brothers and sisters and their children, cousins mostly all were murdered. I grew up surrounded by Holocaust survivors that made their way to NYC. The stories when and if they did share were horrific. They were good people and lived life to the fullest. The shadows were always there though and made impressions on the 2nd generation Holocaust survivors that cannot be or will ever be forgotten. My Moms family mostly survived the war going to Russia then the DP camps in Berlin, they then went to Israel, then some immigrated here. My parents met and got married in the DP (Displaced Person) camps in Berlin, my oldest brother was born there. My parents came here in 1951 afters 6 years in the DP camps. The German's and German Jews before Hitler all said the same we are saying now here. We are a big modern civilised, educated and cultured people and country. Things like this (pogroms, etc) will never happen here in Germany. They were DEAD wrong. As I said in a previous post History repeats itself. We must always be vigilant that we do not take our freedoms for granted. I thank the American and Yes the Russian soldiers and Armies also every day. They were indeed the greatest generation! Without them I would not be here. P.S.-- Today is Holocaust remembrance day!! NEVER AGAIN!
I’ve said it before here, but will say it again. My father always said, even though he went through hell. Wounded and captured in the battle of the bulge. Sent to bad orb Germany camp, weighing 189 lbs, liberated and came out weighing 87 lbs. the guy’s that landed on D-Day had it way worse than I have. He was very patriotic. Remember him putting up a flag pole in our back yard. He would raise the American flag in the morning with a solute, then lowered it, with a solute every evening. Before sunset. Three generations of wars. My grandfather, WW1, father, WW2, his brother, Korean War. They marched July 4’th one day together. It made national news
My mother’s parents were Polish, immigrants to NYC, came through Ellis Island the right way. They could never speak much English language. But us kids could communicate with my grandparents pretty well. I believe to this day, my father married their daughter cause he was fond of foreign people from his war stent. She was bilingual. Just to keep it car related: Father came back from the war , a race car legend in Wisconsin. Part owner of two circle tracks and won many races. His car number was 87. He helped start up Dick Trickle which was a city over. And was an attorney for Dave Marcus. Dave came to our house often
My great-grandparents family – on my mother’s side – had stories. Many of the aunts and uncles worked their way across Eastern Europe (western Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc.) in the early/mid 1930s and some made it, some didn’t, trying to get here to the States. A relative spent a lot of time on websites like ancestry.com and was able to find where the trail ended for a lot of them – and it wasn’t Ellis Island. I couldn’t understand how people could deny the Holocaust, until fairly recently. At first, I thought it was just an easy way for some to be antisemitic, without having to admit they agreed with what happened. But now people deny things shown live on TV…
I actually know an ex employee from my previous place where I worked that was a denier. Not a single thing against any and all of a descent, his last name is German . I hate, hate. It’s (just) history. It happened for real
I worked with a guy named John Kowalczyk, who was not even born during WW2, but had a number tattooed on his right arm. After about a year I couldn't stand it any more and asked him about it. I was pretty sure I knew the reason, but I wanted to hear it from "the horse's mouth." I was right, It was his grandfather's serial number. As I recall, the concentration camp was Bergan-Belsen.
That's a great story, Guy. Your Dad sounds like a reaaly cool and good person. Both my parents were also from Poland. I did forget to mention that in my other post. Hope to see you in Bowling Green for the Nationals. I am leaving tomorrow morning caravaning with John and Nancy Csordas. Should be there Sunday.
my father was pretty cool. Never mentioned, he was also a golden glove boxer star in Chicago, where he grew up and met my very good tennis player mother. His best friend was black. Also: one of my sisters won state in gymnastics….dad built a gymnastics beam in our backyard. Another sister won state in track and field. Oldest sister played solo with a clarinet at age 16 at the Chicago Symphony. Our family was very athletic. My mother would beat my father in tennis most times… Ps. Weed had a miniature boxing ring with boxing bag dad built in our basement
Interesting. My mother usually beat my athlete brother Tom - who had been scouted by the Red Sox - "Good fielder, can't hit", at golf. Tom had an official "hole in one" complete with a wall certificate from Spaulding - he did it with a Spaulding ball. The bride played as a substitute (also Clarinet) in the Boston Pops Orchestra back in the Arthur Fiedler days. My brother Frank was a professional-level Ping pong player. Quite a few of us wouldn't play the game with him; even a Ping pong ball hurts when it's coming atcha as fast as Frank hit it. My only claim to fame was that none of my three older brothers had much of any mechanical aptitude. I was the one that got about 90% of the repair jobs around the house.
Love golf. My uncle owned a golf course in our town. Was on a league with my former boss, owner of a local Ford dealership. Dad was a teacher at golf. That’s how he met my mother in Chicago. my mother quit golfing while practicing in our yard, here back swing hit my sister and knocked her out, sending her to the hospital
don’t think I mentioned this. Dad tried out for the Chicago Cubs. Second base. Didn’t make the cut. What a great generation
Interestingly , Tom was easily the best hitter on his pony-league team. When I saw his scouting report I realized just how good you have to be to be in (As Kevin Costner said) "the show".
