Yo' Nazi Grandpops

Yo' Nazi Grandpops

I was watching CNN for a split second today, where a daughter of a Nazi soldier was talking about how much their lives changed because her father was a Nazi, despite the war being over. How would you feel if you had grandparents that were Nazis? Personally, I think that I wouldn't hide it, but its something that would bother me.

 

Being jewish, that's pretty much impossible. Conflict of interest.

 

My Grandfather is a Nazi, he was a mechanic.
He's very anti... well, everything.

 

I am an Indian, and I don't think that I would be mad at all Germans, and I think that not all Nazi soldiers were evil. Maybe I have too much faith in people, but I think that it was just Hitler's inner circle.

 

it was certainly more than his inner circle, but it wasn't all inclusive

can't really conceive of having nazi grandparents, or even german grandparents, I'm uncreative

 

What i meant was that Nazi's hated jews, therefore there wouldn't be any jewish/nazi relationships so i would've never been born.

Btw, german people and nazi's are 2 different things. I think that nazi's are evil, but germans and nazi's aren't necessarily synonomous.

 

Yeah sorry, taking Grade 10 history, and I'm just learning about WWII for the first time, so I tend to generalize.

 

wow...you're just starting it??

 

Yeah I lived in a foriegn country when I was young, and studied ancient civilizations. When I moved to Canada, we had to study Canadian history until this year, where its more of the last century.

 

oh...ok..was freaking out there

 

If my grandfather was a Nazi I just wouldn't visit him and let him rot in his wheelchair.

 

Did anyone ever read the book Gentlehands by M. E. Kerr? I believe that's the plot of that book.

 

Nice timing man, today is the Holocaust memorial day here in Israel.
There was just a two-minute moment of silence ten minutes ago. It's quite amazing to see all the cars stop in the middle of the road, and everyone gets out and stands for two minutes during the siren.

Im Jewish too, so it couldnt really happen.
Im glad youre finally studying it though, it's an important part of history.

 

I wouldn't hide it, and I wouldn't feel bad about it either. It's not my fault; hell I wasn't even born, so how could I be responsible, or be made to feel guilt, over something that someone else did?

 

If I found out my grandparents were Nazis, it would change how I thought about them, but not how I feel about myself. I don't feel responsible for the sins of my ancestors. Nor do I take personal pride in their achievements.

 

Just because they where in the wermacht doesnt mean they where nazis.

Heck the german soldiers had more reasons to hate Hitler and the nazis than anyone.

 

It would matter what role they played in the war. Hating because of affiliation makes you no better than them.

Alot of nazi pilots and some ground troops were fighting to protect their families or to slow down the russians near the end of the war so that others could flee to the US side of Europe.

 

I guess it is something i do not have tow worry about. My grandparents are Polish on my mother's side and they both spend part of the war on work farms as prisoners of war. This is were the met and got married.

 

The way it worked in Germant in WW2.

You get drafted regardless of medical problems short of full body paralyzis. (tank crew members with a missing leg or an arm was pretty common)
Refusal to be drafted meant you where shot.
Refusal to fight meant you where shot.
Surrendering or deserting meant your family would be shot.
If you where captured by the enemy and then later saved by your own side they would shoot you for geting captured.

Most soldiers just fought to survive. Atleast against the enemy you had a chance to survive.

 

It would depend on the scope of their involvement for me. If you were German in those days you pretty much had to be part of the Nazi party so technically any German grandparent was a nazi. That is still pretty far removed from being one of the true freaks.

After Holland was overrun my grandfather was forced to work as a mechanic and driver for the Nazis, how could I hold that against him? The average Nazi was pretty much in the same boat.

I would want to know what they did, 99% of them did nothing, if I was related to one of the 1% I would have a difficult time with it.

Dutch