For all who suffered during the nazi regime. For young lives lost before life started. For life long hardships remembering. For the Czech, Finnish, Polish, Norwegian, Danish, Russian, Austrian, Italian, Swiss, Slovakian, Belgium, Dutch, French, Greek, Yugoaslav ang German youths that endured Nazi occupation of their homes, I give my salutes.
Many I have talked with about Ryan thought it to be 'Hollywood'. They would say that about Schindlers List too. Me? I think they are important movies. Little pieces in a jigsaw that, in a perfect world, may prevent us from bearings arms against one another again.
I lived with my grandparents for 4 years. My grand mother went away for a couple of weeks. Grand dad was upset. He was drinking and feeling terrible. One evening I sat down with him asking what was wrong. He told me. The nightmares would never go away. He told me a few of his memories. One was when him and his brother, a partisan, was walking down one of Copenhagens occupied streets a summer evening. Towards them came two German soldiers in their grey uniforms, chatting with eacother. When they were a few yards away, my granddad's brother pulled out his P38 and fired a double into one of the German's face. My grandfather said 'his face just disappeared in his helmet'. The other one recevied the rest of the bullets remaining in the mag in Villy's pistol. Both died instantly. My grand father threw himself prone and started firing with his own pistol over the heads of civilian runners-to. Villy picked him up. They ran into a courtyard, up a fire escape staircase onto the roofs and fled alltogehter. My grandfather was throwing up all along, while Villy who had been in Gestapo's care and gone crazy, laughed all along speaking about 'how those Germans had deserved it'. No they didn't. Nobody deserves war. Nobody should ever live through it. Ask anyone you know Jewish or from ex-Yougoslavia. Or the above mentioned countries who lived in that period. Period.
