Comment by TheJaice on 30/01/2017 at 23:47 UTC*

3121 upvotes, 24 direct replies (showing 24)

View submission: An Open Letter to the Reddit Community

My grandparents were children, living in a German speaking village in Ukraine, and our family had been there for generations, when WWII started. When the Germans pushed through Ukraine, they gave my grandparents German citizenships, due to the fact that they spoke German. They were forced to work manual labour on their own farms for nothing, and give almost everything to the German soldiers.

When the Soviets pushed back, they fled through Eastern Europe, afraid that the Soviets would kill them as soon as they heard them speaking German. My great-aunt told me stories about their escape that made me weep, including losing a baby to illness, which was buried, through the kindness of strangers, in an unknown town in Poland, and having to leave an older brother and his family is East Germany, because they had a baby that may have cried on the train, and revealed them all.

My grandfather remembers riding a bike out of the city of Dusseldorf (they didn't know it was Dusseldorf until years later) while the British bombers flew overhead, and he dove into a ditch, while my Great-Grandmother lay in a horse-cart in the middle of the road, delivering my great-uncle, by herself, and thinking the bombs would fall on them at any moment.

As a child, I can remember at Thanksgiving and Christmas, my grandfather would never eat pumpkin pie. I found out when the escaped Europe and came to Canada, they had sailed on a boat that was carrying pumpkins, and that was all they had to eat for months, as they crossed the Atlantic. He never ate pumpkin again.

My grandparents were very fortunate to arrive in Canada, and were set up working on beet farms in Southern Alberta, where they spent the rest of their lives. But my Dad was a first-generation Canadian, from a German-speaking family, growing up in the decade after WWII. He and his brothers (and my grandparents) faced a lot of discrimination and hatred as he grew up, but they also found acceptance, and a country that welcomed them with open arms. My Dad, despite being a white male, in his late 50's, is one of the strongest proponents for helping those who are trying to create a better life for themselves, because his parents lived it, and if they had been turned away, my Dad wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be here, my kids wouldn't be here.

My Dad met that baby, his cousin, who had to stay behind in East Germany, when he was in his 30's, and his cousin was in his 50's. He spent his whole life living behind the iron curtain, and my Dad, who is the strongest man I know, cries when he thinks about how close his parents came to a similar fate.

edit: Removed a word.

Replies

Comment by stripesfordays at 31/01/2017 at 03:23 UTC*

436 upvotes, 4 direct replies

Your great uncle has literally the best story of being born that I have ever heard.

That was a god damn great read! It really hits hard when you see your dad cry. The few times that has happened to me I have never forgotten it.

EDIT: I am at my friend's house right now and when I just walked inside his girlfriend had lit a pumpkin pie flavored candle. I instantly thought of your grandfather. Thank you for sharing this, your grandfather will now be remembered every time I smell pumpkin pie. I'm so happy there are people like you who share the stories of their ancestors, that was a powerful story that I will never forget until the day I die. May we all have hardships we have to triumph over so that we have stories like this for the next generations.

Comment by optimisto at 31/01/2017 at 11:53 UTC*

11 upvotes, 0 direct replies

My Grandparents were placed into labor camps in Germany, abducted from Poland for being Jewish sympathizers (they were Catholic) my Grandpa was a dress maker and his wife, my nana was a housewife, they had two children and were pregnant with my mom when they were transferred, so my mother was born in Germany. There they were for four years where they were workers for the nazi party. My uncle was literally paraded out in front of the German children to be ridiculed and embarrassed to demonstrate their privilege as superior aryans.

When America finally intervened and liberated the camps my grandparents were also freed and given the chance to hitch a free ride on a very crowded boat over to Canada, they established a life for themselves in Montreal and were grateful for their returned freedom. My mother was from a family of refugees, 3 brothers. They had a disfunctional childhood due to all of the stress from the trauma they endured under a fascist country. She fled to America where she became a typist and eventually took full advantage of her options and became a flight attendant, she was able to visit 4 continents and over 20 countries, she lived in Hawaii, Vermont, and had a baby boy in California by the beach.

If it had not been for the hospitality of Canada and the willingness of America to open its arms to a new immigrant I would not be here. I have met many people with similar backgrounds. We are all immigrants. We need kindness and not irrational fear

Comment by think_once_more at 31/01/2017 at 02:23 UTC

63 upvotes, 1 direct replies

My god. Your family history was nuts. I can't imagine having that conversation with your father. Thank you for sharing. I love Canada for this. My story mirrors yours in a way, but nowhere near as powerful or painful.

Comment by BlakeDeadly at 31/01/2017 at 03:34 UTC

8 upvotes, 2 direct replies

This is very similar to my father in laws story, well he was German and they didn't escape east Germany until the 50s, but southern alberta beet farm for them as well!

Comment by ruralife at 31/01/2017 at 02:29 UTC

34 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I cant imagine giving birth in the circumstances your grandmother faced. Amazing.

Comment by SimpleMinded001 at 31/01/2017 at 08:23 UTC*

8 upvotes, 1 direct replies

And here I am, bitching about how bored I am at my safe highly paid office job... Have my upvote and wish you all the best stranger! Don't let your family down, they seem like amazing people

Edit: grammar

Comment by [deleted] at 31/01/2017 at 04:56 UTC*

20 upvotes, 1 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by pier4r at 31/01/2017 at 10:07 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

living in a German speaking village in Ukraine,

Impressive how many little enclaves there were before wwII that just, you know, were not molested so much (otherwise they would not stay there).

Comment by alexvalensi at 31/01/2017 at 13:48 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

my Great-Grandmother lay in a horse-cart in the middle of the road, delivering my great-uncle, by herself, and thinking the bombs would fall on them at any moment

that is **METAL**

Comment by [deleted] at 31/01/2017 at 07:57 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by resalin at 07/02/2017 at 00:59 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

WWII turned so many lives upside down. Thank you for sharing your story. With a Ukrainian dad who fled his home at 16 to avoid being drafted into the Soviet army and never saw his family again (but reconnected with his sister by mail about a year before he died – only time I ever saw him cry), and a Yugoslavian-born German mother who was forced from her home at 18 after the war along with all the other ethnic Germans living in the "Donauschwaben" settlement areas, I feel you. My dad never talked about his past, always insisting on looking forward and keeping positive. I grew up hearing mom's stories but told with her positive spin I didn't realize just how awful those years were until I started researching in recent years. Those that made it to the US were grateful for the chance to work hard for the American dream. They were a tough bunch. Most of that generation is gone now. I wonder what they’d think of what’s happening now.

Comment by Abuawse at 31/01/2017 at 15:32 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Sorry mate, but why the "despite being a white male". Like seriously, what's up with that? Amazing story, but that just made me a bit angry. Sounds like you are saying that white people can never struggle, or experience hardships.

Comment by [deleted] at 06/02/2017 at 18:49 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I find your story very heartwarming. The only problem I have is when you say that despite him being a 50 year old white male he's still a proponent of immigration and helping immigrants. Not all of us white folk hate immigrants, in fact I don't know many who do.

Comment by bittercode at 31/01/2017 at 13:44 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Sailing (literally with sails) across the atlantic can be done in less than a month. Steam ships in the 19th century could do it in less than two weeks. By the time of WWII it could be done in well under a week.

The Mayflower did it in 66 days.

Comment by ExxDeee at 05/02/2017 at 18:55 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Stories like these (alot of them are in this thread) are what make good WWII movies, stories about the innocent people that had done nothing wrong.

Comment by herewardwakes at 04/02/2017 at 01:31 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

My Dad, despite being a white male

I hope he's proud of what a self loathing leftist piece of shit he raised.

Go fuck yourself

Comment by PsychoTHErapist_ at 31/01/2017 at 06:44 UTC

-18 upvotes, 1 direct replies

So whats the point of this wall of text? My grandmother escaped Czechloslovakia with my mother and uncle in 68. Canada took them in. My mother currently supports Trump and his views. I can tell some inspiring stories of how they ran through forests being pursued by border officials, while their legs got cut to shit bleeding all over.

This fake outrage over a non-issue is counter productive. Get your shit straight losers. You are being manipulated by corporate media.

Comment by MSMcontrolsnarrative at 31/01/2017 at 06:56 UTC

-14 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Grow up.

Quit contributing to identity politics which is based upon division and does not seek to bring people together.

By continuing to misrepresent what Trump does and has done, you are not bringing people together.

Trump did not permanently ban immigrants and you can't honestly argue that he has.

Comment by [deleted] at 31/01/2017 at 11:45 UTC

-4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Tahnks for clarifying that your Dad was a white male because white males tend to be oppressors of every minority in this world