Chasing History

When we learned of our imminent move to Europe, I told both moms that if they wanted me to track down any holes in the family history, I would be glad to do it. My mom adopted family research as a hobby of hers some 10 years ago, but has not done much with it since then. In the intervening years, the internet has grown exponentially and I now have access to documents she could only read about before. It seemed possible that I could turn up something new, especially with first hand access to documents here in Europe.

Further fueling my passion to research history was our location in the former heart of the Nazi regime. I knew my grandfather had fought the Germans during WWII and I was interested to learn more. When students learn about WWII in the US, it’s not a very hands on lesson. We were bombed by the Japanese, we shipped all our able bodied men overseas, and our women got to work in the factories and to wear pants. In Europe, there is a completely different story told. We do not learn about the two sides bombing anything that moved and leveling centuries old cities to the ground. We do not learn about the atrocious acts some soldiers committed against the German people in retaliation (mass gang rapes in front of other family members). We do not learn that our “spoils of war” belong to the families of the dead soldier from whom they were stolen.

I watched a special on BBC international (one of our very few English channels) and it discussed the spoils of war taken from Japanese soldiers during WWII. Our soldiers stole pictures, helmets, and flags from the deceased Japanese soldiers. This show focused particularly on the flags. Many featured words of love and encouragement for the Japanese soldiers. Now, the US soldiers are working to return the spoils of war to the families of the war dead and to provide some closure. This hit particularly close to home, as I know my grandfather has a Nazi flag, and I wondered if it had the same kind of significance. As I retrace his steps here, I am learning a lot more than I ever did during history class, and though history is written by the victors, there are plenty of “losers” here who remember details we seem to have “forgotten.”