I read in the internet that Holocaust Survivors hold a meet once in a while in certain forums. Does this forum have any relative to a living Holocaust survivor?
I have no relation that is/was a survivor of the Holocaust. However, I had a good friend and hunting partner (grouse, deer, et al.) who was with a unit that assisted with the liberation of Dachau. He spoke of it very little and I could tell, for the obvious reason, it wasn't a pleasant memory. He had other stories to tell and some interesting artifacts. One was a Walther P38 pistol liberated from a member of the Waffen SS that he and a partner captured. The other was a rather ornate looking "drilling" (a form of combination gun common in continental Europe) that was obtained from a Bürgermeister. The story behind that one was that they had orders to round up all firearms from a town, break them, and throw it down a dry well. His commanding officer and him cleared the mayor's house and spied two beautiful combination guns. The lieutenant told him if he kept his trap shut that he could have the less ornate of the two and he'd keep the finer looking one. Evidently he took him up on the offer. I've since moved away from the area and lost contact with my friend. If he is still with us, I wish him well.
I enjoyed hearing this story from your friend, GearZ. It tended to remind me how often we (and I'm a big offender of this) don't "bother" or think of collecting stories and memories from the older generations until it's too late. I did that with my grandparents and now I'll never hear the stories they may have had to tell... wartime and others. Once in a while I look for "older" friends from my past like the one you mentioned online in a search. Every single time I end up sad and disappointed to find they're no longer with us. The WWII generation, both soldiers and Holocaust victims, are very rapidly leaving us. It is a terrible feeling to find out in an obit that our great uncle or a parent's 2nd cousin was at Normandy or Pearl Harbor... The regret of never hearing those stories they could have told is strong. To answer your original question, foodietr, I don't personally have a relative from the Holocaust, no.
I definitely feel you, Kate. Way too late did I find out about my grand fathers participation in the Danish resistance movement when we were occupied. Do you happen to have a link to the stories from GearZ' friend? I'd love to read it.
