It’s all my senior history teacher’s fault. Mr. King made history come alive to his classroom of babyboomers in 1970. Though our post war, nuclear generation were going through our own tumultuous period of history with Vietnam, Civil Rights, Equal Rights, environmental activism and On a positive note, excellent music; his teaching of WW2 history connected with me in a way that has never ended. He had us write a paper from the point of view of someone our age living through the war. A 17 year old in hell. I wrote a paper from the view point of a young girl who had survived the atomic blast in Hiroshima. He had me read it to the class and I remember getting choked up at my own words. Like laughing at your own joke I suppose. My son always tells me I am very guilty of that.
As a little girl I would sit on the sofa with my Daddy on Saturday afternoons in the winter and we would watch the old grainy black and white WW2 documentaries together. I was riveted to the screen and although he never told me his war stories I know he loved having me watch them with him. He served in the Pacific as a Marine and was proud of his service. As am I. When we clashed on the whole Vietnam fiasco I know it broke his heart that I was a war resistor but as history shows, I was right on that one Dad.
Through the years I would guess I have read hundreds on books regarding WW2. Mainly the rise of the Nazi regime and the disastrous results of that dark period in the story of mankind. I try and read books about something else but it always comes back to that. My dear husband patiently endures watching movie after movie about the subject and now knows way more about the war than he ever really wanted to!
Disbelief about how a whole country went crazy and let the Third Reich take control has always baffled me. How could the good Germans let that happen? Blows your mind. Sadly, as I see it happening in my own country I understand how it all started. A snowball turning into an avalanche.
So, in October Dave is indulging my intense interest in the history of the Third Reich and sending me off to Munich to join a “Band of Brothers” tour that focuses on the history of the Third Reich. Yes it will be Robyn and the old guys, visiting Dachau, Nuremburg, Wannsee, Berchtesgaden, Hamburg and Berlin among other places. Not the average person’s idea of a good time. All the places I have read about and the complicitness of the citizens will come to life through the historians accompanying us. I am so excited and yes, a little freaked out about going so far on my own. But, the clock is ticking louder than it use to and gotta do these thing while you still can.
Plan on listening to my audio book (for the 4th time) “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William Shirer as trip prep in the next few weeks. I would recommend it but you probably won’t read it!
