About Crystal Night Katy

[Wendy]

I just thought I would add a little for you about what is known as Crystal Night, taken from a story my MIL told me. She was living in Berlin at the time, and Hitler was making his mark. They were fairly wealthy, and they would often go to shop at these stores owned by German Jewish families. The day after it happened her father took her and her brother to see what had happened. He did not say anything, as he was scared of being heard saying anything against Hitler and what he was doing in their country, also, children were incouraged to tell anything that was said to them, and to report it. Often they didn't think they were really doing anything wrong by telling something, and sometimes children did it when they were mad at their parents. So it was a very scary time. Also, my MIL was in the age group that Hitler wanted saved at all costs, so they were eventually sent to live in the country with people they didn't know. But it was so amazing to hear a person talk of that night, being there and what it was like there. She said it was after that, that things changed drastically. She was sent to live with a farming family, and her brother only a couple of years older to another place, but since he was older he was used for a time in clean up of the city. Older children would remove bodies, younger ones debris. She didn't see her father or mother, who had survived, for almost 3 years. But that is another story in itself.

Hugs
Wendy

[annie oakley]

How interesting....I hope that you have written all that down. My husband is forever telling me that I need to write dates onthings especially pictures so that later people will know. As we are now trying to identify pictures that an uncle had before he died. There are pictures we can't Identify right now. Anyway you oughter to write all this n a journal. Love Oma

[Wendy]

actually Oma,(interesting too,is that is close to what the girls called my IL's, which was Omi and Opi) I have kept journals for lots of years. And one thing that my oldest daughter always asks for is recipe's from Omi. As I was the only one that she taught how to cook the different dishes that she made. Her daughters were younger then me, not by much, but never had any interest in it at that time. The other thing that both my IL's did with me, was talk. Somethings that I know, they never told their own kids. So I bought a recipe book for my oldest daughter, and it is in binder form, it has spots for writing little stories, who the recipe was from and so forth. When I write anything now, as you may know, I don't leave too much out. In the end I suppose I will have wrote a whole recipe book, based on recipes from my mom, my grandmother Ames, and aunts, and their Omi. Because my memory is so bad retaining new things I have to write things down. The girls know where all my journals are, because they will be theres when I am gone. The other thing that I passed on to at least my youngest daughter was journal writing. She started doing it in I think it was grade school. And we totally get what its all about too, which is so cool. I think that it is the most amazing thing now with my girls, we get each other so much more now. My oldest had always had a hard time expressing herself, so we devised a way for her to tell me things without losing her voice, it was through a journal. When she was trying to tell me how she felt or what she was angry about, she wrote in the journal and would leave it out on her bed or dresser for me to read, then I would answer her. We did that for sometime until she got her voice. She was always shy and would always choke up. But there is always more to write, more to tell. And tonnes of pictures to go through. Just before my MIL died, that is one thing that she did with my FIL, they sat down with their pictures and wrote who it was on the backs, and wrote up a family tree for us. All their relatives were from Friesland, Holland and Berlin, Germany, and they had lost touch with all of them, so it was and is a good thing to do. My kids wonder about who they have over there all the time.

By mere chance once I got an email from someone writing to someone in Holland with my exact name. I wrote back to her, telling I was not who she thought I was, but that my IL's family was from there and the region. Fortunately she understood english, and wrote me back. She was the same age as my girls, so I gave her there emails, and they started writing to each other, but she was not a relative.

And that is it for now.

I am wiped.

Hugs
Wendy

[hazel]

A really good book about life in Germany during Hitler times is "Stones from the River" by Ursula Hegi. It is told from the perspective of ordinary people in an ordinary town that were not Nazis and how the Nazis assumed power but how ordinary people resisted as best they could. Well, that description didn't make it sound very good--but it is!

Also "Miracle at St. Anna" by James McBride is excellent. It is told from the perspective of African American US soldiers during the war.

[MaggieRedwings]

Hi Kathy,

Have read both of those and they are great reads.

I am a devourer of anything written about Hitler and Nazi Germany. Still trying to find the definitive book that can explain how someone could do what he did. The Arms of Krup is amazing and also the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich I have read 4 times.

Maggie

[kate_ce1995]

I too have always been interested in that time period. Have any of you read Night by Eli Weisle? Also a gripping commentary on that time period.

I started Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, but never got very far. I was in college at the time and probably had to put in away to study or something! Now its in a box. Will have to look for it.

Geoff and I watch the History channel a lot too. Great stuff.

Katy