Thread by @BettinaSRoss1

My day so far:

Got up.
Had coffee.
Doctor's appointment no. 1
Shopping
Doctor's appointment no. 2
Took cardboard boxes to recycling bin
Collected old family diaries & photo albums from my stepdad
Took them home, looked at cover
"My Poland Campaign 1939"
😳
Trying to breathe

2/

Just going through the material. Most of it is from my stepdad's dad who joined the German army in 1936 and went on the Poland, Belgium, France & Russia campaigns. Where he was killed.

There's a beautiful letter to his 2-yr-old for Christmas 1942. And photos of war dead.

3/

I rang my stepdad. He says, you look after this for me.

I want to cry. So much trust. So much pain. And quite a burden just to look at.

I'm holding the past and the present in my hands.

The letter. From father to son.

So here's the war diary. The first and the last page. Most entries are signed like letters. Just in case it would be handed over to a widow, not a wife.

And here's the fanaticism, lies, fervent belief. I mean, that hand drawn 'wrong' swastika? Do you see it? What do you say?
Underneath: "From today, the Wehrmacht took over the protection of the Reich."
Below, I hesitate to say, pictures of Dunkirk. I mean, Dunkirk!!!