I was remembering the time years ago when I was in France on a 2 month working vacation. A young man we worked with graciously took us to his family’s country home in a town near Paris for a weekend. (I’ve forgotten the name of the town). His lovely mother still lived there, as she had as a young newlywed when the Nazis occupied France in 1941. Her husband was off fighting in the war, it was just she and her mother in the house.
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She told me that one day 4 or 5 Nazis came along the country road, barging into houses at will ‘because they could’. In her house they demanded a meal to be prepared, with the best wine, as they ransacked the house. They opened books, inspected photos, opened all cabinets and drawers, etc. They took jewelry, some other small family heirlooms, liquor, and cash, and flicked cigar ashes on her rugs…. just being the a–hole pigs that Nazis were. So it was not only Jews who were targeted, it was anyone they pleased to terrorize, including 2 frightened women alone… just ‘because they could’.
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As this sweet lady was telling me about the incident she began to weep and sob.
At that point it had been many years since it happened but to her it was like yesterday. My heart ached for her. And I realized I was in the very same room where actual Nazis had stood, a living history — that blew my mind !
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…no Nazis !
