samuirai

"I thought that the countries wouldn't like what Hitler does and that war is probably coming. But it happened faster than we thought. I mostly though that everything couldn't be that wrong. But I didn't support the war, because I was scared that many of my friends would be drafted. We were very scared of the war. But nowadays we know what Hitler really intended. And it was horrific. My dad always said that it was bad but I didn't believe him. There was a difference in the generations. We young people supported it and liked it, but many of our parents didn't support it and always said that it's bad. After the war I realised that my dad was right. And I felt extremely bad."

"The most important invention is the washing machine. Any other technologies come second. It's so amazing what kind of technologies got invented."

edit: grammar

"When we first heard that they were coming, we fled uphill into the forest. We were scared there, because we didn't know what would happen. But we were told to return and stay at home. So we went back and waited. First we were insecure of what would come, but once the Moroccan soldiers where here and came to each house, they didn't do anything. And they were only looking for jewels and food. This is when we calmed down. Shortly after french soldiers came and they also stayed at each house there. The young french man staying at my place was very polite and nice. he even placed newspaper on the place where he slept to not make it dirty."

"Yes definitely! Thats how Hitler tricked us. Life was nice. We had no issues with food and work. Before that there were beggars every day at our door asking for a few cents. With hitler everybody had work. And I was very happy about the freeway down to lake constance. Hitler should have left the other countries alone. That was his mistake. He was craving for power."

"No. We are not pride. Our history has taken my pride away from Germany. Now it slowly starts to get a bit more open again."

A sidenote from me (grandson 24y/o). Not many people are patriotic. A lot of people are proud of Germany for the good healthcare, free education, etc. But not in a patriotic way. I personally feel some pride for Germany nowadays, but not patriotic, because our history is so bad. I have a small feeling of guilt.