This is an article that took a lot of strength to write and I might take it down again. But I felt like it is an article that is very necessary right now. https://bastianallgeier.com/notes/grandpa
@bastianallgeier I'm just listening to The Rest Is History podcast series on the Nazis, and it is very clear that it could happen again, and it could happen here.
@bastianallgeier thank you for sharing this. I hope you decide to leave this up. I have a similar story as my grandfather was Waffen SS in Poland. When my kids said it can’t happen here I would tell them of seeing Star Wars, watching Star Trek and eating ice cream sandwiches with him as a kid. If he ever found out that my parents adopted a Jewish kid (me) he never let that stop him from complaining about the Jews ruining everything in front of me as I got older. It was painful to reconcile this.
It can happen. It is happening. It cannot continue.
@bastianallgeier This is a brilliant, brave piece of writing. Thank you for posting it.
I've also recently been thinking a lot about my German grandparents. Their story is very different from your grandpa's (they were Jewish refugees from the Nazis, and very lucky to escape in the 30s) but learning about their lives led me to the same conclusions as you, and, also like you, to an anti-fascism I feel in my bones.
@bastianallgeier@halfbyte thank you so much for sharing. I grew up in Chile in the 90s, we had a dictator in the 70s. When I was 12 I learned that my best friend (and his family) were a supporters of him, my friend told me anyone who commits a crime should be killed immediately, and that’s the only way to be safe. I’ll never forget that moment, before I thought we shared the same values, could never see him again the same way.
@bastianallgeier
That is an exceptional story. While you can’t forget someone you loved and looked up to, there are modern events that resonate with history.
Thank you for having the guts to share your story.
@bastianallgeier Thanks for putting this out. Made me remember how admirers of «power, influence and money» are potential authoritarians we must monitor closely.
@bastianallgeier thank you so much for sharing this! All that you said is true and powerful, and I hope your country can keep the afd out of power!
I'll never forget the children's exhibit at Verzetsmuseum which told stories of 4 children and their families during the war. One of the girls had been in Hitler Youth and gone to summer camps. Her parents found ways to help Nazis in Amsterdam. And at the end of the exhibit, there were interviews with the 4 survivors from the stories we had followed
@bastianallgeier Wow! This might be the most important post I read in the last months! Thank you for your open words. This inspired me to write about my own grandparents. Maybe with some other twist, but also a story that needs to be told. Or at least written down from my heart. Thak you again! 🖤
@bastianallgeier Thank you for sharing such a deeply personal experience. I’m sad it’s come to the point where you feel you needed to do it. I hope things will not continue in the wrong direction and that the combined efforts of people like you will make a difference.
@bastianallgeier Wonderful story. I too worry about Germany’s attraction to fascism. Italy, Poland & Argentina have already forgotten their own history & voted for populist leaders who want to go back to tribalism. I hope humanity can get over this craziness. Good luck to you & other like-minded Germans. 💚🌎💚
@bastianallgeier Thank you for being brave and sharing this. And thank you for writing it in English so even I can read it. Simple-solutions offerors are rising nearly everywhere, trying to divide and sort people. Let's not fall for that, let's keep speaking out!
@bastianallgeier Thank you for sharing this, Bastian. It's a powerful reminder of how little time has truly passed since then.
My adopted German "Omi" died in 1999. During the 10 years we knew her, she refused to speak of her husband, who had died in WWII. Somehow, my parents figured out he was in the SS. I've always wondered with unease what her true beliefs were. What she might have done. Or not done. What he did.
@bastianallgeier
Read every word of this. If the nazis can make a comeback in Germany, they can come to power anywhere. Cowardly people are drawn to them. And the world has a LOT of cowardly people. Whether they are afraid of someone who looks different or just of losing their position in society, they are all around you. Your kid's football coach. The idiot who works next to you. Your best friend from high school. They seem normal. They're not. https://bastianallgeier.com/notes/grandpa
@bastianallgeier Thank you.
"anti-fascist with all my heart for the rest of my life. I'm not wearing black on an antifa demo to beat up some Nazis. I mean the deep conviction that fascism must never – and I mean never – return to power."
This. So much this. It is my hope that there are a lot, lot more people of our generation who share this conviction and are now finally waking up and take action. 1/2
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