Hi from a Newbie...

[kimfdim]

Hiya! I am new here (obviously) after stumbling upon this forum doing a search for WWII music (have quite a collection of american, german and ostfront, which my husband hates!). My name is Lisa, I'm 40, married and between my husband and I, we have 6 kids. We live in Western New York. My interests in WWII are similar to probably alot of you. My mother's family comes from the lower Rhine...we have no clue where in Germany my father's family come from as they are so tight lipped about everything. So, therefore, having family here and Germany, it would be inevitable that both sides were involved.

I was exposed to WWII history growing up - my father was the buff (who was very racist. I was too, I just didn't see it). I didn't really start getting really involved with the war until about 15 years ago about (long story short) a racist incident involving my son, a family member, and a coloring of a Jewish icon he did in his pre-school 3 year-old room. It was then that the real questions came...How could my favorite Aunt G**** or anyone else be that radical - even to the day they die...how could one man seduce a whole country...how could these people be brainwashed....How could certain family members live with themselves with thier beliefs...look how it is trickling down the generations...I do not want myself or my kids to be racist. I struggle between defending my family members and defending the millions that lost thier lives - the innocents. I then set out to learn everything about the German war machine that I could, which is my primary interest.

What really impressed me about this site is the Veterans. The stories. The recollections. This is very precious right now because that generation is seeing the end of thier days here on Earth (no disrespect meant)...and with thier precious lives go thier precious stories. I am impressed! There is nothing better than sitting down with a World War II vet and passing the day hearing thier experiences! This site puts that luxury at my fingertips!

I am so glad to have stumbled here - can't believe it took me so long with all the research I do on the internet!

[Slipdigit]

Welcome Lisa. Jump on in with both feet, have a good time and teach us a thing or two while you learn something also. We have several ladies here, so don't think we're gonna pick on you....much. Just ask Michelle (Macrusk).

Do you have any photos of your family from the era and could you post them, we'd love to see them.

[krieg]

welcome aboard lisa
a very fine place here you will enjoy your stay
cheers krieg

[Liberator]

Hi Lisa, welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy your time here.

[dgmitchell]

Lisa -- Welcome to the forum. You have fallen in with a fine group!

Cheers!

[PzJgr]

Welcome to the forum Lisa. It seems we have similar reasons on how we got involved in WWII interests. Happy posting.

[mikebatzel]

Welcome. You found a good group here.

[1911Colt]

Greetings Lisa.
Enjoy your stay here.

[Skipper]

Welcome Lisa. Thanks you for joining and telling us so much about tou in your very first post. I appreciate your honesty. The lower Rhine? That could be the lake Constance Lake area, the Alsacian border or the Wine route towards the Mosel and Cologne . It's difficult to say.

[kimfdim]

I believe it was the Wine route. My mother's maiden name is a very popular one in that area. I have an uncle that just moved to the States a few years ago after my aunt died - they owned a pub in Stuttgart, her hometown which is now closed (in which I was supposed to go after high school to live with them and work at the pub, but at the time, my friends were more important to me. Now I am kicking myself in the rear!). Unfortunately, all thier "momentos" stayed in Germany when he moved here. You don't want to be a German in Germany now admitting that you still have some of those things. He was too afraid to bring them to the States with him, so he left them with her family. That's the problem I have with German war relics...no one wants to send/bring them over in fear they will be caught with them. The only thing I ever got was a Hakenkreutz pin...which got stolen several years ago from my then-apartment (along with lots of other things and money) while I was away for the weekend. I left that apartment a month later...I was so devastated! History...gone. All I can get ahold of is US WWII stuff/pictures.

As for my honesty...I don't have anything to hide, it's not my style. I have a deep interest in the war mainly because of the psychological aspect of it - the people who fell for Hitler's ideals and plans, members of my family included. I really struggle with it sometimes because some of them I really loved and I can't decide upon hating them for what they represented-supported-did, feeling sorry for them for being victims of Hitler and sounding like a Nazi sympathizer by defending them that they were seduced at just the right moment in time with the right circumstances by just the right person - then when the found out what was really at hand, they feared thier own life if they were to go against it. I don't know how many of you were raised by an old school German - I was, as still to this day I don't question authority and am afraid of it...maybe not to the extent that WWII Germans were, but the discipline was handed through the generations whether I liked it or not. I'm still terrified of my father at the age of 40. And it is so annoying to me...just look at the state of the country of Germany just after the war...Hitler's beloved and adopted Germany...after all the air raids totally destroyed numerous beautiful cities. What a shame.

Sorry so long...out on a rant!

Lisa

[bigfun]

Welcome Lisa!

and rant away!!!!

[Aru-Ed]

Welcome Lisa,
quite a family story you have, thank you for being so honnest about it.
I have a few German relics in my possesion with the swastika on them but they do not represent what i stand for, they are just a part of my battlefield relics collection.
Items i dug up during trips to former battlefields, with a lot of history.

[Skipper]

Hi Lisa, Sad you could not get hold of the relics. Stuttgart is a nice area and so is the wine route. I appreciated going to Heidelberg, just to mention a touristic city, but the vineyards are great too.