From yesterday: Shirley writes:

In 2010, it was also reported that testimonies from resistance fighters in Guernsey were discovered by a research team from the University of Cambridge indicating that many resistance fighters were deported by cattle trucks from the island to be imprisoned in Germany.   Many, however, also died on the way, and it is reported from those testimonies that the other prisoners were forced to bury them.In 2010, it was also reported that testimonies from resistance fighters in Guernsey were discovered by a research team from the University of Cambridge indicating that many resistance fighters were deported by cattle trucks from the island to be imprisoned in Germany.   Many, however, also died on the way, and it is reported from those testimonies that the other prisoners were forced to bury them.

Sunday 31^st August 2019

The next day as the sounds of the rumbling aircraft once more filled the skies we left the crowds and joined some friends for lunch.   A couple from Germany, with their young child were staying with my friends.   They were aged just 21.  They were Christian and had a very strong and humble faith.  I was particularly struck by their responsibility to their young daughter and how the husband only spoke English to the child whilst the mother spoke German.  The young man explained to me how he had been tempted by friends on some occasions to ‘go with the crowd’ but had escaped the baggage of ‘unravelling sin’ by resisting that. He was very keen to know about events happening in the UK, about Brexit, about culture and immigration.  They were an exceptional couple who I will always remember.  Later, I learned that their child had been born with a serious condition at birth.  They prayed for her recovery, and she is completely healed.

Their beginnings in family life, and indeed their future, came to mind as later that day I attended a presentation called “A Historic Event with Eva Schloss,” who is a holocaust survivor, peace activist, international speaker, teacher and humanitarian.  She is also the step-sister of Anne Frank who wrote the book “The Diary of Anne Frank” and is 90 years old.

Listening to her story of how she survived, the escape from her homeland in Austria, two years in hiding in Amsterdam, capture on her 15^th birthday, nine months in Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps, and her repatriation to Holland was very interesting.

It was sad to listen to how she had lost her father and brother, and very difficult to listen to how the women and young children had been stripped naked in front of the soldiers whilst they decided who would go to the gas chambers.   Both Eva and her mother did survive and she stated they were eventually liberated by the Russian army.  She went on to be married, have children, and also grand-children.

Whilst listening, I thought about the plight of children who are separated from their parents, and also recalled the 80^th anniversary of Harwich Kindertransport, where 10,000 children were evacuated from Germany after anti-Jewish violence known as Kristallnacht in 1938.  Many of those children never saw their parents again.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-46269774

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Eva Schloss stated she speaks about her experiences so that it does not happen again, that we remember the holocaust, and fight the rise of anti-Semitism.     She was very honest in her answers saying she would not forgive the Nazi’s.     You can read about Eva here:

https://www.evaschloss.com/evas-life

I came away with many questions and observations about the times we are currently living in.

To be continued tomorrow.

Thank you Shirley!

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

The Thoughtful Chimp