World War Two
I once met a German tourist in my home town Stavanger.
He was kind elderly man and spoke excellent Norwegian.
He had been stationed here during the war, and for him
it had been a peaceful war, for the citizen too, I must say;
except from bombing, hunger and executions it was not
a Stalingrad and most people lived to see the day when
the feared army capitulated. Of my three uncles two were
arrested, tortured by the Gestapo, but survived. The third
although, a communist was not found out; spent the war
years fishing, snaring bird, stealing potatoes from farmers
who preferred selling their products to the Germans who
had money. I always like to hear a good story, but thought
at the time, the ex soldier was perhaps a tiny bit tactless.
But I did enjoy his tale as he gave me names of traitors who
had escaped prosecutions and lived to be esteem citizens.
TRUE OSKAR ! A GLOBAL WAR HAS MANY SIDES , - THAT INCLUDES WHAT YOU HAVE MENTIONED IN YOUR LAST TWO LINES ! -Raj