What was your family doing during World War II?

my great grandfather cheated on his wife and knocked up some Britslag, then went home and never talked to her again

why is everyone talking about their great grandfather? am I the only one whose grandfather was alive during ww2?

most zoomers are 4th gen to ww2

I am a zoomer, I am 20 years old

my grandma was born in 1940 and her dad was born in 1907 i think he was too old to serve

My great grandfather shot Germans raiding in Finland in 1945. They were getting too close to the border

My mothers side:

Grangranpa went to Russia as soldier, died as prisoner there

Granma was child, Russians took all possessions (didn't rape her luckily but they shot her uncle for lulz). Later her home turned to Poland, they weren't allowed to leave until the late 70s. Also not allowed to speak German and had to learn Polish

Some other uncle was some SS official and died in the 60s or so. Could not see the rest of family because he got imprisoned in Cologne, Germany after the war for few years and wasn't allowed to go back home afterwards (because it became Poland)

pic related Beuthen. Beautiful town, basically untouched since WWII and also not renovated at all.. feels like the whole town is a museum

granma cooked Żur today for lunch

Fathers side:
Not much because they gtfo in the 1700s or so when they moved to Russia (Wolga-Germans). But it affected the Germans there too and everyone relocated to Kazakhstan. There they got kicked out in the 70s and had to move back to Germany

grandpa died at 100 10 years ago

who knows

didn't rape her luckily

That's what she said, actually Churka blood runs through your veins

shooting germans while also according to local stories collaborating with them. its a bit of a gray area no one really knows.

Being put into internment camps for the crime of being italian americans

raping germans in berlin (probably)

Great grandfather was from Vicenza and fought in the Social Republic until the bitter end. Probably he left some offspring in Sloveni-ack

Based

grandfather was in the kriegsmarine

Your grandpa believed in the Fascist cause more than Mussolini himself did

They were a part of the RAF, then moved to the US after the war

Grandfather was a ship’s doctor in the south pacific

Have you posted about this before or are all German posters descended from Volga Germans?

My paternal grandfather had a bike shop, never heard of him doing anything special during the way and occupation. He probably guarded the italian frontline until he got sent home.
My paternal grandmother had her parents killed by german planes during the exodus and 2 of her uncles were communists who left for Russia and never came back

Dont know anything on my mother side

Some in my grandfathers family were fighting the russians in Finland, one apparently killed himself to avoid capture. my great grandmother was part of some civilian organization for women helping the war effort

No. I think around 4-5% here are Volga Germans so it's not that rare.

My grandmother carried milk and ice cream from her parent's store to people's houses before and after school. My grandfather was an apprentice at a bike shop.

Nothing from what I know. One time they gave soup to prisoners or Jews I don't remember.

One of my grandad's saw the shitstorm coming and moved asap from a big city to the countryside to get a farm and not starve. My grandma's brothers helped the resistance locally.
My other grandma was living in a city, it wasn't easy cause it was under occupation.
One grandpa was in a small town and the other hadn't left Italy yet.

One great-grandpa farmed and than went into hiding to avoid the razzia, he went on a rampage once he found out the neighbours had stolen his wheelbarrow
The other was doing forced labour in Germany, he developed claustrophobia (he apparently never closed the door when he went to the toilet) and hated sauerkraut

Yes but maybe there’s an increased presence among the freak German posters here resulting from familial alienation of being Volga Germans in Germany

My other grandma was living in a city, it wasn't easy cause it was under occupation.

oh
hmmm but I’m *sure* she managed

Guarding the border and making moonshine to get by

My grandfather was quite young at the time. He only recalled the hunger. His older brother, however, lived in France because he was wanted by the fascist authorities. With the fall of fascism in 1943 he returned to Italy and enlisted in the King's army. On his first day of enlistment, the Germans invaded Italy and sent him to a labor camp in Germany, where he spent from September 1943 to April 1945 melting scrap metal in a blast furnace for the war industry.

She was 12 when the war started, come on! She didn't like Germans, they were mean to the population.

b-but Anon Babble told me that France was better off in 1943 than in 2023!

My grandfather fought in the pacific and I’m 31. My mom was born when he was 40 and I was born when she was 30. I never meet him, he died before I was born.

Kek. To think some people really believe this. The soldiers came to the farm where my other grandma lived to get free food. I guess they must have raped a lot of girls too. They also killed people 'randomly' at times. Imagine giving Germans power over your population, what could go wrong, I wonder.

They fucked around and lived casually while the whole world was burning. As for what they did before that I have no fucking clue.

I’m 31 and I think my grandfather was also like 31 when he was in pacific
He was like 40 when my dad was born and my dad was like 40 when I was born

Paternal grandfather was on the HMS Duke of York and the other was involved in the army in the Pacific.

Did he ever get reparations?

one great grandfather stayed home due to lung problems, the other went to Russia, then returned back only to be sent in North Africa where he was taken as a POW by the brits

Fathers side

Only fighting age male family member was SS, got sent to the east and didn't return until 1950. Never told anyone about it.

Mothers side

One was a police officer, three were SS, one got captured by the Americans, one was a guard in a POW camp and one was a mining engineer in Mittelbau Dora. The last one wrote a book about his travels in 1945 back from Nordhausen to his home at the Moselle, which he gave my aunt to publish, but she never did. I'd really like to read it.

My grandfather told me that the Red Army took over their house and when they returned back they found their pot full of spätzle the soldiers boiled for themselves. There's a lesson here somewhere.

Farming or working in a factory

Grandparents were still kids. Of my great grandpas one was on the eastern front, one was on the western front and stayed in occupied Paris as a cook for the officers, one was nearly deaf and unfit for service and the last one wasnt German and not involved in the war.

great grandfather from mom's side was a veteran. died -46 in his home
grandmother was a child during the war, lived near a factory that made munitions during the war. was very worried about the bombing and was not allowed to walk on the roads during the day.

my father's side of the family are refugees from Karelia, they had to leave their homes.

living

They went to the mountains to hide from the Japanese