They didn't know how. Her husband had been conscripted, and she was all alone. Plus, how could they pass through a country that would kill them if they were found out to be German (there were lots of checkpoints along the way)? They were praying for a way.
One day, a white soldier, on a white horse came to them and handed them a letter. At every checkpoint they passed, they were to show the letter to the guard. And they did. Every checkpoint let them through. They never found out what was in the letter, and, somehow, they never managed to find it, either, after the war.
My great-grandfather, I heard, was a strict Christian who did not believe in killing people; however, he went, because he could not get out of being a soldier. As I've heard, he used to say that "he might have to be a soldier, but it didn't mean he had to kill someone." He was never heard from after the war - my guess was that, if he was as true Christian as everyone said he was, he would have refused to kill someone and been sent to a concentration camp.
Why didn't she read the letter? Is it wrong to be a soldier, that kills noone? Or is it better to tell the others "killing is wrong"?
ReplyDeleteI am thinking that my great-grandmother didn't think to look at what was written in the letter.
DeleteI don't think that it is wrong to be a soldier that kills noone. In this case, I think he knew that he was fighting for the wrong causes, but he really had no choice in the matter. If you are called to fight for your country, you must.