MEETING A GREAT HUSBAND AND WIFE

THIS WEEK I HAD TO OPPORTUNITY TO MEET AND LISTEN TO A TRULY GREAT COUPLE. THEY HAVE BENN MARRIED FOR 70 YEARS AND BOTH ARE WELL INTO THEIR 90'S.

YOU MOST LIKELY WILL NEVER HAVE HEARD THEIR NAMES AND I WILL NOT MENTION THEM HERE AS IN TODAY'S SOCIALIST WORLD THEY MAY BE VILIFIED.

THE GENTLE MAN WAS BORN IN GERMANY AT THE END OF WWI AND JUST BEFORE HIS BIRTH HIS FATHER WAS KILLED IN THE WAR.  HE WAS THEN CLASSIFIED AS "HALF ORPHAN".  HIS MOTHER MOVED IN WITH HER PARENTS AND HIS GRANDFATHER WAS APPOINTED HIS LEGAL GUARDIAN.

HE AND HIS WIFE WERE RELIGIOUS PEOPLE AND THEY SAID THAT THE GODLESSNESS OF THE NAZIS AND THE NEAR DEITY POSITION IN WHICH THEY HELD HITLER WAS MOST VILE TO THEM.

THEY WERE FORCED TO REMOVE ALL HYMNS FROM THEIR SERVICES WHICH MENTIONED ISRAEL OR MADE ANY REFERENCE TO THE ISRAELI NATION OR PEOPLE.

HE WAS DRAFTED INTO THE GERMAN ARMY, SERVED IN THE LUFTWAFFE, BECAME AN OFFICER BASED ON HIS EDUCATION AND HOW HE DID HIS JOB.  HE WAS NEVER INVOLVED IN ACTUAL FIGHTING NOR IN ANY SS ACTIVITY.  HIS WIFE HAD GIVEN BIRTH TO SON AND HE HAD NO COMMUNICATION WITH THEM FOR NEARLY 18 MONTHS.

NEAR THE END OF WWII HE WAS TAKEN PRISONER OF WAR BY THE BRITISH AND SPENT SOMETIME IN A POW CAMP.  WHERE HE STATED THAT ALL PRISONERS WERE WELL TREATED, TREATED WITH RESPECT, WELL FED AND CLOTHED.

UPON HIS RELEASE FROM THE BRITISH HE WISHED TO TRAVEL TO HIS HOME TOWN WHERE HIS WIFE, SON AND PARENTS LIVED (OR SO HE HOPED).  HIS HOME WAS LOCATED IN THE SOVIET ZONE AND HE HAD TO RECEIVE TRAVEL PAPERS FROM THE BRITISH TO MOVE ABOUT.  A BR4ITISH CAPTAIN ATTEMPTED FOR 10 DAYS TO DISSUADE HIS FROM ENTERING THE EAST.  HOWEVER HIS PLEAS CAUSED THE CAPTAIN TO RELENT, AND AS HE LEFT THE CAPTAIN TOLD HIM,"YOU WELL REGRET THIS EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE".

AS HE CROSSED INTO THE SOVIET ZONE HE WAS ARRESTED BY THE SOVIET AND GERMAN EASTERN AUTHORITIES AND AGAIN PLACE INTO A PRISONER OF WAR CAMP AS AN ENEMY COMBATANT. THE CAMP WAS NOTHING MORE THAN A SLAVE LABOR CAMP WHOSE JOB WAS TO DISMANTLE GERMAN EQUIPMENT AND SEND IT TO THE SOVIET UNION.  ALL ASPECTS OF THE CAMP WERE INTOLERABLE AND HORRIFIC.

AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS HE MANAGED TO ESCAPE AND THROUGH A SERIES OF MIRACLES RECEIVED HIS PAPERS AS A LAWFULLY FREED POW.

HOWEVER, HE AND HIS FAMILY WERE MOT FREE.  THEY LIVED UNDER THE SOCIALIST TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENT OF EAST GERMANY, WITH ITS RATIONED LIMITED FOOD SUPPLIES AND EVEN LES INDIVIDUAL AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM THAN UNDER THE NAZIS.

THIS FAMILY HAS BEEN IN THE UNITED STATES FOR MANY YEARS AND LOVE THIS COUNTRY AND THE LIBERTIES AFFORDED UN TO US BUT THEY HAVE EXPERIENCED THE HORRORS OF FASCISM AND SOCIALISM AND FEEL THAT WE ARE HEADED IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS GERMANY DID AND SUFFERED.