Hey fellow Scored Poster, do I have some background for you.

I want to talk about my Grandfather. You see, I am descended from a group of people called Volga Germans. My ancestors left Germany about the 1600's (or maybe 1700's) and migrated from Germany to the Volga/Pale of Settlement region of Russia under Catherine the Great. They lived in that area until the late 1800's, early 1900's, when the last Tsar removed all rights they had and began to draft them for conscription and a list of other treaties and reasons the Tsar decided to do away with. At that point, there was a split and some decided to migrate to the US, the others decided to remain in Russia.

Well, we all know what happened to the German Wheat farmers and anyone else of German decent in that part of Russia once the Bolsheviks came to power. Well, many ended up with their land stripped away, property lost, shipped off to gulags or just outright executed. Can you only imagine what the social conditions were during WW1 between German and Russia? Let's just say the only remaining Germans left in Russia to this day are primarily in Siberia, with 'some' still around the Volgograd area. Either way, what Lenin couldn't finish, Stalin did.

Now, let's move over to the ol' US of A. Now the Germans had migrated over there and tried to start new lives (only spoke German around home and farm), and of course had to deal with the gasp RACISM directed towards them for the WW1 and WW2. My grandfather (who came of age during the Great Depression) ended up enlisting in the Army./Air Corp (so that he could avoid any draft) and wanted to work on planes. Well well well...the US Army got him started in the plane business, but guess what? He also spoke fluent German. Guess who get's retrained as a MP? He does. For interrogation.

Let's fast forward a bit now to the 1980s. Now that I am a young lad, and he is my grandfather. Well, you see Scored poster, by the time I was in elementary school, the kids already knew of my 'ethnic' background and so did my teachers. Let me tell you how I learned about the 'Nazi's;. By being called one day in and day out during my childhood by my own 'fellow Americans' and my teachers. I was punished throughout my childhood for actions and wars and countries and ideologies that were long gone before I was even born. But that matters not. What matters is that you bully and punish children.

One day at his farm (in the western side of Nebraska), I was working with him and eventually broke down into tears and balled my eyes out when I told him what was being done to me at school. He was upset (visibly so), but he said something to me I will never forget.

'Anon, no matter what anyone in this world says about the German people, you remember this one thing: They are your Brothers and Sisters'. I don't remember the rest, but I never forgot that. My grandfather was raised under the (somewhat) eastern Europe/Prussian system. So he did not play fuck around games, and if you got on his bad side, you'd get put down without a word being said.

He never spoke about what he learned or heard from the German POW's during interrogation, but he also never wore any uniforms, talked about his service, and I only found his US Army paperwork after he had passed away. It was in a box that was about to get tossed out during house cleaning, which I grabbed and just 'had' to check. Sure enough, there was all his files. He never had any pride regarding his service, and if anything, I think he ultimately felt betrayed by his own government, and that he never wanted any part of that war to go halfway across a planet to fight against his own kin on behalf of a bunch of 'scheissters' (German for shitters) who gave zero fucks about him.

I hope you learned something from my post.