70 Years Ago Today WWII Started

gaia227

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Europe is marking the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of WWII which began when Germany attacked Poland. Being a history 'buff' I find this stuff interesting and I am sure there are fellow buffs out there.

I am actually reading a book about the Siege of Leningrad right now and it coincides almost perfectly as far as timeline. I am sitting here in 2009 on a train in NYC reading about what the civilians and army in Russia were going through on this very exact day 6 decades ago.

RIP to ALL the millions of the men, women and children who perished in Europe during those 6 long years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090901/ap_on_re_eu/eu_europe_wwii_anniversary
 
I heard this on the news this morning. My father fought in the Army Air Corp (Air Force now) during WWII. So not only RIP to those that perished in Europe but those also who fought for Europe's (and all the world's) freedom.

Thanks gaia77.
 
Absolutely LizzyBeth. I meant the sentiment more holistically than it sounded :)
We lost tens of thousands of American lives in Europe and in the S. Pacific.

It is hard to believe it has been 70 years.
 
It's all good. :0)

It IS hard to believe it's been 70 years. So many of our veterans that fought are gone now. I hope we all continue to remember.

PS, that's great that you're reading the book as it coincides with the timeline of WWII.
 
My good friend's grandfather is a vet. He was fighter pilot during the war. He has dementia now and the dementia has really triggered his connection with the war. He has lately taken to wearing his WWII uniform, medals, hat, the whole nine yards. Goes to show you how much of an impact the war had on these men.

I saw something on the news a few weeks ago about the world's oldest man who is British and he is a WWI vet!

I met an interesting man on the train the other day. He commented on the book I am reading because his own father was/is Russian and he survived the siege of Leningrad. He was somehow able to escape and ended up in Czech Republic but being Jewish and Russian that was not such a great place to be and he was able to escape again with the help of the underground and ended up in NYC. He lost all of his siblings to starvation and exposure during the siege and he lost his parents, aunts, uncles and cousins to the Nazi's. They were all sent to Auschwitz. The man on the train is finishing the memoirs his dad started before he did about his experience during the war. It was all very interesting. I got his phone number and he lives just right down the street. He told me I was more than welcome to come over sometime and look through all of the memorabilia his father had saved - pictures, letters, clothes, etc which I would LOVE to do. I am really interested in that kind of stuff.
 
Hi all! I too am reading books on WWII - actually, for the last 5 months or so. And right now I'm reading In Deadly Combat about a German solider marching onto Leningrad! So Gaia, we two are reading the opposite of this war right now!!! Strange, eh??!!
My parents excaped Latvia after the Germans left, as they had lived under Soviet rule, so they knew better to GET OUT!! They went on a small fishing boat actually towards Germany, but the boat took them to Sweden... a VERY interesting story; my brother and I are trying to get my mother to tell her story, and write her memoirs... unfortunately, my father died in 2000 and he fought with the partisan Latvians...

Anyway... yes, hard to believe it was only 70 years ago!
 
My good friend's grandfather is a vet. He was fighter pilot during the war. He has dementia now and the dementia has really triggered his connection with the war. He has lately taken to wearing his WWII uniform, medals, hat, the whole nine yards. Goes to show you how much of an impact the war had on these men.

I saw something on the news a few weeks ago about the world's oldest man who is British and he is a WWI vet!

I met an interesting man on the train the other day. He commented on the book I am reading because his own father was/is Russian and he survived the siege of Leningrad. He was somehow able to escape and ended up in Czech Republic but being Jewish and Russian that was not such a great place to be and he was able to escape again with the help of the underground and ended up in NYC. He lost all of his siblings to starvation and exposure during the siege and he lost his parents, aunts, uncles and cousins to the Nazi's. They were all sent to Auschwitz. The man on the train is finishing the memoirs his dad started before he did about his experience during the war. It was all very interesting. I got his phone number and he lives just right down the street. He told me I was more than welcome to come over sometime and look through all of the memorabilia his father had saved - pictures, letters, clothes, etc which I would LOVE to do. I am really interested in that kind of stuff.

That is fantastic. I am glad he's finishing those memoirs. The more written history we have, the better.
 
Hi all! I too am reading books on WWII - actually, for the last 5 months or so. And right now I'm reading In Deadly Combat about a German solider marching onto Leningrad! So Gaia, we two are reading the opposite of this war right now!!! Strange, eh??!!
My parents excaped Latvia after the Germans left, as they had lived under Soviet rule, so they knew better to GET OUT!! They went on a small fishing boat actually towards Germany, but the boat took them to Sweden... a VERY interesting story; my brother and I are trying to get my mother to tell her story, and write her memoirs... unfortunately, my father died in 2000 and he fought with the partisan Latvians...

Anyway... yes, hard to believe it was only 70 years ago!


Haha - that's funny! I wrote down the title on my book list as it would be interesting to read the other perspective too. The Germans had a hell of a time once winter hit. Until reading this book I was unaware of just how unprepared the Russians were when the Germans invaded. It is amazing they were able to fend them off. Stalin just absolutely, postively refused to believe the tons and tons of intelligence reports coming in that the Germans were getting ready to launch a massive invasion and would refuse all requests for preparations and he would execute informants bringing him the intelligence, etc.

It's called The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad if you are interested in reading it sometime.

That is amazing history you have in your family. I have always been interested in the Partisian fighters. If my mother had gone through that experience I would be hounding her constantly to give up the info! The sad truth is that we are losing a lot of our vets, citizen survivors and Jewish survivors and the more written history we have the better. The personal stories are just so fascinating.

I wish i would have been more interested when I was younger as I had 2 great uncles who fought in the war but they passed away years ago when I was in my early teens.
 
Haha - that's funny! I wrote down the title on my book list as it would be interesting to read the other perspective too. The Germans had a hell of a time once winter hit. Until reading this book I was unaware of just how unprepared the Russians were when the Germans invaded. It is amazing they were able to fend them off. Stalin just absolutely, postively refused to believe the tons and tons of intelligence reports coming in that the Germans were getting ready to launch a massive invasion and would refuse all requests for preparations and he would execute informants bringing him the intelligence, etc.

It's called The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad if you are interested in reading it sometime.


I'll write that book name down and look for it in my library! Thanks!

gaia said:
That is amazing history you have in your family. I have always been interested in the Partisian fighters. If my mother had gone through that experience I would be hounding her constantly to give up the info! The sad truth is that we are losing a lot of our vets, citizen survivors and Jewish survivors and the more written history we have the better. The personal stories are just so fascinating.

Yes, it IS a amazing story, and my mom will be 89 this month... so that's why my brother (lives across the hall from her in Latvia) is trying to get her to put it all down. She moved back to Riga, Latvia when they got their independence; actually my parents bought an apartment house in 1992, and were going to retire there, unfortunately, my dad died, so my mom moved back there in 2002.

gaia said:
I wish i would have been more interested when I was younger as I had 2 great uncles who fought in the war but they passed away years ago when I was in my early teens.

I too have just recently gotten into reading books from WWII... wished I'd done this earlier too!
 
I have a whole list of WWII books I have read and really enjoyed if interested. Are you more of a historical fiction or a non-fiction reader?
 
I have a whole list of WWII books I have read and really enjoyed if interested. Are you more of a historical fiction or a non-fiction reader?

More of a non-fiction reader...
 

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