I am not a good student of history. I have not read enough to know all what happened in this world. But I do know that Germany is free because of our Veterans. I do know that my life would have taken a very different turn if the US and other countries had not stepped in during the reign of Hitler. I am thankful for your sacrifice, thankful for risking your life to save ours. THANK YOU!

When I grew up in Germany I was one of the first post-world war two generation. We lived under the trauma our families had experienced, we lived under the shame of what happened, we lived with parents whose hearts and souls were broken. And there was so much shame. Shame for not standing up, shame for falling into the traps of Hitler's charisma, shame over watching millions of people getting killed without any regard. It shaped our country, it shaped our hearts and minds. It was only later when the walls that divided East and West Germany came down that some of the feelings and struggles were turned into activism. It was when German men and women started to admit to the things that happened, that we could start healing. Someone said "History is written by the victors" and that is true, for Germany that meant not recognizing what happened, the wounds were too fresh, and so my early schooling did not have any mention of the war, we did not talk about it at home either. But the consequences were there: hardened souls, high alcoholism rates, families with too many children, a work ethic that would cover up the pain and so much more.

There is a good book "the body keeps the score" that reveals that trauma is held in our bodies for generations. The trauma my parents experienced change the DNA of their children, with higher stress levels and so much more.

I think my lesson learned out of this: 1. sometimes it takes outsiders who sacrifice their lives to free us – thank you Veterans! 2. it takes time to process through the pain, but then we need to acknowledge it, rewrite our textbooks to reflect the real history and then move forward with lessons learned. 3. we need to put processes in place so that will never happen again.

Thank you Veterans for making a difference in my life! I would not be here without you!