I was curious as to whether the Oldenburg area had any particular role or
involvement during WWI or WWII? Any particular battles around there,
was there a Jewish population from there that was sent off, were the
local peoples particularly allied with or opposed to the Nazi regime?
Hello,
I don't know very much about this subject but can tell you the little I know of my family's experience. My grandmother and two of her sisters came to America around 1900 from Hatterwuesting, Oldenburg, Germany and the rest of the family stayed in Germany.
Feelings ran strong on both sides of the family and I was told the family did not discuss the War, period. It was only a few years ago that an older cousin told me a little bit. From what I understood, Hatterwuesting had been bombed and quite a bit of damage had been done. My grandmother's brother was killed in the WWI. My Dad, his brother and some cousins were in WWII and I am sure cousins in Germany were involved too. Thankfully my Dad was not sent to Germany and I don't think the others were sent there either.
I often think about how hard it must have been on all of them having the family split like this. I wonder what my family experienced here in America during that time. I have heard the stories of how the Germans were treated here but my family never said a word about it. I know I learned very young not to tell anyone I was German because the other children were very mean to any child they even thought might be German, calling them all kinds of mean names and shunning them. Now I know that all those mean kids should have taken a look at their own heritage because most of them were of German descent too.
It is sad that my family's experience is lost. We learn from the past, not only about our mistakes but about ourselves and others and it helps us to understand who we are.
Pam