Theos-Talk Archives (January 1999 Message tl00058)

In a message dated 12/22/98 12:01:24 AM Eastern Standard Time, theos-
l@list.vnet.net writes:

<< However, I have read
 biographies of those who, during WWII, were in concentration camps that
 found themselves cherring and finding hope every time they saw Allied
 bombing planes flying overhead.  Of course, the German citizens found no
 such hope and were very frightened - and many innocent men, women, and
 children were killed or horribly maimed...
 For every war and bombing, there are some who find relief and liberation;
 others find death and destruction >>

That is so true.  I remember visiting Germany some time back (1983); the
family I stayed with said they thought of the Americans as their heroes and
liberators during WWII - some were happy to be rid of the Nazi regime and
understood the bombings as a "necessary evil" - kind of like amputating your
leg to save your life, I guess. - and I also remember my shock and sadness in
viewing the before-and-after bombing shots of the Cologne Cathedral and the
destruction of human art that they represented.  One of the members of the
German family I stayed with had been taken as a prisoner of war by the
Americans, and he described the experience with fondness and nostalgia!  Go
figure.  War is a strange thing, and sometimes the most horrible and the most
heroic acts happen simultaneously.
Christine