I recently found out a lot about my family history from my cousin Sarah. There is a lot of drama and events that explain why certain people don't get along (which family doesn't have those?) but also some huge things that I had no idea about.

First, my grandfather Adolf (My mothers side is fully 100% German) fought as a German Nazi in WW2. My grandmother Rosa, they were together at the time, lived in a small town called Haslach in the Black Forest. Sarah told me she used to have to pull her curtains shut and wasn't allowed to look outside when the airrade sirens went on...there was a consentration camp near where she lived and they would load people in trains there.

This weekend Sarah had a graduation party at their house. My Aunt Gisela has many more pictures and paintings from and of Germany than my mom does, and I took a few minutes to actually look at them, probably for the first time realizing how much family history they hold. There are pictures of a farm house, pictures of an airial view of Haslach, and of old ladies not smiling at the camera.

I'm determined to visit while in Oxford.