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I just found something huge about my granpa and I think he doesn't know it

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commedieu

Banned
I was reading this thinking "maybe he was in the Waffen-SS during the war". Quite the plot twist in the end.

Same, from the Thread title I thought "oh no.." But something screamed WW2 just by the way it was written.

Glad it turned out to not be terrible. Thats a crazy story. You need to remember it for future generations of your family.
 

cntr

Banned
Jewish is an ethnicity, the official religion of the Jewish people is Judaism, im not sure what is the reasoning for it, but the same word is used for both the ethnicity and and people who practice Judaism (i think the logic was "people who convert to judaism are honorary jewish people" but maybe someone with better knowledge can explain it).
Ethnic groups are just people who share a common culture and heritage. Jewish people share a religion as well, which isn't particularly unusual.

Nowadays the religion and ethnicity has become distinct, but that's a relatively recent development. It makes sense that people didn't use separate words for the ethnicity and the religion until recently.
 
Amazing story!

After my grandmother died, my dad was going through the papers in the safety-deposit box and came across a marriage certificate that showed she had been secretly married to someone else right after high school. My grandfather was the one to organize all those papers, so he obviously knew.

When my grandmother had dementia, she revealed that Grandpa was a racist who hated black people. I never heard him say an unkind word (well, he once called the Golden Girls "goddamn whores").
 

Auctopus

Member
Congrats OP, out of all the clickbait threads this year, you actually had a decent OP on the other end.

I think you might have to have a chat within your family.

Then sell the film rights.
 

thespot84

Member
Ethnic groups are just people who share a common culture and heritage. Jewish people share a religion as well, which isn't particularly unusual.

Nowadays the religion and ethnicity has become distinct, but that's a relatively recent development. It makes sense that people didn't use separate words for the ethnicity and the religion until recently.

Tell that to all the jews who have to undergo genetic tests prior to conceiving a child to ensure they don't pass down taysachs.

There may be distinctions among large groups of jews (ashkenazi, sephardim) but within those groups there is a very real genetic component on top of the cultural one. Not necessarily a race, but most certainly a 'people'.
 

The Lamp

Member
Interesting how many people think this story is interesting enough to be a movie. I think my life story would downright incapacitate people.

Since you have the birth certificate, try to track down his parents for your own peace of mind if you want. Let him know the results, but only if it's good for his health and the right decision for your family.
 
Interesting how many people think this story is interesting enough to be a movie. I think my life story would downright incapacitate people.

It might be more to do with way the OP wrote it... It was well written and paced, with dialogue lines and nice visual details like "she's so old a bit trembling like a leaf"... Makes it feel like a movie script or a novel.

Can you make your life story that interesting to read through? ;)
 

Cromat

Member
If you have your great-grandparents names you can try to contact Yad Vashem, they have a huge database of names of Holocaust victims and they might be interested in your family's story.
 

Coxy100

Banned
Congrats OP, out of all the clickbait threads this year, you actually had a decent OP on the other end.

I think you might have to have a chat within your family.

Then sell the film rights.
This - clickbait but actually worth it. The OPs grandpa should definitely find out - I mean he might have other family out there if his parents had other kids
 
I think I should not. I don't think telling him is a good idea...

But I'm very curious, I want to get to the bottom of it... At least track his real parents and with the holocaust memorials and resources dedicated, it should be easy to find if they were deported and where...

But I don't think I should ? Its a sort of morbid curiosity... Nothing good could come out of this

There's a good chance that at least one of his parents had brothers or sisters, who also had children. Though they would be very old now, they may still be alive.

Even if the story is a sad one, if maybe you could establish whether he has any living cousins, it might be worth unravelling.
 

PillarEN

Member
That's a pretty interesting twist in your family tree. That woman's mom may have essentially saved your grandpa's life while also putting herself and her entire family in grave danger. That's very heroic of her.
 
Quick update :

After long talk with my mother (my grandpa's daughter) she agrees to the idea of looking for his real family.

But she's 100% against telling him right now and I kind of agree, for the time being.

We both think there is no point breaking the news, but having nothing to present after that.

So next year, I'm going to look for the long lost parents of my granpa.
 

catmincer

Member
Quick update :

After long talk with my mother (my grandpa's daughter) she agrees to the idea of looking for his real family.

But she's 100% against telling him right now and I kind of agree, for the time being.

We both think there is no point breaking the news, but having nothing to present after that.

So next year, I'm going to look for the long lost parents of my granpa.

That makes complete sense to me. Least if you find them it should help him out.
 

massoluk

Banned
Quick update :

After long talk with my mother (my grandpa's daughter) she agrees to the idea of looking for his real family.

But she's 100% against telling him right now and I kind of agree, for the time being.

We both think there is no point breaking the news, but having nothing to present after that.

So next year, I'm going to look for the long lost parents of my granpa.
How was your mom's reaction, and have you contact a screenwriter
 

sphagnum

Banned
Jewish is an ethnicity, the official religion of the Jewish people is Judaism, im not sure what is the reasoning for it, but the same word is used for both the ethnicity and and people who practice Judaism (i think the logic was "people who convert to judaism are honorary jewish people" but maybe someone with better knowledge can explain it).

I posted this some time ago in another thread but I'll repost it:

Judaism is the religion, Jewish is the ethnicity. The Jewish people are descendants of the tribes of the Kingdom of Judah (the tribes in the related Kingdom of Israel got obliterated by assimilation into the Assyrian Empire after its conquest), who formed part of the larger coalition that made up the Hebrews. The Hebrews were a fairly exclusive Semitic people who worshipped the God YHWH, who they believed to be in a covenant with them and only them, and so they had laws against marrying outsiders to preserve their status as God's chosen people.

After the split into Israel and Judah and the two kingdoms' defeats, many Judaeans (from which the term Jew comes) were taken into exile into Babylon and only freed decades later by the conquering Persians. From there they got conquered by the Greeks and Romans and were forced to disperse after the Romans destroyed the Temple in the first century and crushed the Bar Kokhba revolt in the second century AD. However, they clung to their distinct religious/ethnic heritage rather than assimilate, if possible, with the lands they ended up in, which is why they remain a distinct religio-ethnic group. A lot of modern Jews don't care for the religion but they're still ethnically Jewish.
 

Button

Banned
Could be an epic movie or book, trying to unravel the truth and debating whether or not to tell grandpa.
 
Quick update :

After long talk with my mother (my grandpa's daughter) she agrees to the idea of looking for his real family.

But she's 100% against telling him right now and I kind of agree, for the time being.

We both think there is no point breaking the news, but having nothing to present after that.

So next year, I'm going to look for the long lost parents of my granpa.

Sounds like you're on the right path. I hope you find what you're looking for. Best of luck.
 
How was your mom's reaction, and have you contact a screenwriter

she freaked out. she wants to protect her dad. She's against anything that can shock him, he's old and getting fragile.

No screenwriter. I got Spielberg's agent on the phone. He made an offer, I told him fuck you. Get me Nolan or bust. He said Villeneuve. I said sure why not.

jk
 

Media

Member
Quick update :

After long talk with my mother (my grandpa's daughter) she agrees to the idea of looking for his real family.

But she's 100% against telling him right now and I kind of agree, for the time being.

We both think there is no point breaking the news, but having nothing to present after that.

So next year, I'm going to look for the long lost parents of my granpa.

Seriously, take a lot of notes. If you need a ghost writer hit me up.
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
Quick update :

After long talk with my mother (my grandpa's daughter) she agrees to the idea of looking for his real family.

But she's 100% against telling him right now and I kind of agree, for the time being.

We both think there is no point breaking the news, but having nothing to present after that.

So next year, I'm going to look for the long lost parents of my granpa.
Just think, it's possible your great grandparents never came back for him because they couldn't and went on to have more kids and you have a bunch of family out there you don't know about.
 

Not Spaceghost

Spaceghost
That's an insane story holy hell, talk about a family secret.

I understand your families reservations against telling him the truth but man, that's so insane.

You keep hunting for the truth though, there has to be some incredible untold story in there somewhere.
 

_Isaac

Member
This really is an amazing story. I hope you find more information.
I would personally find it really difficult not to tell him. If I was in that situation, I'd want to know and be involved in any search.
Yeah. I am trying to put myself in his shoes. I would definitely want to know, and I would actually be slightly annoyed if my family members embarked on this journey without me. Of course that's just me. You guys know him better.
 
Totally respect your decision to not be telling him at this moment. I just cant help but think of his parents that saved his life and him never knowing the truth. Thats heartbreaking. What a story and a mind fuck of a situation to be in.

I dont know how I would feel if someone in my family had come across something like that and kept it from me.

Well I guess I'd never know.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Interesting story, op. My grandma had a similar experience. When she was visiting her friends the gestapo came to kill some people from the village and every body was rounder up. My grandpa and her teacher (+ wife) were hiding in their cellar and as the gestapo was about to kill them the teacher threw my grandma out the window and she managed to run away. Were that her parents she would be in a very similar situation as your grandpa.
 

Thud

Member
Quick update :

After long talk with my mother (my grandpa's daughter) she agrees to the idea of looking for his real family.

But she's 100% against telling him right now and I kind of agree, for the time being.

We both think there is no point breaking the news, but having nothing to present after that.

So next year, I'm going to look for the long lost parents of my granpa.

Awesome, looks like one bizarre adventure. Good luck OP.
 
I'm so glad I read this. Great story. About halfway through, when you met the old lady I literally got closer to the screen and said "this is so good."

Deciding what to do with this info will be a tough choice. I think you should sit on it for a few days.
 
Very quick update : Research are going to be long and hard it seems. Its much more time consuming that I though.

Also plot twist : my mom isn't the real daughter of my grand parents. Apparently you can't have 2 parents with blue eyes and a brown eyes daughter.

so there's that also...
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Very quick update : Research are going to be long and hard it seems. Its much more time consuming that I though.

Also plot twist : my mom isn't the real daughter of my grand parents. Apparently you can't have 2 parents with blue eyes and a brown eyes daughter.

so there's that also...
o_O
 
Very quick update : Research are going to be long and hard it seems. Its much more time consuming that I though.

Also plot twist : my mom isn't the real daughter of my grand parents. Apparently you can't have 2 parents with blue eyes and a brown eyes daughter.

so there's that also...

I'm not sure genetics work that way in this case being blue eyes a recesive gen.
 

DOWN

Banned
Very quick update : Research are going to be long and hard it seems. Its much more time consuming that I though.

Also plot twist : my mom isn't the real daughter of my grand parents. Apparently you can't have 2 parents with blue eyes and a brown eyes daughter.

so there's that also...
That's not correct. They can have a brown eyed child.
 

cntr

Banned
Yeah unless you heard that from an actual geneticist, don't put too much stock in that. It's possible to be a carrier of a "dominant" gene like brown eyes.

that's why Metal Gear genetics don't work in real life
 
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