It’s amazing how much power Germany once had! I spent almost an hour on Saturday evening in Normandy, talking to Christophe’s parents about World War II. Since they’re Europeans and their parents have lived in Europe throughout the World War II, they had much more dramatic stories to tell me. The perspectives were much different from my grandparents because they lived in US during World War II and my grandparents had less frightening experience than Christophe’s grandparents. Christophe’s father’s father was living in Alsace, an area in France that is right on the border of Germany. All the French people who lived in Alsace were told by the Germans that they had to become German citizens and join their army. It was NOT optional. Because Christophe’s grandfather did not want to become German nor fight in the war, he had to flee to Algeria, a country in northern Africa. He lived there for a few years and then moved to England toward the end of the war. While he was living in England, he joined the army. England was allies with France. Thus, technically, he was still with the French because of that. As a soldier, he flew on planes that dropped bombs in Germany. Christophe’s mother’s mother was forced to live with a German soldier. Christophe’s mother’s grandmother had to work as a housekeeper for the German soldier. Again, this was NOT optional! Another thing that I did not know was that Jews did not only flee to United States, but a lot also fled to Algeria, Tunisia, and other countries in northern Africa. Apparently, there is a huge Jewish population in northern Africa today!