Creek Speak April 2017 | Page 14

Odyssey. We kids gained weight again, my parents full of joy, that this all had come to an end.. In Fall 1945 we went back to Northern Germany, where the nightmare had begun over two years ago... Uncounted Allied soldiers liberated Western Europe from the German occupancy.”The bar against German refugees like Rolf in the 1940’s during World War II was happening because Americans feared Nazi’s entering the U.S. Similar to the reason Syrian refugees are no longer allowed to enter America today, because of fear of attacks on American citizens. In today's world we are facing the Syrian refugee crisis where innocent children, and people in general are targets and are being killed. Instead of helping them we are allowing history to repeat itself and are barring refugees from entering the country in fear of terrorism. Even though out of all the acts of terrorism committed according to the FBI, 6% of terrorist attacks in the United States Between 1980 to 2005 have been Muslims. That leaves 94% of terrorist attacks being carried out by non-Muslim, and non- Syrian people. It is important to remember that refugees can be any race, any age, and any gender. The fear surrounded is fostered by what the media feeds the mass public. Refugees are people; in the 1940’s there was an immigration ban and thousands like Rolf, and others were trapped in Europe and were unsafe because America refused to let innocent people in. Because of this, millions of innocent people died. Anytime the Holocaust is brought up we are always told to never forget and never let it happen again, we always say “If I was alive at that time I would have done something.” Well now is your chance to not let history repeat itself. Syrian or German. At the end of the day everyone is human and deserves every chance to live a happy, healthy and safe life, regardless of race, religion, age, or gender.

Here is the Original Letter sent in from Rolf.

“This is the story of my sister (born 1935) and myself (born 1937).

When WW II started in 1939, in our young age we did not thought about it much.

We saw German soldiers and military vehicles in the streets, but could not figure out

what it was all about.Years went on, and by 1942 in our small town we got use to it to spend during the day and night a good number of hours in a shelter, beneath the surface of the ground/street level. Together with people of our neighbourhood, we could hear the Allied bombers in the air, heading for the industrial areas of Germany, where they dropped the bombs.

My Dad's father was a Jew. But he had left Germany on time, with his new family.