I once had neighbors who lived in adjoining properties for years before discovering not only that they fought on opposite sides in WWII (US and Germany) but also in the same operation (Operation Dragoon) and same town (Grenoble).
The German neighbor was really nice, the American, not so much.
Edit: Since it seems like folks want to hear more of the story, here's the rest (I apologize, it's been nearly 15 years since I thought about this, so the details are a bit fuzzy).
I was a journalist working at a small-town newspaper during the early days of the Iraq war (early 2000s). We did a lot of rah-rah military stuff like features on people serving, vets, etc.
One Veterans Day I was working on a feature about World War II vets and went to talk to this guy who lived around the corner from me who had served in Europe at that time.
Everything was going along well enough until we started talking about what he did after the war. He started talking about going to college and getting a good job at the local plant and then he said "...and I bought this nice house, which was great until that Kraut bastard moved in behind us." Up to this point, I had no idea about his neighbor, who happened to be a former German soldier.
I tried to find out more, but the former American soldier didn't want to talk about it. "I've been ignoring him for 40 years," he said. "And I'm going to ignore him until even after he's dead and gone."
He got pretty angry when I asked follow-up questions and the interview ended pretty quickly thereafter.
Later, the man's wife told me that back in the 1960s, after they'd live in the house for about a decade, a nice couple moved into the house directly behind them. At the time, they shared a chain-link fence between their yards, and they spoke regularly. Occasionally their children would play together.
After a few years, the American vet found out about the German vet's past (the wife couldn't recall how they found out, but suspected it was one of the children who let it slip). The American vet went to speak to the German vet about it and found out the details of his service, that they fought in the same operation and in the same town.
The American vet's wife said that her husband was very upset about the possibility that their neighbor had at one time tried to kill him, and vowed never to speak to him again. Soon afterward, he built the tallest privacy fence he could on the back of their property.
A few days later, I went to the German man's house to speak to him and he corroborated the whole story, with one big difference. He was upset when the fence went up, because in his mind he hadn't done anything wrong.
He was a conscript in the German army who never rose past the rank of private first class (Obersoldat). I did some digging and his story checked out. He said he wasn't a fervent member of the Nazi party and even in that theater, wasn't at the front of the fighting. Besides, he said, the war had been over for 20 years by the time he moved into this house. He was just trying to make a good life for his family and be a good neighbor. He'd said he'd hoped bygones could be bygones.
He said he tried for years to mend fences — literally and figuratively (he said the last time he spoke to his neighbor was when he tried to replace a board that split on his privacy fence). Eventually, sometime in the mid-1980s, he gave up.
These men were pretty old at the time, so I'm fairly certain both have since passed away. It makes me sad to think that the American vet may have carried this grudge to the grave, and that both had to live a majority of their lives with a neighbor with whom they couldn't share a friendship.
tl;dr - American and German vets shared a property line. American never forgave German for maybe shooting at him one time.
Edit #2 - Edited for clarity. The German man told me that he wasn't a member of the Nazi party and did not support Hitler. He was conscripted into the army and had no choice but to go. I was able to confirm his rank, his outfit and years of service (which enabled me to confirm his story). I was not, unfortunately, able to independently confirm whether he was a member of the Nazi party.
He seemed sincere. I've met a lot of folks who had something to hide or were outright liars. He didn't seem either.
Since a lot of people are asking for a bit of a story I figured I would give one.
My name is Dylan and I live in the US of A, with both a German citizenship and an American one. My grandfather on my dads side was an American Air Force navigator, and received a Purple Heart and was discharged from the forces after serving 4? tours. My grandfather on my mother side was a solider in the German army, who was in (I believe) the SS.
After the war, my German grandfather moved back to his hometown of Düsseldorf, and my American grandfather back to Greatneck, New York.
Years later, my mother left home after getting an opportunity to be an teacher in New York, and being driven out by my grandfathers drunkenness and strictness. Once she arrived in New York (which is where I currently live) she started her new job and had to walk through Central Park everyday to get to the school.
My father was currently living in New York as well, and was walking his dog "Ernie" through Central Park and met my mother and another one of her friends at Bethesda Fountain. And everything kind of worked it's way from that.
I only know of one time they could have interacted, but sadly I really have no proof of it. But during my parents wedding, they were both stuck in a crowded New York City terrace, and could have possibly mingled. And besides there was way more interesting things happing at this party (such as drunken plate throwing, but that's another long story.)
So they could have met, but I have no knowledge of this, and I think my parents were far too hoped up on drugs at the time to remember anything like this.
My American grandfather died before I was born, and my German Grandfather died in 2009.
Ps. Sorry for the spelling and grammatical mistakes on this, I am doing this on a phone and rushing to finish as I am in 9th period Spanish currently delaying work. I will be home soon so please feel free to ask me questions below!
Edit: I accidentally put used funeral instead of Wedding.
Craneteam on May 30th, 2017 at 13:20 UTC »
That mustve made thanksgiving awkward...
chet_lemon_party on May 30th, 2017 at 16:24 UTC »
I once had neighbors who lived in adjoining properties for years before discovering not only that they fought on opposite sides in WWII (US and Germany) but also in the same operation (Operation Dragoon) and same town (Grenoble).
The German neighbor was really nice, the American, not so much.
Edit: Since it seems like folks want to hear more of the story, here's the rest (I apologize, it's been nearly 15 years since I thought about this, so the details are a bit fuzzy).
I was a journalist working at a small-town newspaper during the early days of the Iraq war (early 2000s). We did a lot of rah-rah military stuff like features on people serving, vets, etc.
One Veterans Day I was working on a feature about World War II vets and went to talk to this guy who lived around the corner from me who had served in Europe at that time.
Everything was going along well enough until we started talking about what he did after the war. He started talking about going to college and getting a good job at the local plant and then he said "...and I bought this nice house, which was great until that Kraut bastard moved in behind us." Up to this point, I had no idea about his neighbor, who happened to be a former German soldier.
I tried to find out more, but the former American soldier didn't want to talk about it. "I've been ignoring him for 40 years," he said. "And I'm going to ignore him until even after he's dead and gone."
He got pretty angry when I asked follow-up questions and the interview ended pretty quickly thereafter.
Later, the man's wife told me that back in the 1960s, after they'd live in the house for about a decade, a nice couple moved into the house directly behind them. At the time, they shared a chain-link fence between their yards, and they spoke regularly. Occasionally their children would play together.
After a few years, the American vet found out about the German vet's past (the wife couldn't recall how they found out, but suspected it was one of the children who let it slip). The American vet went to speak to the German vet about it and found out the details of his service, that they fought in the same operation and in the same town.
The American vet's wife said that her husband was very upset about the possibility that their neighbor had at one time tried to kill him, and vowed never to speak to him again. Soon afterward, he built the tallest privacy fence he could on the back of their property.
A few days later, I went to the German man's house to speak to him and he corroborated the whole story, with one big difference. He was upset when the fence went up, because in his mind he hadn't done anything wrong.
He was a conscript in the German army who never rose past the rank of private first class (Obersoldat). I did some digging and his story checked out. He said he wasn't a fervent member of the Nazi party and even in that theater, wasn't at the front of the fighting. Besides, he said, the war had been over for 20 years by the time he moved into this house. He was just trying to make a good life for his family and be a good neighbor. He'd said he'd hoped bygones could be bygones.
He said he tried for years to mend fences — literally and figuratively (he said the last time he spoke to his neighbor was when he tried to replace a board that split on his privacy fence). Eventually, sometime in the mid-1980s, he gave up.
These men were pretty old at the time, so I'm fairly certain both have since passed away. It makes me sad to think that the American vet may have carried this grudge to the grave, and that both had to live a majority of their lives with a neighbor with whom they couldn't share a friendship.
tl;dr - American and German vets shared a property line. American never forgave German for maybe shooting at him one time.
Edit #2 - Edited for clarity. The German man told me that he wasn't a member of the Nazi party and did not support Hitler. He was conscripted into the army and had no choice but to go. I was able to confirm his rank, his outfit and years of service (which enabled me to confirm his story). I was not, unfortunately, able to independently confirm whether he was a member of the Nazi party.
He seemed sincere. I've met a lot of folks who had something to hide or were outright liars. He didn't seem either.
DylanLanza on May 30th, 2017 at 17:38 UTC »
Since a lot of people are asking for a bit of a story I figured I would give one.
My name is Dylan and I live in the US of A, with both a German citizenship and an American one. My grandfather on my dads side was an American Air Force navigator, and received a Purple Heart and was discharged from the forces after serving 4? tours. My grandfather on my mother side was a solider in the German army, who was in (I believe) the SS.
After the war, my German grandfather moved back to his hometown of Düsseldorf, and my American grandfather back to Greatneck, New York.
Years later, my mother left home after getting an opportunity to be an teacher in New York, and being driven out by my grandfathers drunkenness and strictness. Once she arrived in New York (which is where I currently live) she started her new job and had to walk through Central Park everyday to get to the school.
My father was currently living in New York as well, and was walking his dog "Ernie" through Central Park and met my mother and another one of her friends at Bethesda Fountain. And everything kind of worked it's way from that.
I only know of one time they could have interacted, but sadly I really have no proof of it. But during my parents wedding, they were both stuck in a crowded New York City terrace, and could have possibly mingled. And besides there was way more interesting things happing at this party (such as drunken plate throwing, but that's another long story.)
So they could have met, but I have no knowledge of this, and I think my parents were far too hoped up on drugs at the time to remember anything like this.
My American grandfather died before I was born, and my German Grandfather died in 2009.
Ps. Sorry for the spelling and grammatical mistakes on this, I am doing this on a phone and rushing to finish as I am in 9th period Spanish currently delaying work. I will be home soon so please feel free to ask me questions below!
Edit: I accidentally put used funeral instead of Wedding.
Edit2: thanks for gold!