[Leica] May 8, 1945

[oliverbryk at iqmail.net (Oliver)]

Nathan wrote:

"Today is May 8th, the day World War II ended in Europe. In many
countries various solemn events are taking place. I will visit the
Commonwealth cemetery near Arnhem tomorrow morning.

On this day, as a son of a Holocaust surviver, I want to remember and to
thank the people who made victory over Nazi Germany possible:

- the Russians who lost 20 million people during the war and whose stand
at Stalingrad was arguably the turning point of the war, certainly on
the Eastern Front;

- the Americans who brought their military and industrial might to bear
on the opposite side of Europe;

- and most of all, the British, who persevered during the darkest hour
in 1940, when all of the Continent was either occupied or neutral, the
Soviet Union had its non-aggression pact with Hitler, and the USA was
happily neutral on the other side of the Atlantic. If Britain had
fallen, there would have been no Western Front, no place for the USA
from which to stage D-Day, no future for this continent.

May their sacrifices never be forgotten.

Nathan"

Thank you for posting these thoughts, Nathan. As a survivor who was near
Berlin on that day, I share your sentiments wholeheartedly. I, too, visit
cemeteries and memorials from those terrible years. We must never forget.
Oliver Bryk