The Other Woman
When a person is desperate for survival, they'll do things they never imagined in order to cling to what little they have left of their minds, let alone their bodies.
In the prison camp where my grandmother was held during WW2, she befriended a woman who seemed to receive little bits of luxury...scraps of food (other than the cold potato soup they were served daily), soap, socks, chocolates.
How did she come across these things?
The Nazi guards gave them to her.
Why did they give them to her?
Because she was a woman....
My grandmother was lucky that the woman was generous with the Nazis as well as with her and would share the little treasures she received in payment with my grandmother. It made life slightly bearable and my grandmother didn't have to give of herself to those monsters. At least willingly. The woman, I think, didn't do what she did willingly to the point where she wanted to do it, but if what she received helped her cling to living, then she did what she had to do in order to survive.
In the prison camp where my grandmother was held during WW2, she befriended a woman who seemed to receive little bits of luxury...scraps of food (other than the cold potato soup they were served daily), soap, socks, chocolates.
How did she come across these things?
The Nazi guards gave them to her.
Why did they give them to her?
Because she was a woman....
My grandmother was lucky that the woman was generous with the Nazis as well as with her and would share the little treasures she received in payment with my grandmother. It made life slightly bearable and my grandmother didn't have to give of herself to those monsters. At least willingly. The woman, I think, didn't do what she did willingly to the point where she wanted to do it, but if what she received helped her cling to living, then she did what she had to do in order to survive.
posted by Shannon at
10:01 AM
4 Comments:
survival was so difficult in those camps. that woman protected your grandmother, and your grandmother did not hold that woman's survival instinct against her. they both must have appreciated one another very much.
ke
By
k2, at 4/28/2008 11:58 AM
wow. what a raw, real description.
You do what you got to do to survive.
By
Life As I Know It, at 4/28/2008 4:16 PM
Your grandmother is a wonderful person. I'm glad she was a survivor.
By
meanderings, at 4/28/2008 7:35 PM
Thank you for sharing this story Shannon. Those camps were horrifying to say the least. I'm glad she had someone there for her.
By
Jamie, at 4/29/2008 11:10 AM
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