Don’t I wish I looked like Robert Duvall now at 62! Actually I wasn’t a bad lookin young skinny dude in 1983 at my first wedding. She was called home by the Lord but my new wife is keeping me on the straight and narrow. Tryin’ to, anyway.
I do remember Germans yammering at me so what about Auschwitz why did you have to bomb our cities. I have since given away all my souvenir German stuff too bad since I am ethnically half German but American all the way. Guys I served with in FRG who spoke German better than me even with German surnames were appalled at how they were treated by the locals. My bride flew into Frankfurt airport and she was furious how they treated her like a Jew because of her dark hair and eyes. Ironically I beat out two Jewish guys who tried to marry her before I did.
BTW, G-d bless Israel!
Your experiences in Germany are certainly eye-opening. My husband and I were in Pere Lacaise cemetary in Paris several years ago after seeing the grave of Maria Callas. A German couple came up to us and started yammering about (get this!) “where were the crematoriums? The crematoriums?” They apparently meant the indoor cemetery where Callas was buried. But all we could focus on were Germans carrying on about crematoriums. We had a good if awkward laugh about it.
My best friend survived the Blitz as a child of about 3-5 years. The worst fight I ever saw him get into was when his wife suggested Dresden should never have happened. But then, as a Brit, he thinks Hiroshima should never have happened. Go figure!