War affects children for generations let me tell you a story (long read)
Some one earlier said this and it has stuck with me. I wanted to share my answer with everyone the following is a true account:
Lieselotte Stein was 6 years old when the second world war started with the invasion of Poland in September of 1939. She lived in the bustling transportation and financial hub of Frankfurt am Main Germany. Her mom and dad and two older sisters all lived in a cozy for bedroom apartment close to the core of the downtown area of this city of at time 600,000 inhabitants.
Her home and many others were bombed into nothing but rubble. In 1944 she along with all other children 12 and under were ordered by Hitler to be removed from the cities as the Allies were doing around the clock bombing. She along with the other children, because there was no transportation were forced to walk for 49 days to an orphanage just inside the Austrian border. This was in the winter of 1944 and part f that trek was through the icy and snowy Bavarian Alps, done with substandard footwear. She was put in a Roman Catholic orphanage jus inside the Austrian border for the remainder of the war. This gave her frostbite in her left foot and leg and her right toes.
when the European war ended in May of 1945, she, along with the rest of the children were kicked out of the orphanage and transported to just inside the German border. Following this she wandered and made the pilgrimage to get back home. She slept in doorways, bombed out buildings, sometime a convent or church, pegging for food and looking for clothing. She wandered through Germany for five weeks before being picked up by an American Military patrol and brought to a staging orphanage in northern Germany. For 11 weeks she was lined up every Saturday morning while parents came to look for their children. On the 12th week her father found her and brought her home.
Because of the long walk under icy conditions, when she was in her first pregnancy, the changing hormones in her body, caused those symptoms to turn to gangrene. In the seventh month her pregnancy in order to save her baby's life, she had to have her left leg amputated to just below her knee and the toes on her right foot also amputated with just local anesthetic in order to save her little boy's life. Her child was born at the end of the seventh month of gestation.
That little boy was me and Lieselotte was my mother.
All my life, I saw her struggle with health issues. She always had to watch her weight, weighing neither too much or too little in order for her prosthesis to fit. She had many other health issues also. Because of the pain and loss she sort of gave up, descended into serious alcoholism and died when I was 15 years old.
As for me, I did not have a normal childhood either. I had encephalitis as an infant because of the poor health conditions in the German hospitals because of the war. It gave me poor equilibrium, poor eye sight and neurological damage that is still mildly present today but was acute when I was a child. More than that, I was always worried about my mom. The emotional toll was great. I was teased by other kids because of her "peg" leg. I listened at night in bed for any sound from her to make sure she was still alive. I was always worried that one day I would find her as I did, unconscious and close to death.
The man she married in Frankfurt and became pregnant with, left her and her new born son after her amputation. She married an American soldier who brought us to the US at age 14 and later I achieved my citizenship. He died as a result of injuries suffered while fighting in Vietnam when I was 7.
Emotionally I always longed as a child to have a father and mother who could come to my singing, plays, sports, school nights etc. As an adult it would have been a joy to be able to share in those great events, high school and college graduation, marriage, birth of children and grand children, when I ran for US Congress etc.
So my point of this post is that not only does it affect children deeply, but succeeding generations also. I ask that we keep ALL the children involved in our prayers, good wishes and healing thoughts. When ever there is a war, I always think of them first. I was lucky that I laned on my feet and live a nice comfortable life now.
This is not my native language, but I hope this makes enough sense for those readers to remember the children (the innocents of war) and do what we can for them, whether by prayer or direct action.
Thanks Mike C
= new reply since forum marked as read
