Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Nellie Dreschler, WWII Survivor

While fiddling about on the Internet a while back, I stumbled across this video.  Nellie Dreschler is a charming lady who, as a child, survived WWII in Holland.  Later she immigrated to the United States and became a citizen.

She decided to record her experiences for her children and grandchildren, to give them an understanding of what life was like for her family during that period of history.  I found her testimony fascinating.  There are many parallels between what life was like then and what we are living through now.

This video was filmed Oct. 17, 2013.  I think it is well worth watching.  Draw your own conclusions.

Nellie Dreschler, WWII Survivor

5 comments:

  1. That generation will be hard to follow. I don't think the people of today could survive that kind of life from the mid 1930's to 1945 and behind in the rebuilding of Europe, and the life behind the Iron curtain.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rob...I think that back then people were used to hard work. It toughened them and made it possible to withstand hard times. To stand around with your hand out waiting for someone to take care of you was unheard of.

    Those who aren't afraid to work and sweat and get dirty have a far better chance than those who whine of they break a nail or the battery in the remote goes dead.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i wonder if the conditions that the WW 2 Survivors/Depression Era folks had to deal with is why they became soft on their kids born post war?? and the reason we have issues today??

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rob...I think that most of us want our children to have life a little easier than we did. But I also think that having life easier has made later generations soft. Why bother hoeing and weeding a garden when you can buy lettuce and tomatoes and cucumbers in the super market. Why bother canning fruit and vegetables when that same store is full of canned fruit and vegetables. Why bother baking bread or sewing clothes or knitting mittens when someone else will do it for you. We have gotten lazy and it will hurt us in the long run.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I watched. I loved how she still inserted some Dutch words in her speech. My parents never spoke of the war so it was nice to listen to her experience.

    ReplyDelete