Emotional.

Today it is 105 years since my Mother was born. Poignant that while J is slowly unpacking his office paperwork, he found this letter (we knew we had it somewhere). J translated this through the net, so some of the wording may seem strange.

During the war, my mother was a nursing sister in Germany. She was Latvian, and left stateless at the end of the war, but that is another story. She was engaged to an SS Officer. He was executed on the 8th August 1942 (guillotined, I believe). His crime? Doubting what was going on in Germany and listening to the BBC world service.

 This is the first few paragraphs of his letter to my Mum. There are two more pages, including a beautiful poem.

We read up on the Brandenburg- Gordon Prison ... In brief, a total of 1,722 people who were sentenced for political reasons were executed there, 652 other political prisoners died from disease, and 7 committed suicide. The Red Army liberated the prison during the Battle of Berlin on 27th April 1945, finding around 3,600 prisoners, including 180 awaiting execution.

Will we ever learn to live in peace?

Finishing on a brighter note. 13 year old Ali enjoying her wet walk this morning. Extra