chris
The chains of my grandpa
Last visit in the barn of my grandpa, before it is demolished.
Somehow it is a sad moment because I can still remember very well being there as a child with my grandfather among all the animals.
My grandfather was a great lover of animals. Keeping animals of all kinds was his hobby.
When he came out of Russian captivity in Siberia after the Second World War, he was a sick and broken man.
Perhaps he had incurred unbearable guilt as a #soldier in the German Wehrmacht - I don't know, because he never talked about it - with anyone in the family.
He often said: "Since I have known the people, I love the animals".
In the end, he perished from the physical and psychological consequences of his experiences in the Second World War and in captivity.
The older I get, the more I realise that he gave me something to take with me.
Rest in peace, Opa!
August 2023 Christoph Koester | #Gierskopp #Olsberg