I used to work for a catering company in Wellington and we did food at funerals i liked to listen the eulogies and look at the photos.
Have heard some amazing stories of refugees and how they survived the concentration camps and came to NZ.
One particular day did a small service for a guy and his son gets up and starts talking part way through he stops and says in German his fathers real name and they then displayed a heap of photos of his father in Gestapo Uniform at concentration camps. The funeral director was mortified they hadnt said a word to him. Seems the father had lived a very quiet life here and was surrounded by like minded people if those that attended the funeral were anything to go by. Was actually quite chilling over hearing some of what they spoke about.
Have heard some amazing stories of refugees and how they survived the concentration camps and came to NZ.
One particular day did a small service for a guy and his son gets up and starts talking part way through he stops and says in German his fathers real name and they then displayed a heap of photos of his father in Gestapo Uniform at concentration camps. The funeral director was mortified they hadnt said a word to him. Seems the father had lived a very quiet life here and was surrounded by like minded people if those that attended the funeral were anything to go by. Was actually quite chilling over hearing some of what they spoke about.
Wow that is an incredible yarn. For the son to do that, it sounds like sadly the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
Once as a Massey uni student in Palmy, I did some gardening for an elderly couple who I think told me they originally came from a Baltic state. I remember seeing a number tattoed on the arm of the old guy. I was too young and dumb to think of what that really meant.