My earlier ramblings on Nazis & Norwegians, etc…continued with a tribute to an honest man*** [b:4a66177aff]..
. Anders Gabriel Nordstrand, 86…beloved father, grandfather, and Norwegian Resistance worker…[/b:4a66177aff]
He died peacefully last Monday. His last photo of a few weeks ago shows a man with a peaceful smile. One of his sons (also an honest man) reports that he knew where his next stop after death would be.
As I mentioned in my first freeform, I only asked Norwegian relatives once about the Resistance workers, but suspect I didn’t get an answer because the family tree is (I suspect) mixed with Resistance and Collaborationists and maybe the rest just…trying to feed their families & survive.
(Probably the usual proportions of a few heroes, a few collaboraters, & the rest just surviving exist in most European families who suffered Nazi or Communist occupation.)
Maybe they think we (in the US—-not suffering a 10th of their deprivation and horror during WWII) would judge them harshly.
Unlike 2 relations who I know collaborated with the Nazis, Anders and his brother and Trygve & others unknown to me [b:4a66177aff]—-knew who they were, knew what the rules of the universe were…
and THUS were not seduced by the initially attractive Nazi doctrine. [/b:4a66177aff]
(Naziism did appeal to some in the so called Aryan countries the Nazis occupied and some persons in various occupied countries collaborated.)
the two others the collaborators—(whom I also met) were the most highly educated relatives I met. One person had been a professor; one had been a world traveling civil engineer.
Yet both these highly educated individuals with their high IQs were seduced (to some extent) by the Nazi doctrine. Not enough apparently for war criminal status, but enough that others noticed…and never forgot.
superior brains and education did not help them choose the best moral path. [/b:4a66177aff]Ultimately, they were dishonest to some extent in submitting to the seductiveness of power and (supposed) superiority that Nazis marketed.
Thus, Anders helped his people (and his culture) and O. and M. damaged both. Brains are not enough. One needs to discern the true path from the false. There is knowledge and there is also wisdom.
“An honest man (or woman) is the noblest work of God.”
vanlee
May 23 2005
09:53 pm
My earlier ramblings on Nazis & Norwegians, etc…continued with a tribute to an honest man*** [b:4a66177aff]..
. Anders Gabriel Nordstrand, 86…beloved father, grandfather, and Norwegian Resistance worker…[/b:4a66177aff]
He died peacefully last Monday. His last photo of a few weeks ago shows a man with a peaceful smile. One of his sons (also an honest man) reports that he knew where his next stop after death would be.
As I mentioned in my first freeform, I only asked Norwegian relatives once about the Resistance workers, but suspect I didn’t get an answer because the family tree is (I suspect) mixed with Resistance and Collaborationists and maybe the rest just…trying to feed their families & survive.
(Probably the usual proportions of a few heroes, a few collaboraters, & the rest just surviving exist in most European families who suffered Nazi or Communist occupation.)Maybe they think we (in the US—-not suffering a 10th of their deprivation and horror during WWII) would judge them harshly.
Unlike 2 relations who I know collaborated with the Nazis, Anders and his brother and Trygve & others unknown to me [b:4a66177aff]—-knew who they were, knew what the rules of the universe were…
and THUS were not seduced by the initially attractive Nazi doctrine. [/b:4a66177aff]
(Naziism did appeal to some in the so called Aryan countries the Nazis occupied and some persons in various occupied countries collaborated.)
the two others the collaborators—(whom I also met) were the most highly educated relatives I met. One person had been a professor; one had been a world traveling civil engineer.
Yet both these highly educated individuals with their high IQs were seduced (to some extent) by the Nazi doctrine. Not enough apparently for war criminal status, but enough that others noticed…and never forgot. superior brains and education did not help them choose the best moral path. [/b:4a66177aff]Ultimately, they were dishonest to some extent in submitting to the seductiveness of power and (supposed) superiority that Nazis marketed.Thus, Anders helped his people (and his culture) and O. and M. damaged both. Brains are not enough. One needs to discern the true path from the false. There is knowledge and there is also wisdom.
“An honest man (or woman) is the noblest work of God.”