My grandparents lived through it. God only knows how. My Grandpa (Dziadzio) was a Soviet artillery soldier, taken prisoner… at some point in time.
I have a small transcription of my grandpa’s story, not all of it, just the parts that he was willing to tell in 1976. Sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s he opened up a bit more and told Mom more of the story naming commanders, places and timelines. That was lost or destroyed after my Mom’s death against our permission. I’m very much watching this series to get as many nuggets I can piece together of Grandpa’s story and to piece together what facts I can. I feel I know much less than I ought to.
This episode hurt to watch more than most for me. He would have still been fighting at this point, but this was when he would be viewed as a traitor for being taken prisoner. He went to his grave fearing the NKVD / KGB would somehow find him and drag him back as a traitor. My mind can’t fathom it. But from this point on his fate was sealed once he became a prisoner.
Raw survival must have been brutal. He found a cow’s femur, for a month it was his only food. That was the good story, “It’s how I got strong teeth” he’d say.
It must have been hard. It happened, they got through.
Yes, I get very worked up over some of these episodes. Mostly I get by knowing it’s history and for the most part behind us - even if the effects sometimes linger. I cope by remembering to try to appreciate all the more the Time Ghost ethos of trying to tell the story as fairly and as accurately as it happened.
Thanks for posting this, @charlottev13. It’s a little nod of respect to Dziadzio and his mates who had it rough for a long time.