This Jewish man once guarded Nazis. Here’s what one of his prisoners sent him

Times of war and conflict can reduce humanity and opportunities for genuine joy to nothing more than distant memories.

However, a reddit post by Imgur user AccidentllyUpvotes demonstrates that kindness can be found in even the darkest of places.

Like for example, a prisoner of war (POW) camp. For Nazis.

AccidentallyUpvotes uploaded images of a book that was sent to their grandfather-in-law by one of the POWs. You see, he had been a Jewish-American officer who oversaw Nazi POWs during the Second World War in France.

The illustrations depict everyday life for prisoners in the camp; there are images of POW’s eating, socialising, and working.

German POWs were also obligated to be part of a ‘re-education’ program, part of which included watching a film about concentration camps, forcing them to confront the atrocities of the Third Reich – atrocities they helped to commit.

The post wrote:

My grandfather-in-law was a Jewish-American Officer who oversaw a German prisoner of war (POW) camp in WW2 France. ‘Pop’ treated everyone with respect and was quite popular as a result. Years after the war he received this illustrated book from one of his prisoners in the mail.

I found it rummaging through my in-law's basement this past weekend and wanted to share what I perceived to be a good primary source of history.

 In light of the ‘on all sides’ rhetoric I found this to be a poignant reminder of how people on opposing sides…could come together.

I never had a chance to meet Pop, but from what I'm told he was a gentleman and a scholar who was even more popular with the ladies than he was with the Nazis.

I didn't know this, but apparently they made the German POWs watch film taken from the liberation of concentration camps. I could only imagine the deep shame some of them must have felt to realize that they were on the wrong side of history.

Here's the book, titled: 'POW’S LIFE', by Obergefreter K Roedelbach

You can use the arrows to view all the images.

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