passport to intrigue

I recently inherited my Grand fathers first passport which he acquired in 1938 at the age of 19. A few things struck me about it.

Firstly: He acquired it before he met my grandmother. This may not seem strange but as I have always thought of the two of them as inseparable I found her omission most odd.

Secondly: The picture of the 19 year old who was looking back at me from within it's pages bared little resemblance to the man I was to come to know many years later.

Thirdly: On one of the visa pages there was a stamp from Nazi Germany.

The third discovery made me draw breath as I have only ever seen swastika's in museums as if they are part of a distant, long forgotten world, totally unconnected to my own. This single stamp gave me a connection, however tenuous to that time and the questions that it raised have been bouncing around inside my head ever since it's discovery. Who was the person who issued the stamp? Where was it issued? And most perplexing of all: What was my grand father doing in Nazi Germany in 1938?

I know that he was in the Civil service (it says so inside the front cover), but this only begs for more questions to be asked. He was there for 6 days and apart from a Swiss visa stamp in 1939, I can see no other foreign travel mentioned within it's well preserved pages. It would appear as if the passport was produced in order to facilitate the trip to the Third Reich, as the issuing date stamp is 10 days earlier than the German visa - but why did he go there????

My wily old grand father remains as alluring in death as he was in life. It is a shame that he passed on before I could ask him about any of this but then he wasn't the sort of man to spend hours relaying stories of the war to a younger generation and perhaps thought that if I really was interested then I would be able to find out by myself.

Behind Closed Doors

I haven't written here for a long time but I now feel compelled to as I have recently finished reading a book called "World War 2 Behind Closed Doors". It was the book of the recent BBC documentary of the same name and was quite an enjoyable and enlightening read as it is the first time I have read something that details the political alliance between Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt.
I sometimes get the impression that the second world war, and also with the first, was simply an ideological conflict between forces of good (the allies) and evil (the axis).
As I read further into the book I became aware that thinking of the opposing forces in black and white was far too simplistic. In order to defeat Germany; Britain and America had to align themselves with someone who was at least as evil as Hitler and maybe it was only because he was an even bigger bastard that he won. The constant back tracking and concessions made by Churchill and Roosevelt alluded to the fact that they knew they stood no chance against the Red Army and were simply trying to contain and appease Stalin as best they could. The number and severity of atrocities committed to not only their conquered foes but also their own people were, in my opinion, at least equal to that of the Nazi's.
Realising this has given a bit more of an understanding of my own grandparents reluctance to entertain any notion of victory celebrations. Why celebrate when all you've done is taken on an even greater problem?

Thiepval - Memorial to the Missing

When you visit the Tyne Cott visitor centre it is possible to make use of a computer database that lists the names, regiments, and final resting places of all those individuals who perished in the conflict. I curiously entered my own name into the programme and found the details of two men who bore the same name as I but never returned home. Delving deeper into the records I was able to find out where one of the men was from, where he died, and also a brief paragraph that gave some details of his family background. Of the other chap there was only information on the regiment he was with, where he died, and his final resting place, in this case Thiepval. I couldn't find any mention of his family so I presumed that he didn't have any. The thought of his memory passing in to history with no-one to spare a thought for what he endured made me feel melancholic so I decided I would travel to Thiepval, find his name, and pay my respects.

As is the case with most of the major war monuments it it visible from quite a distance away and is an imposing structure that rises from the tree line very sombrely. The names of nearly 74,000 British and French soldiers are inscribed on it with each name representing someone who died in the first battle of the Somme and who have no known final resting place.

After about 20 minutes of searching the columns I found my name sake. It was a sad experience as this man was 8 years younger than me when he died and I could not comprehend the kind of life that he had lived up until that point. Etched just above was his name in stone was "Ancre Heights". Upon further investigation I read that this battle took place in October 1916 and was an attempt to break the stalemate that had been in effect since July of the same year. More information can be found by following this link http://www.cwgc.org/somme/content.asp?menuid=31&id=31&menuname=Ancre%20Heights&menu=main .

I often contemplate what he would of made of my life and I hope that I have done justice to his name. Despite having never met him, last year on the 11th of November I visited our local war memorial and spent a minute thinking of him. I intend to do the same this year.

September 07

Last year we went to Belgium to watch the Grand Prix which was being held at Spa-Francorchamps. The race itself was rather processional but the nature of track made it a joy to watch. The topography of the place made for a unique viewing experience and the enthusiastic crowd, made up of Brits, Germans, Belgians, French, Italians, & Poles all barracked for their respective teams and drivers with great abandon. Perhaps Formula 1 should be considered the UN of the sports world.

Going to Belgium (via France) to watch the race was not the only reason we had for going. For a long time I have had an interest in the first world war and took the opportunity to visit as many war cemeteries as I could. Whilst the events of 1939 - 1945 are fresher in the mind for alot of people I am aware of the fact that the earlier conflict is perhaps fading into history as each member of that generation comes to rest.

I feel that my generation, who have never experienced war on our doorstep, are too quick to dismiss it as something that doesn't affect us and have become numb to the horrors of total devastation. We can see brief snippets from Iraq or Afghanistan on you-tube and then re-enact them on our Xboxes safe in the knowledge that we can respawn at any time

How I see Europe

When I stop to look at the political climate of the UK I have a deep sense of foreboding dread. The ever expanding EU has resulted in a populous who are now living on each others door steps but not passing the time of day with each other. The indigenous population feels hard done by and the imported cultures feel victimised and unwanted. To an extent both sides are correct in their thinking, but neither are proposing any realistic solutions to the problem. There has been much written about the effects of immigration and I for one have become rather fatigued by both sides of the argument.

Europe is a very old place with a jumbled history and many contradictory ways of life. The two world wars at the start of the century have shaped it to such an extent that it can be argued we are still feeling the effects of them. The old guard of Europe, namely, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, & Germany have all have all been shaped by the the events of the early twentieth century and old rivalries are still very much apparent. How many times have you heard of people expressing their disdain for all things German? The joke shared between two Englishmen stating that "France is a lovely place. It's a shame it's full of French" is still met with much laughter. In my opinion this is a good thing as we can all make light of each others differences.

In Britain it is common knowledge that the rest of Europe views us as a nation who are proud to be a pain in the arse. Our present generation is notorious for being the worst behaved when on holiday and our delusion that every English sporting team is better than everyone elses is chortled at in equal to jokes about the Germans in England. A Dutch colleague often jokes that English teams are rubbish at their respective sport, but the English fans make up for it by winning their fights after each game. But we manage to get along and havent had any wars for a long time so I guess we must be doing something right.