A wee yarn...
in replies.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Thu 5 Mar 2009, 15:06, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

A funny story about my Nana and Germans


I was round my Nanas’ house one afternoon.
My Mam was there, as was my aunty.
Ze German was on her way over.
My Nana did not know this.
Nor did she know Ze German is German.
As you can imagine, I don’t refer to her as ‘Ze German’ in real life.

My Nana didn’t like Germans because of what that nasty Hitler did to the Jews.

My Nana loved the Jews because when she was little, the Jews in her neighbourhood used to leave their door open and a penny on the hall stand so as the little gentile girl could come in and light their fire for them on Sabbath.

They left the money on the hall stand the night before as they weren’t allowed to touch money on that most sacred of days either.

Greatest people in the world were the Jews according to my Nana.

And oh how they suffered under those nasty Germans…

During the war, despite our neutrality, a number of pilots from both sides “crashed” on our lovely wee isle. It is thought not all of them unintentional.

They were interned separately in camps in county Wicklow just south of Dublin.

They were allowed to leave the camp within certain confines.

The English prisoners were allowed to stray three miles from their camp; the Germans thirty.

Despite their traditionally rigid and fastidious approach to the rules, many Germans took advantage of this one and often made their way into Dublin city to “meet” Irish girls.

They were popular, beloved even.
They blended in.
Many settled and never returned to Ze Vaterland.

To be fair, any bit of exotica and excitement was much welcomed in a country barely 20 years old since it’s having extricated itself (mostly) from English tyranny and as our (American born) President of the time, Eamon DeValera said,

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

When the German leader passed, President DeValera took a contingent to the German embassy and signed the book of condolences.

So that day, as usual, Nanas’ atrophying mind was off on one of her oft-repeated rants about what that nasty Hitler did to the Jews.

My Mam, my aunt and I all mouthed the words of the familiar parole to one another and secretly chuckled amongst ourselves.

My Mam then said to my Nana,

“Ah Peg”, for this is how she was known, “Not all Germans are bad”

“They’re all bastards!” Peg exclaimed.

“Just look at what they did to the poor Jews. Best people in the world were the Jews. When I was a little girl and I still had my head of blonde curls – like an angel I was and the Jews used to leave their door open on their holy day and there would be a penny on the hall stand and I would light their fire for them because they weren’t allowed to handle money on their holy day or light fires…”

for the umpteenth time, sometimes the same day.

“Baz’s girlfriend is German” my Mam interrupted.

“Ah yeah, but she’s different. She’s here now, isn’t she? She’s just like the Irish”

The 1940’s never ended for my Nana.

Rafter
baz
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Thu 5 Mar 2009, 15:06, Reply)

Nanas, you've got to love them.
I had the same stories about the war repeated to me ad infinitum for several years growing up. She used to drive me crazy but I miss them now she's gone.
( girlinthehole, Thu 5 Mar 2009, 15:14, Reply)