My late uncle did quite a bit of research into his father's (my maternal grandfather) disappearance in World War II. IIRC, granddad Väinö was last seen in the area of the Karelian Isthmus where the Soviet Union had opened their last, great strategic offensive in the summer of 1944. According to what my mom and her mother told, he was last seen running through heavy shelling towards the enemy. No trace of him was ever found, and he was declared dead some years after the war. AFAIK, my grandmother went to her grave believing that he had been taken prisoner and sent to Siberia, but I find that unlikely. After all, many men were literally ripped into more or less minced meat during that offensive.
I know I have a paper copy somewhere of the long essay my uncle wrote based on what he had found in our War Archives. IIRC,it is a description of the last days of his father's life: the troop movements, the orders, the tactical level back-n-forth, possibly also lists of casualties (the able-bodied men from my mother's home village were almost all obliterated).
Now I need a motive to dig for that bunch of paper, because I would like to share that information with my kids. Which would also mean that I would need to translate it, seeing that Finnish will not soon be among their strongest languages. It would help my motivation if someone else also thought they would want to read it.
So please motivate me!
"The internet is made of people. People matter. This includes you. Stop trying to sell everything about yourself to everyone. Don’t just hammer away and repeat and talk at people—talk TO people. It’s organic. Make stuff for the internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free." -
Maureen J
"...
anyone who says it’s “just the Internet” can
. And then when they come back, they can
again." -
Tigger
