Ruth Trumble: The Inaccuracies Of The Holocaust

Brief Background:

My great-grandma, Ruth Trumble, is 87 years old and suffers from minor alzheimer's disease. Her responses to the questions I asked her would sometimes vary and often led to a fair amount of confusion. With the assignment of this project I began to think about the fact that in just a few years time, these personal interviews won’t be possible. With that in mind, I took down my great-grandma's words with the goal of learning about how the war affected her while she is still capable of providing me with the information.

Interview:

What do you remember your family doing for the war effort?

“I was very young at the time. I remember my mother knitting clothes for hours each day that were to be given to men at war. We were

Mussolini and Hitler seemed to be everywhere. The thing was, all I knew were the names for awhile. I didn’t know of their actions or decisions. Maybe I was just too young, but the names were the only thing that stuck into my head at the time.”

What were your thoughts about the discoveries of the Holocaust?

“It was just awful. You know, you see these terrible things on the news all the time about mass shootings and rash killings. It was an a whole other thing to learn about an entire religion being targeted. Those people were treated like animals. Once I was old enough to understand what happened, it made me sick. All I could do at that time was pray for the families who lost loved ones and for the survivors who couldn't make sense of how they ever made it out. It has taught me to tolerate and never take a moment for granted.”

What do you remember about the years immediately following WWII?

“Life seemed to return to normal. Soldiers began to come home and find peacetime jobs. Carlton came home and went back to work so we had some more money in the family. Some people earned so much more money and took off to build new homes in the suburbs. A girl I knew from church left and I never saw her again. I met my husband, Ivan, when I eighteen. It didn’t take us long to get married. In fact, it didn’t seem to take anyone very long. I remember a lot of weddings and babies sprouting up everywhere I

She stayed at home the entire time, for the most part living her life the same as she did before the start of the war. However, I still think her small memories are important to history and to my own personal knowledge. I was struck by her attitude on WWII being taught in schools. She took on a tone similar to disapproval. Being somewhat weary to discuss the war with me in the first place, it seems she is even more weary at the idea of war and destruction being taught in schools. I am aware of the importance of studying world history, even the darker events. I still think that it is admirable that my eighty-seven year old great-grandma prays each night for anyone who may need it. The truth about turning on the tv or looking on the internet only to find news stories that revolve around shootings and terror attacks struck a chord with me. Although we can’t put an end to every crime out there, we can choose to notice the beauty and the love around