A different perspective?

The other day one of my colleagues shared some historical letters from WWII. 

These letters were from his uncle Peter (that he was named after), his grandma, and his aunt. They talked about intensive fighting, awful living and fighting conditions, letters that expressed thanks for gifts, and letters about loss as his brother-in-law and friend were killed.  You could tell that both sides tried hard not to have the others worry.  One letter Peter wrote to his sister had a hole in it, with the words "This letter saved my live.  That is a bullet hole.  Please don't tell mom as she will worry."  This was the last letter sent before Peter was also killed.  Peter was killed in Russia.  His other brother was killed in Holland.

My colleague translated these letters for me as they were written in German.  My first thought was "these were the enemies of WWII" but as we talked more about how his family fought for the German army because that was what was expected it made me think.  This was a family who suffered the same things that other families suffered during the war just because they were doing something that was expected of them. 

Sometimes the little details get lost in the larger picture and I can attest that sometimes it is hard to change our perspective.  I am embarrassed to say that it took me awhile to be able to think about these letters without thinking of this family as being "the enemy".  This was just about a brother and a son who lost his life during a war and left behind a grieving family.