Oh gosh – that’s terrible. I’m so sorry! But then having watched CT, maybe it helps? That your grandfather’s brother helped lead to a better world for you to live in… we really do need to thank all of them so much.

@irishrah well, yes, the fact that we DID have resistance and forest brethren-partisans holding up against the occupants till late 1970ies gives us right to say the situation was NOT chosen voluntarily nor welcomed.

I wonder if you would want to share your/granduncle’s story with the CT fan wall? There is some very interesting about discussions about such resistance and freedom movements in the last episode thread. like that of @gwenola‘s comments.

Only if you are comfortable.. don’t want to dredge up uncomfortable memories.. I really hope I’m not being insensitive X-/
just that dramabeans community gives us the opportunity to hear from ppl across the world

@irishrah yeah, well…. what do you mean “CT fan wall”? Last episode or something? to my knowledge specific drama sdont have a wall where everyone can write?

I can write but a warning: partly very gruesome.

The story is very complicated and my mom knows it better, but basically, during the 1st soviet occupation my grandpas´ big brother was drafted into Red army by force and taken to unknown direction. the family never heard of him again until 1968. My grandpa was drafted into the german army during german occupation but he and a friend of his fled the german train, became deserters and came home through the forests on foot 340km. Great-grandpa hid them in a woodshed, but a german officer came looking to buy firewood and went right into that shed. He must have seen them but turned a blind eye cause great-grandpa had lost his vision and 3 fingers by then, I guess the officer thought they need their son. if he had shot the deserters like they were supposed to, I wouldnt exist today. Nor my mom or my aunts. and then they were also forest brethren for a while. nobody found out, so … But then with the next soviet occupation my grandpa sent several letters to the NKVD (predecessor of KGB) and also tried to acquire their phone number and asked around how to reach them. I have been told he was very hot-headed and I cant tell how he survived those times. totally nuts! (I managed to inherit the hot-headedness though he died before I was born.) in 1968 they learned that the brother had been executed withing 1 month cause he refused to rape and kill elderly women in some village – dont know where, exactly, but I assume either Germany or Chechoslovakia. They never got even his body back since it was burned and left somewhere.
the resistance during Soviet occupation was very colorful and rather similar to what we see in korean dramas talking of the japanese occupation. the time period was different, but people fighting for their country had the same ideas. one of the most amusing forms was knitting and hiding national colors in patterns so that the authorities couldnt tell, or going out with a bunch of friends with one wearing something black, the other something blue and the third something white. authorities were too dumb to notice. I can write more colorful examples. you can share this story on that wall if you´d like.

Wow… so remarkable.. The older generations really had grit and nerves of steel – we really lead such easy lives thanks to them. I imagine life in places like Syria must be as bad right now and can only hope that things there get resolved soon.

Yes – I meant ep 16 comments not fan wall. What I find most touching about all these stories is how people come together during these trying times and gain strength from one another. Their resistance shows in many forms like u mentioned embroidery of national flags and these motifs in turn become their strengths and symbols of hope. Really amazing.