Peace in War by Sandra Ben Abdrabbah, Tunisia

A grandfather and grandchild relationship is always depicted as a unique connection with a special interaction between the two. You will always find a “Grandpa” who has the role of a storyteller while his grandchild is going to be his listener. This story is going to be about my wonderful grandfather. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to suggest that behind every word there is a significant meaning.  It was nearly two years ago; my family and I were sitting, gathering and having lunch as usual. We were talking about remembrances and referring to many subjects as an example. Shortly after, I decided to use the Second World War as an example. I am pretty sure that you are saying to yourselves: “Why would she talk about Second World War on a family lunch and just brought it up out of nowhere?”  Well, to be fair, I love history. I have always loved history because it defines who we are and because of it we can move forward without making the same mistakes. What I mean by that is that, each country, origin or even a population, writes its history to reflect who they were yet who they are today as well. Moreover, we also learn  what we are doing currently is learning from them and learn about our own identity.  Now, to go back to the main point, I was very surprised to find out that my own grandfather participated in the Second World War. His words started to flow fluidly as well as began to drool : “I was only six years old when the Germans landed in Tunisia and more precisely in  Hamam-lif (It is a small town in Tunis). Of course, at that age, you don’t understand what is going on out there and you don’t even care because you are too innocent to do so. I was staying there at my grandparents house that I miss very much. However, all I thought about was how focused I was when the sound of bombs and guns never stopped. It was similar to a very horrible musical piece: The Germans send it from our side and the adversary from the other side of the sea. So, in order to protect us, my grandfather hid us in a small cave underground and we stayed there, frightened and baffled. We couldn’t bear in our minds that war was surrounding us. The sound of that word is still hurting my ears. But that is not the point. What really amazed me and kept my mouth wide open was when a German soldier entered the house and met us in the cave. He was tall, from the “Aryan race” as they said,  wearing his green uniform and the Nazi’s symbol on his arm. Of course, we didn’t feel safe around him because we couldn’t trust anyone at that moment except our grandparents. Until he gave us a tablet of chocolate. And God that chocolate looked and tasted delicious! He told us not to worry even though we were very worried!  He promised not to hurt us and asked us to stay hidden here. I thought that he had planned something but the way he spoke and caressed our shoulders grew somehow the sentiment of relief and security. Yes, we were safe next to a German Nazi soldier.”  I was totally confused and surprised from the German’s reaction albeit I managed to understand that even in war time; people had peace in their heart. They were probably  fighting to win territories or to gain more power as a country but deep down every soldier, they only do it out of pride and try to fight for peace because they as well are tired of the war.