Face to Face With History

[Mattonsea]

My eldest is studying the Holocaust this term and the school organized a meeting with Mala , a 89 year old polish lady who survived the genocide. Parents had a separate meeting . Obviously her story was harrowing , and has left a massive impression on me. Have any of you had a meeting with some one who lived through history?

 

[welsh dragon]

Mr D grandmother married in 1914, the year the great war started. It always amazes me to think of the huge changes that took place from then until she died in the in the 90's. From telephones in most homes, to cars for the masses, television, to the first man in space, and the first man on the moon, to jet engines, central heating and much much more. We will never experience the huge changes that they experienced.

 

[vernon]

I've met someone who influenced the future - not always for the better.

Bill Gates.

 

[classic33]

September 1999, in the male surgical ward.
Survivor from a concentration camp came round after his operation somewhat confused. He removed all the needles/drips that were in his arms, along with every lead attached to him & took flight.
We found him hiding in the toilets. about half an hour later. He was back, in his mind, the same camp again with experiments being conducted on him again.
Due to the fact that he'd removed everything, it all required replacing. It was whilst this was being done the number on his arm, previously covered, became visible. I spent that morning talking to him.

I have also spoken with people on opposite sides of the Easter 1916 rising & the Irish Civil War that followed on from there. One saying that he'd lived through both, no-one was going to frighten him.

Sadly as they die their tales die with them.

 

[vernon]

Mr D grandmother married in 1914, the year the great war started. It always amazes me to think of the huge changes that took place from then until she died in the in the 90's. From telephones in most homes, to cars for the masses, television, to the first man in space, and the first man on the moon, to jet engines, central heating and much much more. We will never experience the huge changes that they experienced.

You don't have to be that old to experience massive changes:

First man in space yada yada yada
Cassette recorders - walkmans - CDs - MP3
Fidonet - Usenet - Internet - WWW
Slide rules, tabulators and log tables - brick sized pocket calculators - palm sized scientific calculators
Mainframes, teletypes, punched tapes and cards, desk top computing, distributed computing
Two channel TV - colour TV, cable TV, satellite TV, streamed TV

Need I go on?

 

[Hill Wimp]

We all live through history every single minute of the day.

We are history and leave our own mark in very different ways.

 

[welsh dragon]

You don't have to be that old to experience massive changes:

First man in space yada yada yada
Cassette recorders - walkmans - CDs - MP3
Fidonet - Usenet - Internet - WWW
Slide rules, tabulators and log tables - brick sized pocket calculators - palm sized scientific calculators
Mainframes, teletypes, punched tapes and cards, desk top computing, distributed computing
Two channel TV - colour TV, cable TV, satellite TV, streamed TV

Need I go on?

Yes, but the changes in our lives have not been as dramatic as they were for them. For us, most of those changes took place when we were kids and as we all know, kids are much more accepting of changes, and as a result changes and new things are not as difficult for us as they would have been
for them.

 

[Hill Wimp]

 

[classic33]

You don't have to be that old to experience massive changes:

First man in space yada yada yada
Cassette recorders - walkmans - CDs - MP3
Fidonet - Usenet - Internet - WWW
Slide rules, tabulators and log tables - brick sized pocket calculators - palm sized scientific calculators
Mainframes, teletypes, punched tapes and cards, desk top computing, distributed computing
Two channel TV - colour TV, cable TV, satellite TV, streamed TV

Need I go on?

How about getting electric into your house for the first time ever. I have some idea what welsh dragon meant and can still remember having to go to a neighbours house, a mile away to be able to use a landline phone.

 

[Fnaar]

I think history will look back on the development of the www as being as imoportant a 'game changer' as the industrial revolution. And they will be able to read it on 'thinkipedia'.
But the bicycle will always be there
Man and machine in perfect harmony.

 

[L14M]

With respect to technology etc advancing,
I'm just about to turn 15, i've lived through black and white bricks phoes to iphones, I've lived through a minellium! ETC

My great grandmother was very intresting to talk to before she died 3 weeks before her 100th birthday in 2012. She lived through the great war, growing up through a fair bit of it. She was an ambulance driver in WWII and did many other things! I come from a family with a fair amount of history in the armed forces, my dads uncle was a officer in the royal marines, my great grandad was an officer, my grandad was a soldier.

The storys that these people know, what they are hiding. Its almost surreal!

 

[Hill Wimp]

Blimey Hils, that's profound

I have known several Holocaust survivors from WW2, their stories are amazing however all have said we must remember we are all history and all leave a mark so we must be careful what we leave behind and all have said to look at what else is going on around the world today and the oppression others may be living under now.

 

[Sharky]

I remember the day Tommy died, was listening on the radio that he had collapsed, but just expected him to make a recovery. It really shocked me at the time.
Keith

 

[Peteaud]

One of my regular cycle routes is along a former railway, that in turn was a canal.

Strange to think that on the spot i might be, navies were once laying the "modern" transport system.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Hills has probably given the most sensible answer in this thread, we are all living through history, its called TIME!!


Also, although people have seen a lot of changes over the last 100 years or so, I really do believe that the next 100 will be just as momentous and important!!