So, since we could all use some good news, I wanted to share some of mine. It involves a family history find that came as a huge surprise. 1/5

As some of you may know, my family and I immigrated to the U.S. from Bosnia as refugees. (You know, that thing we used to do). But as we recently discovered, to our great astonishment, it wasn’t the first time Americans came to our aid. 2/5

During WWII, my grandfather at age 20 was a member of the Partisan resistance in former Yugoslavia. He was, naturally, a writer. He wrote political pamphlets and organized opposition to the Nazis underground. (Later in life, he refused accolades, saying he never took up arms) 3/5

He was eventually discovered by Nazi sympathizers and thrown in jail in what is now Bosnia and later at a concentration camp in what is now Croatia.

What we didn’t know until just this past month (over 30 years after his death !!) is what happened next. 4/5

According to his journal, he was taken to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Linz, Austria. He remained there for 2 years, making uniforms for German troops, until his camp was liberated with the help of.. *American soldiers* in May of 1945.

If that ain’t fate, what is? 5/5