05/25/2026
๐๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฒ โ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐
๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ, ๐๐๐๐ง ๐
๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐จ ๐๐ญ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐
๐ซ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฆ
On this Memorial Day, I want to honor my father, ๐๐๐๐ง ๐
๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐, and all the men and women โ fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers โ who, through courage, sacrifice, and suffering, helped create the world we have inherited. A world that we now have the responsibility to care for, protect, and pass on.
My father was born in France in 1924. He became an orphan at a young age, and only a few years later the Second World War began โ a war that, after the First World War, should never have been allowed to happen again.
At only 14 years old, he began working as a seaman. By 17, he was serving on the French merchant vessel ๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐๐ง๐ข, which was torpedoed and sunk on ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐.
Later, under German occupation, he was ordered to work for ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐๐ญ on the Atlantic Wall from December 1942 to March 1943. Because he was an able seaman, he was then forced toward Germany, with Hamburg as the destination, and later sent to forced labor near Stettin, Poland.
When he refused to work, he was imprisoned for 15 days. He was later transferred to a concentration camp near Stettin, where he remained for about six months.
As he told me, he was on what he called the โluckyโ side of the camp. The โnot so lucky,โ in his words, were the Jews and the Russian prisoners.
โ๐๐ญ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐,โ he said.
Those words have stayed with me.
They remind me of the cruelty that human beings can inflict on one another โ the imprisonment, the torture, the humiliation, and the suffering. And not only what the N***s did to those they chose to persecute and destroy, but also what they did to their own people, to Germany itself, and to an entire generation.
For what? Power? Hatred? Delusion? The belief that one person, one group, or one ideology had the right to decide the value of another human life?
Because the Germans needed sailors for merchant vessels, he was eventually given a choice:
๐๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ โ ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฌ.
At only 19 years old, he saw the ship as a chance, perhaps one day, to escape.
He was assigned to the German vessel ๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐, bound for ๐รค๐ฏ๐ฅ๐, ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ง. When the ship arrived around October 1โ2, 1943, it anchored outside the harbor. During the night, my father saw his chance. He jumped into the water, swam ashore, and hid in the harbor area until daylight. He then found a police station and asked for protection.
From there, he was transported to Stockholm, where the Red Cross had a support system for escaped prisoners, sailors, and Allied pilots who had managed to land in Sweden after missions over Germany. On ๐๐๐ญ๐จ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐, he was also able to enlist with the ๐
๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ก ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง.
In April 1944, he was transferred with other Frenchmen in similar circumstances to Scotland, in preparation for the invasion of Normandy. But during medical examination, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and severe pulmonary disease, most likely caused by imprisonment, camp conditions, and forced labor.
Instead of going to Normandy, he ended up in a sanatorium in Beaconsfield, England, under the French naval forces โ barely alive.
The rest of his story was not without hardship. But it was filled with perseverance, dignity, and an extraordinary will to live.
He returned to Sweden in 1949 and built a future.
A family, A life. A long and respected career as a restaurateur.
He became a great father, grandfather, husband, and a man who believed deeply that:
โ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ โ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ง.โ
My father was almost 93 years old when he left us, nine years ago, on ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐.
But today is not only about him.
Today is about all those who had the courage to stand up against those who tried to take freedom away from others. Those who fought against selfishness, greed, hatred, and twisted ideas of superiority.
Those who refused to accept that any leader, government, movement, or ideology had the right to decide that other people โ because of their origin, faith, beliefs, or the color of their skin โ were wrong, unwanted, or needed to be eliminated.
My father, and so many others like him, saw and felt the horror of this.They saw what the N***s, and a delusional leader, did to Germany, to Europe, and ultimately to the whole world. They saw how other fascist leaders followed โ Mussolini, Franco, Horthy, Antonescu, and others โ not necessarily because they liked him, but because of their own obsession with power, control, and wealth.
๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ. ๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ .
The world is a big place, and if we have any chance of giving our children, and their children, a planet of peace, freedom, and dignity, we must learn from history.
We must remember the people who stood up.
We must honor those who suffered.
And we must never forget what happens when hatred is allowed to grow, when truth is replaced by propaganda, and when some people decide they are worth more than others.
So today I remember my father, ๐๐๐๐ง ๐
๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐. And I honor all those โ known and unknown โ who believed in fighting for what is right.
For freedom.
For equality.
For humanity.
For all of us
