Did I do the right thing? My great-grandfather was a Nazi. He passed away last week in Germany. Everyone in our family deserted him after the war because he murdered a lot of Jews. I needed to meet him before he died. I went to Germany alone, and spent his last week with him. He was lucid until the end, at 94. I’m 28. He never even met my father, his grandchild.
He was very nice and kind to me. He gave me some of his old journals and pictures, and an old Swiss watch his grandfather gave to him. I got to love him for a week; he told me he wished he had a lot more time to spend with me. He essentially begged me for forgiveness and for me not to desert him when he passed. He told me how his life after the war was a living hell because he didn’t have his family- they never forgave him. He did not want to be alone when he made his final transition in life. I was there, I comforted him, we hugged, we cried together, I held his hand as he took his last breath. He said he felt more pure joy in the week I spent with him than he had these past 70 years. I told him I loved him and vice versa.
Should I have comforted an old, dying man despite the unforgivable things he did? My grandfather and father found out I was there and are giving me the thrid degree for going to that “b****** who’s burning in hell”. I think everyone should be comforted at the end, because it’s scary.