Most shocking thing you have found out about your ancestors

[hbk4894]

I found that my great great grandfather was in jail for robbery.

[user104658]

My mum once told me that my grandmother had an illegitimate baby during ww2 whilst serving in mainland Europe as a nurse, and that she drowned it.

However she told me this while extremely drunk, and also, apparently my mum was the only person she ever told and both of them are dead now (my mum for 3 years and my grandmother for over 20 years) so I have no idea how much truth there is to any of it :shrug:.

Though I did look into how plausible it was and, apparently, infanticide was indeed alarmingly common during the war.

[smudgie]

My maternal grandmother was not only a prostitute but rumour has it she was an abortionist, or helped assist her friend in being one.:shrug:
Different back in the day I suppose.

[user104658]

not only a prostitute but rumour has it she was an abortionist

A handy dual trade I suppose :shrug:

[smudgie]

A handy dual trade I suppose :shrug:

Indeed, in the day before decent birth control.

[user104658]

Indeed, in the day before decent birth control.
Where was she when MY grandmother needed her though :fist:.

[y.winter]

My grandfather was 19 when he urged his family to escape the Polish ghetto (concentration camps). They didn't think it's applicable or believe things will go the way they eventually did. He has made the heartbreaking choice of doing it alone, he escaped Poland, had been hidden in Russia for a long time and eventually made it here, met my grandma (also a Romanian survivor). His entire family, mom, dad, 7 siblings have all been murdered by the Nazis. This is the story in a nutshell, but there's a lot more to it of course.
The bravest man I had the honor to meet.

[DemolitionRed]

My great aunt was shot by the French resistance for collaborating with the Germans. My grandmother says she was just trying to light a faulty oil lamp in the kitchen and the FR suspected she was sending a code to the enemy and dragged her outside, interrogated her before killing her but who knows what the truth is.

The house is still owned by my family and I have slept in the bedroom (back then it was the kitchen) with the once faulty oil lamp.