John Kitsco

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My, my - life is always full of surprise at every twist and bend in the road called life- As a travelling salesman/photographer I spent some twenty years going up in small planes taking aerial pictures of farms and acreages throughout Western Canada. Spare time (rainy days) would often find us working on rental property and with property there is never enough time to complete all those projects, you just go a day at a time. It was actually a nice dividing line in life being what is called AGL (above ground level) at times and other times earth bound. On one special occasion we needed the help of an electrician and along came Otto.

Otto could talk your ear off about his days in Germany learning several trades (as his father suggested) and at the young age of 18 wearing the uniform of the German army (Hitler was leader at the time).It was the time to wear the swastika and trying to embrace the doctrine of the new leader. Otto said on one occasion while riding a train with a group of comrades a young Jewish girl boarded the train. Officers taunted the girl and made disparaging remarks. And at one point told Otto: "Take her in the woods and shoot her..."

Otto could feel his face flushed, heart beating but appeared to obey the command and led the girl off the train into the woods. With only himself and this young girl in the woods he quietly made a cut on one arm, sprayed blood onto his rifle and onto his face and uniform. He then told the girl: "Now when I fire in the air three times run, run for your life..."

And then upon arriving back at the train he pretended to show how proud he was to be in the German army and completed his order to the satisfaction of his comrades. And Otto kept this secret for many many years until that day, when now in his seventies he felt he had to share it with someone. He shared it with me, as I am now sharing it with you. Otto said: "John, I just had to tell someone" and yes, life can only hide from us for so long until we must share our innermost secrets as Otto shared his. And Otto went on: "John, I wonder to this day, whatever happened to that pretty young girl..." Well, perhaps the angels were present and something very special happened in the woods on that special day...