So today, I finally asked Farmer Lydia, "Who's the distinguished gentleman in the photo?" The story she told me begs repeating; as such, I shall attempt to translate and summarize as best I can.
The gentleman is her Great Uncle, born in 1893. He was sort of the black sheep of the family - a very smart guy, but a bit of an alternative sort. Apparently he was a "communist without a party;" he held communist ideals but didn't agree with the implementation at the time, leading him to write protest letters to Stalin and Mao and such. In any case, he apparently really didn't agree with Franco's dictatorship in Spain, so he joined the International Brigade and left Germany to go and fight the good fight on the Iberian Peninsula. In the late 30s, Franco joined forces with Hitler, and when Great Uncle was captured by Franco's forces, he was branded and enemy of the state and sent on a train bound for Auschwitz. The train's intended path went through southern France, through Paris, and then on to Poland. Luckily for them, the French freedom fighters were having none of it - a group of them descended on the train on horseback, took control, and freed all the prisoners. LIKE IN THE WILD WEST. Great Uncle spent the rest of the war hiding out in a small French village. When he eventually returned to Germany, he retired and spent his time, among other things, posing as a model for art students.
WHAT!
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