Comment by bookofjoe

My dad — whose entire family was killed by the Nazis in Lithuania in 1941 after they'd enabled him to escape to Sweden and then the U.S. in 1939 when he was 17 — went back to his home there for the first time when he was in his 70s.

Upon returning home, he became VERY depressed and it persisted for the remaining 8 years of his life.

It was clear to me and my brother that the change from his normally upbeat and optimistic self stemmed from seeing in person the very places he lived and frequented and the memorials to those killed.