Ever since I can remember, I have been obsessed with World War II, the 1930's and 40's and the Holocaust. When I was about four years old, long before I knew about the Holocaust and WWII, I began to have a recurring vision just as I was falling asleep.

I would hear the sound of soldiers marching on the street. It was night and I was on the ground with my face lying against the cold wet cobblestones. I saw black boots marching in unison past me. My eyes would stay fixated on the boots, and I would have the feeling that I was about to die.

This vision was constant and for about twenty years it never changed. I remember lying in my bed and hearing the marching soldiers echoing in my head. My parents have told me that at night I would run into their room crying, begging my mom to "make the German soldiers stop marching."

I am 23 years old now, and only have the vision every few months. Nor do I hear the marching as often. But I have a strong urge to know more about the Holocaust, about my past, and to find out what the dream means. I have always had this nagging feeling that I was killed in the Holocaust.

I read a book written by a man who survived the Holocaust. In it he said that "No person dead or alive who was there (in the Holocaust) will ever forget the sound of the Nazi soldiers marching."

Megan McLeod

Posted Feb 2, 2011