This mother and daughter spent a long day working in the garden. After a busy day of planting, it was time to take a family portrait. The mother sat for the picture and the daughter posed to take the picture and the camera photographed her.

But then her mother came across a shocking discovery…

“Ahh!” screamed her daughter all of a sudden. The proud mother was just about to take a ‘before’ photo of the garden to show how the land looked before she was going to turn it into a blossoming back garden.

When the little girl went to pose for the photo on her knees, she hit her leg against something hard buried in the grass.

At first, the mother just assumed it was a rock hidden in the mud. But when she went to dig it out, she came across a secret that made her eyes tear up…

Sarah (36) always loved gardening and everything that went along with it. Since she was a child, she had her own little allotment and really enjoyed it.

It gave her daughter, Julia (11), the same pleasure, and therefore she had been taught from a young age how to take care of plants.

This mother and daughter were found daily on the little piece of land behind their house, where they started loads of special projects. 

However, that day, they started a project that would have a very special ending…

Sarah and Julia were going to put in a new allotment that day on the piece of land.

However, the pleasure they had in the garden was not complete without a lasting memory, thought Sarah. That’s why she wanted to take a ‘before and after photo of it.

For the before photo, Sarah’s daughter wanted to kneel down on the ground, but when she did this, she got a big fright!

She had hit her knee against something hard that was just below the surface…

Sarah was shocked by her daughter’s reaction. What kind of hard thing was buried in the garden? Confused, she kneeled down on the ground where her daughter was hurt.

Slowly, she moved her hand over the ground. And there it was, there was definitely something there! With her bare hands, Sarah dug through the dirt and that’s when she felt it.

However, this was by no means a buried boulder, as she had expected. Her hands had grabbed a cold, steel handle…

When Sarah felt this, she couldn’t contain her curiosity. This handle must be attached to something. 

With some force, she dug out more dirt from the handle. Dirt was being flown in all directions and Julia just thought that her mother had become crazy.

But then, bit by bit, more of what was under the dirt started to appear. The handle seemed to be attached to a hatch. But what could be under it? With a hard pull, Sarah managed to open the hatch…

The space under the hatch was dark and Sarah could barely see what was in front of her. Quickly, she asked her daughter to go and grab the flashlight.

That’s when the investigation could begin. With the flashlight in her hand, Sarah let herself sink into the underground space, under the hatch.

It was so deep that she was able to fully stand in the space. Curiously, she shined her flashlight through the underground space. What kind of secrets was this mysterious bunker keeping…?

The flashlight shined through the bunker. Then Sarah spotted a light on the ceiling. 

Quickly, she searched for the light switch. The bunker seemed quite old but who knows, maybe the light still worked. When she found the light switch and turned it on, the light on the ceiling turned on.

It shined a clear light on the contents of the bunker, allowing Sarah to clearly see what was inside. But this couldn’t be possible? There was a table, a bed, a desk, and even an old toilet and shower. 

Someone had lived in this bunker…

There laid old stuff everywhere from the previous owner. Everything from clothes to books. But these clothes were not with the current times. They seemed to come out of the 40s’.

Sarah examined the whole space. Who had lived here, and the better question, why did someone need to live here?

But when she came across a drawer on the desk and opened it, everything became clear. In the drawer laid an old diary of the owner of the bunker…

In his diary, the man, Sam, described his time in the bunker. During World War II, he spent a year living in the bunker.

As a Jewish boy, he knew he was in big danger, so he decided to shelter underground. The bunker was actually owned by the family of his girlfriend and they brought him food every day and washed his clothes.

It was a difficult time for him, as many of his friends and family paid for their discretion with their lives, discovered Sarah. When she came across his last message, she was shocked…

Sam had stopped writing halfway through his message. Did something happen to him? Sarah needed to know and posted photos of the bunker and diary on social media, in the hope of tracking down Sam’s family.

The photos immediately went viral and, before she knew it, her inbox was overflowed with messages. One message specifically caught her attention.

It was a message from his granddaughter. From all the stories from her mother and grandmother, she learned about her grandfather. It was his diary, she was sure of it.

Thankful, Sarah responded to the message from the granddaughter. She couldn’t wait to hear Sam’s story and immediately invited her over…

The granddaughter was thankful for the invitation and came by the next day to see the bunker. 

She explained that her grandfather had been found and was brought to the concentration camps. He hadn’t survived this, but his pregnant girlfriend had.

Due to this, a small piece of him still lived through his daughter and granddaughter. When the granddaughter was done talking about Sam, Sarah’s eyes filled with tears.

These were not tears of sadness, but Sarah was moved by the story. No matter how devastating Sam’s story was, his memories would always live on in the hearts of his family.