Personal story: A teacher colleague of mine was married to a man somewhat older than her, a very private man who had grown up in Germany but never talked much about his life until he met my father. They swapped stories about sailing in the merchant marine during WWII and my friend told some stories about his youth. Nothing was explicit, but it became clear that he and my father also shared past membership in the Communist Party.

Not too long after that occasion my friend had a stroke. We went to visit. He was paralysed, couldn't talk, lying on the couch. His wife asked me to sing to him, so I sang (among other things) "Die Moorsoldaten".   He cried.   He died not long after. I will never know what that song really meant to him.