Living in history

We were discussing Belgian history in my geography class (which interesting in and unto itself, as I have a separate history class) a couple days ago and we came across the topic of World War II and how that influenced and changed Belgium. It was an interesting but relatively unremarkable conversation until the teacher dropped the phrase 'after the occupation.' Of course I knew that Europe was a major battle ground in WWII. Of course I knew Belgium had been occupied during World War II. But I hadn't ever consciously thought about it. And it threw me off. To imagine that this land, here, was such an integral part of the war took my breath away for a second.