It was a gradual sort of thing that happened over quite a few years. I watched this movie Battle of the Bulge (can’t remember which version) over and over with my grandpa on the History Channel. I guess that was my first exposure, and then in 6th grade I did a history project for Minnesota’s History Day on the Pearl Harbor attack and the dropping of the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. But my interest didn’t fully take off until recently when I took the History of the Third Reich in college. WWII was a topic that was never covered in depth in grade school (WWII from the Axis powers’ point of view was never covered) nor was it discussed within my family hence why my interest developed late in life and why it was completely self motivated to begin studying.

Thank you for your question.

PS, I love seeing your Wehrmacht collection on here. It is quite a treat to see. Thank you for sharing it, if I haven’t said so already!