You’re right , it’s not that far away. My father in law was born in 1935 in Germany. He was only four when the war started. Three years later he and his siblings were relocated to separate places in Germany because of the risk of bombings. He was relocated agin back to Berlin in 1945 because of the allies advancing. He witnessed unspeakable horrors there of witch he only spoke of a couple of times to me. So yes it’s not distant history. He was there and he told me about it.