"My grandma's passport says birth date 00.00.1945" — "And mine says XX.XX.1940." How can this be?

Generation XX XX

The post about her grandmother garnered over half a million views and 150 comments.

"My grandma had 00.00.1937. Documents were burned during the war," wrote one of the commenters.

"My neighbor has it like this: they knew the year of birth, but not the day and month. Only in your case it's zeros, and in hers it's XX.XX and the year of birth," replied another commenter.

One user even posted a photo of a passport where there were four X's instead of four zeros.

Павялічыць

"My great-grandmother has crosses instead. The Germans burned the house with all the documents, and they didn't record the birth date from her words," one woman shared with a photo and story.

The passport with crosses instead of the day and month of birth was issued in 2000.

Parents didn't know when the child was born

Many share stories about relatives who didn't know their exact birth date.

"My grandmother only knew her year of birth. She made up the date herself because her mother didn't remember the exact one. And she was illiterate, she couldn't even read.

So they decided June 6th was her birthday. Because her mother gave birth to her and then went to the field," one of the commenters shared about her grandmother.

Павялічыць

"My grandma also had 9.07.1924 in her passport. Mom was illiterate, remembered it was haymaking time, and a random date was recorded."

"My grandfather was simply given a random birth date because no one knew the exact one. They said: 'born during sowing,' so the date in April was recorded."

"My grandma still doesn't know when her birthday actually is. Her passport says 01.01, but that date is inaccurate," adds another.

"Many didn't know their real birth dates. My great-grandfather told everyone it was January 1st, although his birth certificate says July. When he brought the children back after the front, he gave everyone approximate birth dates — all he remembered, so they could get documents."

"New Year's" children

Many commenters noted that for their grandmothers and grandfathers who didn't know the exact birth date, 01.01 was often put down. And this is not the worst option.

The thing is, people who have zeros or X's instead of an exact birth date eventually started facing problems. For example, when opening a bank account, the system would not accept such symbols, considering them an error.

"I think they put 00 because they didn't want to bother, and if there were no relatives [to] confirm the real birth date.

Many documents were lost after the war; my grandmother was given a completely different day, month, and year in her passport. Although her mother stated the correct date. But at least grandma retired earlier," a commenter shared her story.

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Some lied intentionally

Some write that their relatives lied about their age to either join or avoid the war.

"My grandfather had confusion with his year of birth. He made himself older to go to the front. And then he himself started getting confused: whether he added one year or two," a woman shared her story.

"My grandfather was born in 1929, but there were suspicions that he was born in 1926 and his mother changed something in the documents because of the conscription," another wrote.

Among the reasons people intentionally made themselves older, earlier retirement is also often mentioned.

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