Fifteen million ethnic Germans were violently expelled from their Eastern European homes at the close of World War II (WWII). Thousands migrated to the United States, where no one had knowledge of this population and many considered Germans Nazis, regardless of their war experience. This exploratory study examined intergenerational war-impacted trauma communication and sought to expand upon traditional intergenerational trauma (IT) theory calling for a grounding in historical context, especially for forced migration populations. This study’s population is complex, and like many war populations, played a dual role of victim and, at times, perpetrator, which further complicated trauma communication. This population has not been studied in the United States and presents a unique lens for social workers to understand the complexities of intergenerational war trauma communication. This qualitative study collected twenty-eight oral histories via Zoom technology with ethnic German families (survivors, n=4, grown children, n=22, and grandchildren, n=2), living in the United States. Extensive recruitment occurred within the German American community. Purposive and snowball sampling was utilized. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded thematically incorporating an inductive approach to qualitative analysis guided by principles of social constructivism theory. Findings demonstrated a need to expand the IT framework to understand the socio-political historical context of a family’s war-related experiences and to incorporate the messy complexities of families living through a war and migration experience. This study presents opportunities for today’s social workers working with forced migration populations, especially those perceived as perpetrators in the world to which they have migrated.