I am roughly your age. My parents were born in Germany in 1939 and 1940. They came to this country with my older brother when they were 20 (my mom) and 21 (my dad) to run away from Germany. They never hid from us what the Germans did and we had no pride in being 'Germans'. My grandparents were Germans who kept their heads down during the war, and more so afterward. Massive shame. My parents' US plan was complete assimilation - except a lot of the US rankled too so that never quite worked. What I wanted to say here though, was that people mostly had only praise for our cute blond German family (mostly: my older brother was designated Nazi when playing war with the other boys which, according to family lore, prompted him to refuse to speak German to my parents and that was the end on being a dual language family). Never have I been made to feel less-than for my German background - on the contrary, high praise for the land of Bach, Kant and Goethe. It never made sense. Somehow the horrific Schande just got overlooked. But I have always felt the weight. Nie wieder. One would think it doesn't even need to be said. Alas. Thank you as always for your powerful work.
Hi Dorothea, Thank you for sharing your story, and for bringing up the epigenetic transmission of shame. My father's older sister sent me all the letters he wrote her while serving in the Third Armored "Spearhead" Division of the U.S. army that liberated the Dora-Mittelbau camp. He wrote movingly about the way the German citizens welcomed him and his fellow servicemen with open arms as they came through, and about the anti-German propaganda that U.S. news media was putting out, and what B.S. it was, and how warm he found the German people. He became fluent in the language, and a lover (and onetime producer) of music, including producing the first ever U.S. recording of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, and his cofounding of the Haydn Society (not to be confused with the Handel and Haydn Society).
I'll leave you with this captivating comment that caught my attention in the New York Times (and which I hope might offer both solace and an opening). It was written by a German woman named Simone; her comment could also serve as a touchstone for the remembrance of U.S. citizens who have not metabolized Native Genocide or the legacies of enslavement:
“German person here. This may be hard to understand, but remembrance and a strong feeling of responsibility need not only be understood as a burden. They can also be the foundation for living a better life, striving for a society that is more humane and just toward everyone.
Even if somehow permitted to separate myself from the past, I would never want that." I would much rather acknowledge the pain that happened decades before my birth, and live with my head held high, my eyes open, and my hand outstretched to others.”
Nah, PJ. The pro-life community has no regard for the sanctity of a mother's health or her life, as we can see from rape victims as young as 10 being forced to give birth, women dying due to lack of maternal healthcare, lack of due process for sexual assault (including incest) particularly in states with the harshest anti-abortion laws, the facilitation of citizens reporting one another for crossing state lines to receive healthcare, lack of early childcare, the loss of funding for childhood education, and so much more. Everyone knows that the pro-life community cares not at all for human life. Don't use my scholarly material as propaganda for your anti-humanity agenda. Use your own work, if you must.
I am roughly your age. My parents were born in Germany in 1939 and 1940. They came to this country with my older brother when they were 20 (my mom) and 21 (my dad) to run away from Germany. They never hid from us what the Germans did and we had no pride in being 'Germans'. My grandparents were Germans who kept their heads down during the war, and more so afterward. Massive shame. My parents' US plan was complete assimilation - except a lot of the US rankled too so that never quite worked. What I wanted to say here though, was that people mostly had only praise for our cute blond German family (mostly: my older brother was designated Nazi when playing war with the other boys which, according to family lore, prompted him to refuse to speak German to my parents and that was the end on being a dual language family). Never have I been made to feel less-than for my German background - on the contrary, high praise for the land of Bach, Kant and Goethe. It never made sense. Somehow the horrific Schande just got overlooked. But I have always felt the weight. Nie wieder. One would think it doesn't even need to be said. Alas. Thank you as always for your powerful work.
Hi Dorothea, Thank you for sharing your story, and for bringing up the epigenetic transmission of shame. My father's older sister sent me all the letters he wrote her while serving in the Third Armored "Spearhead" Division of the U.S. army that liberated the Dora-Mittelbau camp. He wrote movingly about the way the German citizens welcomed him and his fellow servicemen with open arms as they came through, and about the anti-German propaganda that U.S. news media was putting out, and what B.S. it was, and how warm he found the German people. He became fluent in the language, and a lover (and onetime producer) of music, including producing the first ever U.S. recording of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, and his cofounding of the Haydn Society (not to be confused with the Handel and Haydn Society).
I'll leave you with this captivating comment that caught my attention in the New York Times (and which I hope might offer both solace and an opening). It was written by a German woman named Simone; her comment could also serve as a touchstone for the remembrance of U.S. citizens who have not metabolized Native Genocide or the legacies of enslavement:
“German person here. This may be hard to understand, but remembrance and a strong feeling of responsibility need not only be understood as a burden. They can also be the foundation for living a better life, striving for a society that is more humane and just toward everyone.
Even if somehow permitted to separate myself from the past, I would never want that." I would much rather acknowledge the pain that happened decades before my birth, and live with my head held high, my eyes open, and my hand outstretched to others.”
Thank you! Yes. I feel too that is the only way.
“When we normalize atrocity anywhere, we become more willing to accept it in our own nation.
When we dehumanize one population, we train ourselves not to see the humanity in others.”
This is what the pro life community has been trying to say for 50 years.
Nah, PJ. The pro-life community has no regard for the sanctity of a mother's health or her life, as we can see from rape victims as young as 10 being forced to give birth, women dying due to lack of maternal healthcare, lack of due process for sexual assault (including incest) particularly in states with the harshest anti-abortion laws, the facilitation of citizens reporting one another for crossing state lines to receive healthcare, lack of early childcare, the loss of funding for childhood education, and so much more. Everyone knows that the pro-life community cares not at all for human life. Don't use my scholarly material as propaganda for your anti-humanity agenda. Use your own work, if you must.
Thanks Bo. Well written.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting.