22 Friday, August 24, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
we've golcla
LOOKING BACK
Detroiter's painful return to past
and classes...
BY BENNO LEVI
Special to The Jewish News
FOUNDATIONS OF ZIONIST THOUGHT
Thursday, 1:00-2:00 p.m. • Dr. Jonathan Fishbane
THE WORLD OF FREUD
Monday, 7:30-8:30 p.m. • Dr. Sidney Bolkosky
JUDAISM IN. THE TIME OF JESUS
Tuesday, 1:00-2:00 p.m. • Marvin Kasoff
BEGINNER'S HEBREW
Wednesday, 7:30-9:30 p.m. • N. Lev/A. Newman
FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION: EXPLORING •
YOUR FAMILY HISTORY
Thursday, 10:00-11:00 a.m. • Betty Starkman
For a complete listing -
Please call for our schedule
352-7117 .or 354-1050
Classes begin September 6 .
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Since 1935, when I came those Germans who had al-
to the United States at age most forgotten that once
11, I have been obsessed Alsfeld had a large Jewish
With a yearning to return presence. And so I returned
for a visit to the small, an- with Ruth' to what is ironi-
cient Hessian town where cally one of the most beauti-
my family had lived for gen- ful little towns in Europe,
erations. Almost weekly for hardly touched by bombs or
49 years,-my dreams carried shells during the war.
me back to Alsfeld evoking
scenes of an idyllic child-
My first encounter was
hood.
with a young official in a
As I grew up in Detroit in small town where my
the late 1930s and 1940s, grandmother was born. I
and the horrors perpetrated tried to obtain some records
in the name of Germany relaying to her origins. In
were confirmed, my hatred the course of our conversa-
for everything associated tions he expressed a frank '
with the land of my birth and genuine revulsion of
intensified. Still, the yearn- the National Socialist reign
ing to see Alsfeld again was and he seemd anxious to aid
a constant reminder of my me in my quest.
state of ambivalence.
A second official, also
In 1963, returning from born after the war, had a
my first trip to Israel, I similar attitude. He had
stopped in Frankfurt and undertaken a project of col-
traveled north to Alsfeld, lecting all 'of the records re-
where I was born. It was a lating to the Jewish com-
quick visit and it satisfied munities in Alsfeld and the
for a moment my deep small villages. in its vicin-
yearning. I made very few ity. He maintained detailed
contacts, but in the few in- records and was eager to
stances when I spoke to supply to all who inquired
people, I perceived, whether about the genealogy of their ,
justified or not, a sinister families.
Before I checked into my
involvement with the
crimes committed in the hotel, I took a walk with
name of the 'Fatherland. I Ruth through the streets of
could even sense their ea- this pretty, little town. It
gerness to bid me goodby so was an eerie and depressing
as to end' the awkwardness experience. The houses, the
streets, they were all basi-
of our encounter.
cally' as they had been so
• And so it was that in long ago. I pointed out to my
March of this year, when ' wife each house where a
received an invitation to relative or close family
attend a reunion of my pub- friend had lived. There had
lic school class, I was stun- been so many and now —
ned. I never expected to none.
hear from them again, and
now a very warm letter ex-
At the actual reunion of
pressingjoy that 'I was alive my class, I was greeted with
and well. They had traced genuine warmth. The an-
me through a cousin of mine ticipated awkwardness did
who had visited Germany. not develop. There was no
After much soul search- doubt about it, they were
ing, I decided to return with glad to see me. I had skipped
my wife, Ruth, to Germany. the reunion's opening ses-
I also made plans to visit sion which was a wreath
France and stay for a Shab- laying. ceremony at a
bat week-end at a kosher soldier's monument in the
hotel in Switzerland. I was cemetery in memory of
actually embarrassed to say those students who had fal-
that I was visiting Germany len in the war. Although it
and thus I could say that my had no political signifi-
trip was to France and Swit- cance, I could not partici-
zerland with a side trip to pate. They understood.
Hessen. I also .had. to over-
During my visit I was re-
come the virulent protests united with Horst, my
coming from some of the former neighbor and best
members of my family who friend. His father who was
couldn't comprehend my de- certainly no Nazi, had been
sire to visit that cursed my , father's friend since
land. I tried to rationalize to childhood. I remember how
them and even to myself—I Horst had fought off the
was going to visit the graves pressures to join the Hitler.
of my relatives; I wanted to Jugend in 1933 and 1934.
return to let my former During the war he had been:
'schoolmates know that Hit- captured and spent some
ler had not succeeded fully time in the U.S. as a POW.
— we were still alive and •When he saw me again, he
very Jewish. I even. hugged me.
rationalized that my visit
could serve as a reminder to
Later in our conversation
he told me how he had been
captured by the Americans
in Normandy. I asked him
Benno Levi is senior vice
, what he did in the service.
president at St. Joseph's
He, indicated that he had
Hospital in Mount
been an infrantryman in
Clemens.
the Waffen SS.' I was'
dumbfounded when I heard
the last phrase. My first im-
pulse was to turn and leave.
I took a deep breath and I
heard myself ahriost scream
at him "Horst, how could
you!" He looked at me ap-
prehensively and said, "Be-
nno, we were only children
— we were swept up in it,
there was no other way." I
heard him but could not
comprehend. He assured me
that he was never involved
in actions against Jews.
We were invited to a tea
with sev'eral former
schoolmates. I felt a consci-
.entious effort being made to
skirt the issue of war guilt.
My hostess and many others
I spoke to were eager to de-
nounce war and those who
would dare to light another
conflagration. She was ex-
tremely proud of her son
who has spent some time in
Poland and in Israel work-
ing on an "atonement" proj-
ect. She certainly had no
prejudi6es against Jews and
proudly indicated that her
daughter-in4aw was part
Jewish. I was not
satisfied. They could not
openly admit that the
crimes perpetrated against
the Jews in the name of the
Fatherland must remain a
blot on Germany's history
forever.
One of the other guests at
the afternoon tea had
brought two articles for me
that had appeared in the
local press commemorating
"Krystal Nacht." They were
dated Nov: 11, 1982. The
first one described a silent
march from the center of
town to the site of the
synagogue where a memo-
rial 'plaque commemorated
its destruction. .
The second article on this
page was entitled "They
shouldn't have gone,
shouldn't be dead." It stated
that "when they cut with a
dull knife out of our nation's
body that half which was
Jewish,. they left a deep
wound that was never ban-
daged nor has it ever
healed."
When I left Alsfeld, after
the reunion , I felt confused
and depressed. My purpose
incoming, whatever it was,
was not fully satisfied. I was
pleased 'at the warmth and
candor I found among my
classmates and among the
few neighbors I spoke with.
Since the end of the war,
Germany has tried hard to
create a fresh image to, re-
place that associated with
the brutality of the Third
Reich. But nothing' less
than an annual national
day of mourning and
atonement for the evil per-
petrated against the Jews
will ever begin to erase the
national shame that has
t'atooed the mark of Cain
upon the German nation.
•