Community Views

Editor's Notebook

Coming To Terms
With Germany

JEANNIE WEINER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

This summer was, er, there were 600,000 Jews in courageous, warranted the at-
for me, a summer Germany. Jews were believed to tention and time devoted to it.
of resistance.
be present near Cologne even be- Except for those Jews who were
My husband fore the Teutonic ancestors of to- saved or hidden by individual
and I are like day's Germans.
Germans, for the Jews, German
many other Jews;
What I saw was a beautiful resistance was too little, too late.
on vacation, we countryside, but what I thought
I was, however, moved by
wander through about were the Jews no longer some of those who resisted the
sites of Jewish his- living in the nearby towns. I Nazis. I learned of a Protestant
vow torical importance, talked with journalists and pro- theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
visit synagogues and meet other fessors from many countries — who had spoken against Hiker's
Jews.
Poland, Belarus, Luxembourg, policies as early as 1933. His
On the first day of our vacation Scotland, Russia and the Nether- voice was strong and led other
in Copenhagen, we found our- lands — and learned that it is not clerics to resist.
selves at the Danish Resistance only Jews who harbor dark feel-
Moreover, Bonhoeffer's resis-
Museum, and later in Norway we ings about Germany's past. The tance was not political or chau
visited many sites of Norwegian countries which were occupied vunistic, but was based on moral
resistance to the German occu- and bombed are still filled with principle. He was imprisoned in
pation. We came home filled with people who have memories of the 1940s and was later mur-
admiration and fondness for the horror, death and loss.
dered in a concentration camp in
Norwegians and especially for the
And so, it is no wonder that the the very last days of the war.
Danes, whose behavior toward German government is anxious Streets and schools have right-
Danish Jews dur-
fully been named
ing World War II
for Dietrich Bonho-
demonstrated
effer.
great national
Although we had
morality.
been invited to Ger-
Then, several
many in part to
weeks later, we
learn about Ger-
were invited to
man resistance,
visit Germany to
what was most
learn about Ger-
meaningful to me
man resistance to
were the numerous
the Nazis. We
contacts with young
would be in Ger-
Germans. It will not
many for 10 days,
be too many years
visit three cities,
until there are no
conclude in Berlin
Germans living
with a ceremony
who participated in
to commemorate
the war. Young
the military lead-
Germans we met
ers who had at-
were very open
tempted to
about their feelings.
assassinate Hitler
One particularly
50 years ago and
special 27-year-old
who were execut-
man in Berlin said,
ed shortly there-
"I asked my, grand-
after.
mother about the
I had never
war years and she
been to Germany
cried and said that
and, like many
she knew nothing
American Jews, I had little de- to have visitors come to Ger- and that I must believe her. Hove
sire to travel there. Coming on many. Germany in 1994 wants my grandmother and I told her I
the heels of the visits to Denmark to fully belong to the world of na- believed her, but ... it's hard to be-
and Norway, this trip seemed to tions, but knows it cannot do so lieve ... I find it hard to believe."
be conceptually ironic. I explained with deep-seated, worldwide anti-
Many Germans stated they
to those who had extended the in- German feelings. I heard many cannot be proud to be German.
vitation that I could not go to Ger- times from many Germans that They said that they can like be-
many without visiting Dachau, "we need to come to terms with ing German, but they cannot feel
Sachsenhausen or Buchenwald. our evil past."
pride. They expressed deep con-
I wanted to talk with members
cern about signs of nationalism
of the Jewish communities I vis-
and militarism. They remain vig-
ited. I needed to have "Jewish"
ilant and protested loudly about
experiences. I wanted to say
the neo-Nazis and skinheads.
Kaddish for those who had per-
I was encouraged by the op-
ished.
portunities to truly confront the
The Germans graciously
past together with German schol-
arranged for that sort of itiner-
ars, historians, public officials
ary and I soon found myself-on a
and students. Some Germans are
plane with my husband bound
asking difficult questions and at-
for Frankfort.
To the German Press and In- tempting to "come to terms" with
Being in Germany was an formation Office, the study of the past. Jews, Germans and oth-
emotional roller coaster. I saw the those Germans who resisted the ers continue to ask how this hor-
country as a large Jewish ceme- Nazi regime represents a way to ror could have happened.
tery. When Hitler came to pow- provide young Germans with
In the end, if the future of
good role models and highlight Germany is left in the hands of
Jeannie Weiner is immediate
something positive about those the young Germans we met, the
past president of the Jewish
terrible years under Hitler. I won- future looks very promising in-
Community Council of
dered if German resistance, while deed. ❑
Metropolitan Detroit.

I had never been
to Germany, and
had little desire
to travel there.

A Food Drive
For All Of Us

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

Paper or plastic? appeared with a cart back into
You all re- the night.
member this
This guy I didn't know from
line. It happened anyone. He wore a White Sox
during the tran- baseball hat and was pretty tall,
sition time gro- that's all I remember. He too
cery stores were went out into the night. For me,
going from the this guy was a hero. No one will
I more familiar ever pay him a million dollars or
paper bags to put him on a trading card or on
plastic bags. It was asked by TV, but he was a quiet reason to
many a cashier all over the have faith in everything we talk
country. Customers now have about during Rosh Hashanah
to request paper if that's their and Yom Kippur.
choice.
Thousands of Yad Ezra's
I'd like to take this opportu- plastic grocery bags — 16,351
nity to ask the same question: to be exact — have been dis-
Paper or plastic? It reminds me tributed to members of the Jew-
of an incident witnessed at an ish community. Some have
all-night grocery store in South- come to you by mail, others dis-
field. It was easily after 11 p.m., tributed at your synagogue.
and standing in line two people
Take the bag, or take what-
ahead of me was a lady in her ever sack you need and fill it this
30s and a girl who looked to be week for the Jewish hungry. Ei-
about 7 or 8.
ther take it yourself to Yad Ezra
I had seen them walking or bring it back to your syna-
through the parking lot to the gogue. Over 25 synagogues, tem-
store. It was wintertime, and it ples and other Jewish
was absolutely miserable out- organizations are expecting to
side. The two were warmly collect some 26,000 pounds of
dressed, and they did have boots food donations during this third
on. But at 11 on a school night, annual Yom Kippur food drive.
the child should have been On Sunday, Sept. 18, Yad Ezra
tucked in a warm bed instead of volunteers will collect the food
helping the woman, I assume to brought back to the synagogues
be her mother, shopping. Who and temples. Over 900 families
knows what the family's story are using Yad Ezra now, with a
was all about? So many parents, need of some 36,000 pounds of
whether single or married, are kosher food a month.
working two or three jobs at one
Nancy Welber Barr, who
time. For the poor, if a car chairs the drive, said that Yad
breaks down, it means they can- Ezra doesn't mind if we don't
not get to work, and a cycle of use the bag it provides. She said
practical despair begins. No that the bag can be used as a re-
work, no food.
minder during the entire year
I didn't pay attention to the of a need for food donations. The
groceries the two were going to need has grown dramatically
buy. Besides, they were ahead over the years.
of me, and the man in front of
"It's alarming," said Ms. Wel-
me had a rather large order, and ber Barr, "especially in light of
there was an "important" sto- the fact that the economy is sup-
ry to read about Michael Jack- posedly doing so well. I don't
son in one of the reference know if there are many more
materials sitting on a nearby people who need to use Yad
rack.
Ezra. It's more, I think, that Yad
Looking up, I saw that the Ezra has done a better job over
cashier was taking deep (why the years of identifying those
are you wasting my time) people in need. Also, people are
breaths. The lady was choosing less embarrassed asking for
what she could afford to keep help than before."
before she could pay and begin
We'll all be rushing around
the bagging process. The child over the Labor Day holiday, and
chose cookies, her mother put a many of our trips will be to food
can of tuna in its place. There stores. Let's make sure that
were other choices to be put there's an extra bag or two in
back on the shelves. It came to our shopping carts.
about a bag's worth.
About that mother and her
Remember the man in front child last winter. No, they
of me. Our eyes didn't meet weren't wearing a Star of David
once, we both wanted to get nor were they speaking Russ-
shopping over with and get ian or using Hebrew words. The
home as quickly as possible. He grocery store angel in front of
looked at the cashier, and with- me happened to be African-
out looking at the lady and her American, and I don't think he
child, said, "Bag her food. I'll pay was Jewish.
for it."
But they all could easily have
It came to a few dollars. The been.
lady was so choked, she could
Paper or plastic? Who cares.
barely say thank you. They dis- Just make sure it's full. ❑

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