"When I arrived in Seeshaupt
(on the return journey), I was
picked up by a German family,"
he says. "They were so friendly
and nice."
Mr. Kahan and his wife stayed
for four days in the couple's
home. The visit included the ded-
ication of a new Holocaust
memorial (funds for which were
raised by citizens of Seeshaupt)
and featured numerous pro-
grams relating to the liberation
50 years ago.
Mr. Kahan also spent many
hours walking the streets of Ger-
many. He would watch elderly
men and women — former
Nazis? He refused to buy any-
thing in Munich.
He wondered where
their parents had
been during the war.
"But I separated this from the
people who hosted us," he says.
The Muller family, with whom
the Kahans stayed, were in their
40s. Mr. Kahan admits, "I won-
dered where their parents had
been during the war. I wondered,
but did not ask. I was so over-
whelmed with hospitality.
"Not that they denied any-
thing. They were more or less
very apologetic. I think they were
trying to atone for their parents,
which is why they were doing
this."
One evening, the survivors vis-
iting in Seeshaupt got together,
and Mr. Kahan found everyone
haunted by a similar confusion
— this hatred for Nazis but af-
fection for the Germans they had
just met.
"None of us could get over the
decency they (the Germans)
showed us," Mr. Kahan recalls.
"One friend said to me, 'The poi-
son of anti-Semitism must be
there in some of these young
Germans — it must be — but
perhaps it is just a small per-
centage."'
They also wondered: "Are we
allowed to like the Germans? Is
it all right to say good things
about them after what they did
to us?"
Like the other survivors on the
trip, Mr. Kahan wanted to thank
his guests with gifts from Amer-
ica. The Miillers requested med-
icine, dolls, a pair of expensive
tennis shoes.
And like the other survivors,
Mr. Kahan invited his hosts to
come stay with him in America.
It was a sincere invitation, but
now he wonders, "Would I tell
my neighbors these are Germans
visiting me?"
Since the trip he has asked
himself again and again, "Why
was I so overwhelmed by being
put up for four days?"
He has no answer. ❑
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