My whole life I wondered what was World War II, the Spanish Civil War and Caudillo Francisco Franco, fascist Italy and Benito Mussolini, the supremacist and warmongering Japanese Empire all about?
The leftist poet Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) coined the phrase "An die Nachgeborenen" (To Those Born After) in 1939, which became "Die Last der Nachgeborenen" (The burden of those born after WWII) and the motto "Nie wieder" (never again). I sure can relate to this. It was probably my late father, a poet himself, who introduced me to Bertolt Brecht.
One of my late father's favorite poems, which he introduced me to and which I still remember, was written by the Romanian poet Paul Celan (1920-70, a Holocaust survivor) titled Todesfuge (published in 1948). The language of this poem is strange and amazing "„Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken sie abends/wir trinken sie mittags und morgens wir trinken sie nachts/wir trinken und trinken/wir schaufeln ein Grab in den Lüften da liegt man nicht eng“ (the opening verses of this poem).
Why the Holocaust? Why the antisemitism? Therefore, I support Israel and Jews whenever I can! I strongly oppose Antisemitism all the time and in all its forms. All my life I made it my habit to learn more about the modern Israel and Ancient Judea and the intervening time period, the relationship between Arabs and Jews, the Levant and so on. Modern Israel (since 1948) is probably one of the most diverse and exciting countries in the world except perhaps for India. The history of Jews and Judaism is so fascinating (David & Goliath, Masada, Maccabee, King Solomon, Samson and Delilah and so much more). One of my late parents e.g. would teach me at a young age the meaning of the Judgement of King Solomon.
I was born in Frankfurt am Main and I grew up in the Westend district of the city.
From my late mother and my late father I was told a number of horrible stories about their and other children's war time experiences. My mother was about 6 years old when WWII ended, my father was about 12 years old. One of the stories, I remember was that my late father as a young boy once found a soldier's boot with a torn off leg still showing. What do e.g. the Ukrainian children go through since the Russo-Ukrainian War started in 2022?
When I was a child some of my German neighbors may have been Nazis and were possibly involved in atrocities against Jews. My late father pointed out several times that he suspected some of our German neighbors and other Germans were possibly perpetrators.
It was an open secret that some of the German perpetrators got away and were living among us. My paternal uncle had a typical German soldier tattoo (Waffen SS? I forgot where on the body (arm?) and what kind of tattoo it exactly was), which he was always hiding. Also, I do not remember whether and how he served in the German military etc. However, neither my late father nor I suspected he was involved in atrocities given e.g. what he told my father about his service in World War II and given his generally friendly and kind personality.
The Westend Synagogue (see photo below) was located very near where I grew up. It was kind of sad to see that this large synagogue appeared to be in constant lockdown and it was always fortified. This synagogue was not easily accessible to the public for security reasons.
While in high school, I had a Jewish high school buddy. We spent a lot of time together. He was not very athletic and looked perhaps a little bookish with his glasses, but he was a great guy. I also visited him several times at home and got to know his Jewish mother and father. They both were very nice! This family was not orthodox Jewish, but typical Jewish symbols were displayed in their home. If I remember correctly, his father was in the philately business, which is perhaps not so unusual for a Jew. In my youth, I was also a collector of stamps and coins from all over the world.
Then there was the Jewish leader Ignatz Bubis. He was often decried as a real estate speculator in Frankfurt (antisemitism?). However, he was also an active member of the Freie Demokratische Partei (FDP) in Frankfurt. My late father and I were active members as well of the FDP that is how I got to know Mr. Bubis.
As an older teenager I had the great opportunity to travel to Vienna in Austria for a summer vacation with a Jewish youth organisation from Frankfurt. It was a great experience and I had a great time. Here I was together with a group very nice people, mostly young Jews. I think, I had a crush on one of the very young Jewish women. It was there in the Viennese area that I discovered my lifelong love for real hazelnut spread. Unfortunately, I do not remember anymore how I was able to join this group and what the name of this group was. I believe, I have to thank my late father for this great experience.
The city of Frankfurt was heavily bombed during World War II due to the location of e.g. important companies of the chemical industry. Much of the city was in rubble. E.g. the opera house (die Alte Oper) in the center of Frankfurt was hallowed out, basically only the outer walls and some lower level structures in the interior were still standing. Many times I passed by these ruins, one day I even climbed into the ruins out of curiosity. The ruins of the opera house were left as a war memorial and reminder until it was rebuilt beginning in 1976 and reopened in 1981. The reconstruction was quite controversial at the time.
During my youth, there were numerous reports of unexploded ordnance, mostly WWII bombs discovered in the inner city of Frankfurt. Even at my neighborhood high school, which I had attended, there was a large bomb discovered in the corner of the school yard during some construction work. Me and a buddy of mine climbed on a close by, one story high car garage roof to watch the disposal team to take care of this bomb. Dangerous adventures.
The headquarters of the US Army V Corps was located until 1995 in the former IG Farben Hochhaus in the largest inner city park (Grüneburgpark) not far from where I grew up. Thus, I encountered many US soldiers during my childhood and beyond. It never crossed my mind that the American soldiers were an occupation force (as suggested by some Germans). Actually by frequently visiting two US military gyms (one was the V Corps main gym, the other was the 97th General Hospital gym) for several years, I learnt how to play basketball from black American soldiers. It was a very friendly, older black American gym attendant, who allowed/tolerated me to play basketball at the V corps gym. In the beginning, he jokingly reminded me not to wear those typical German skimpy shorts, but instead more American like trunks so his white American supervisor (an Irish guy who peeped on topless, sunbathing young German women while jogging in the Grüneburgpark during lunch break) would not complain. I have spent many weekends and evenings there to play ball. I enjoyed the contemporary soul, rap & funk music blasted across the gym or inside the barracks. Plus, I learnt some cool dance moves and I became a big fan of Soul Train hosted by Don Cornelius. I had a lot of fun with the mostly black American soldiers some of whom I came to know quite well. Sometimes we would also go out to discos together on Saturday evenings, I sometimes visited them in their barracks, or I joined barbecue parties with them etc. One of the older black American soldiers and basketball player also invited me over to his home for dinner with his wife and two children. I had a very good time. A few black American soldiers pointed out to me that I was naturally high, which I understood to be a compliment (no one had ever before told me that or ever since). I am not a churchgoer (other than as a tourist), but during this time I was somehow invited to attend a black American church service at a US military church near the small town of Hanau (not far from my home town Frankfurt). For me, the journey started from Frankfurt on a bus filled with black American churchgoers heading for this church. The church service with all the Gospel singing, expressions of joy and faith and so on was an incredible, mind blowing experience. Last, but not least, I have also witnessed a few cases of open, reverse racism of some black Americans against white Americans. Sometimes black Americans would call each other nigger, but a white American better not dare to say it.
Westend Synagogue in Frankfurt am Main (Source)
