Category Archives: Culture

Free book: The German Heiress

27 Sunday Oct 2019

Posted by in Books, Crime, Culture, general, Hunger, Media, postwar, Women

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Final Cover_German Heiress

Published by HarperCollins in April 2020

If you’re in the United States and like free stuff, especially stuff related to postwar Germany, head over to Goodreads and enter a chance to win one of 100 advanced reader copies of my debut novel The German Heiress.  (It’s called Finding Clara in the UK).

It’s set in the ruins of Essen, Germany in December 1946 at the start of what the Germans call the “Hunger Winter,” one of the hardest on record. It stars Clara, a woman on the run and struggling with her conscience; Jakob, a black marketer determined to get his family through the winter; and Willy, a boy soldier who refuses to believe the war is over.

You can learn more at my author website.

A lot of information on this blog sprang from my research as I wrote this book. It’s been a labor of love, and I’m excited for it to get into the hands of readers.

Good luck!

My Child Lebensborn

11 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by in Children, Culture, Everyday life, general, postwar, Uncategorized

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Discover how hatred of our enemies continues to create victims, even after the victory.

That’s how the Norwegian developers described the theme of their app game My Child Lebensborn. Right after World War II, you adopt a child, Klaus or Karin, and must survive in a small Norwegian town. I couldn’t resist taking a look, and downloaded the app on my tablet.

Two hours later, I was still playing, and on the edge of tears.

The artwork and gameplay are simple and wonderful, and the music a perfect soundtrack to the bittersweet story that unfolds. You’re a single parent raising your adoptive child; I chose the girl Karin, because I have a daughter the same age. It’s a hard life. I had to work hard to feed her, and Karin often went hungry, or was alone at home. The basic tasks of feeding and clothing and washing Karin would’ve been overwhelming on their own, but worse things happened.

Karin turned 7 and wanted to know who her parents were. And why was she so bullied at school? Why was she called a “Nazi-kid?” Why did the others call her a German as if it was the worst thing one could be? I had to help Karin struggle with these questions, and watched how she suffered under them.

That’s the lesson of this game, the power of adult prejudices to destroy an innocent, delivered in a powerful, interactive way. As Karin’s adoptive parent, I had to set out to find the answers to her questions about who she was. There are some heartbreaking scenes and situations, and you don’t have to be a parent to be moved by them.

When the game was done, I wanted it to keep going, as painful as some of it was. I didn’t want to let go of Karin.

The game pointed me to the existence of the research group Children Born of War, which studies the effects of war on children, particularly children of foreign soldiers and local mothers. This is a crucial and heart-rending postwar issue, and not just in Germany, as I saw and lived in My Child Lebensborn.

Opinion polling in occupied Germany

11 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by in Allies, Culture, Jewish life, Politics and government, postwar

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Polls are a snapshot of what people are thinking at any given time. We’ve drifted toward seeing polls as somehow predictive of how people will act, one reason polling in general has taken a hit since Brexit and Trump’s election.

But polling has been around a long time as a way to get inside the minds of groups of people. That info can be used to form policy or see the effects of policy. That’s why the US military government did a range of polling in the US zone after World War II. Batteries of questions asked Germans about their daily lives, family, work, their opinions about the allies and Germany’s occupation, and particular policies such as the dismantlement of German factories as war reparations.

If you want to read a full report of the polling, check out Public Opinion in Occupied Germany, The OMGUS Surveys from the University of Illinois Press, 1970.

One issue the Americans looked at was antisemitism.

In December 1946, the military government polled 3006 Germans in the US Zone of Germany and the US sector of Berlin. The questions floated around one main issue – What did the years of antisemitic Nazi propaganda leave in the minds of the Germans?

In general, the poll found that people with stronger antisemitic opinions tended to be less educated, from a lower socioeconomic class and less informed. They also tended to be more critical of the Allies, and thought National Socialism was basically a good idea.

The results were broken down into people with few prejudices (20%), Nationalists (19%), Racists (22%), Antisemites (21%), and strong antisemites (18%).

In other words, the numbers looked pretty awful.

To break it down, western Berlin had the lowest percentage of people classified as racists and antisemites – at 45%. Bavaria was the state with the lowest percentage – at 59%!

Women expressed stronger antisemitic opinions than men – 67% of the women versus 50% of the men.

An interesting question measured whether a person recognized that the Germans had tortured and murdered millions of innocent Europeans. 72% of people with few prejudices agreed with this, while only 41% of the racist/antisemitic people did.

Which goes to show you that there has always been a significant percentage of people who choose to believe what they want, against all evidence.

New Films page

07 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by in Culture, Media

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I’m on a role now with the new pages, this one on films set in postwar Germany (and in one case you’ll probably guess, in Vienna).

Most of them are German films, well worth a look even if you  don’t know the language. The footage was often shot on location, making the films an authentic snapshot of Germany in the first years after the war.

If you have any suggestions to add, especially English films, let me know.

Enjoy the show!

The Bridge

13 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Culture

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Not many institutions from the Occupation of Germany still exist, but I visited one of the last ones recently.

It’s still called Die Brücke, the Bridge. This one in Düsseldorf. The building includes the International English Library and the Volkshochschule (a bit like a community college).

Sixty years ago, the British opened ten institutes for literature and the arts in cities across their Zone. They wanted to build a cultural bridge between the victors and the defeated. The Germans, so starved for world culture under the Nazis, had access to international periodicals, music and dance performances, literature and lectures.

I never guessed how important this issue was until I read postwar German newspapers. Cultural events were listed, many more than I thought there could be in bombed-out cities. In one collection of postwar memories, a returning soldier wrote about attending a lecture about the Italian Renaissance. It was standing room only in the lecture hall, and the listeners came from all walks of German life.

The International English Library in Düsseldorf’s website quotes Günther Grass’ famous novel Tin Drum  to show how important these institutions were to the Germans.

…in those years I educated myself almost free of cost together with thousands wanting to catch up and to educate themselves, took courses in the Volkshochschule, and became a regular in the British Centre, called ‘Die Brücke’.

Most of these centers closed down after Germany recovered its ability to provide its own cultural institutions. The few that survive depend on volunteers, membership and donors.

For me, the International English Library was a cozy place on the fourth floor of the building (the elevator, though, looked like it hadn’t been serviced since the postwar years). The library isn’t big or flashy, but for a native English speaker starved for a place to browse in her own language, it was perfect. The staff spoke in German or English, sometimes switching from one sentence to the next. The accents were British, American and German. The international conversation added to the unique feel of the library. Language, as well as books, builds bridges.