I was invited to speak to you today about a trip that I made recently to Europe, where I visited seven countries. Besides visiting relatives, sightseeing and having a good time, my trip had another very specific purpose, and that is what I want to speak to you guys about today. My visit to Germany was for the purpose of meeting and interviewing a man that I had been trying to find for 52 years, and finally located.
First, it is important for you to know that I am Jewish, and that I was born in Germany. And because this is a history class, I guess it would also be important to know that we are talking about that period now known as The Holocaust and the Second World War.
I dont know if you watch the news on TV, or understand what is going on in Kosovo, or Serbia, Croatia or Yugoslavia - I'm not sure that anyone really does understand it.
Basically it is that some people don't like other people very much - or not at all - which has led to something really terrible, described as "Ethnic Cleansing". But the Serbs and their friends and their enemies didn't invent Ethnic Cleansing, which is really just another way of saying "murder". They only copied it from people who perfected it to a science during a period that we now call by the almost poetic sounding name of The Holocaust, during which the German nation murdered more than Six Million Jews. One million of those were children. Just so we all understand those numbers, let me give you an important comparison. There are right now 1097 Middle Schools in California. Attendance last week was about 980,000. Imagine if all of the Middle School students in California were to disappear today. They exterminated more than Two Thirds of all the Jews living in Europe at that time. Two out of every three - quite a number.
Let's take a look at why this happened. You have probably heard your parents, or your grandparents talk about the Great Depression, when there were no jobs, no food on the table, and people standing in long lines up and down El Camino Real, and streets and boulevards everywhere, waiting to be served a bowl of soup. That happened all over the world. Well, in Germany, it was a lot worse. Just try to imagine your Mom sending you to the grocery story for a loaf of bread, and having to bring along a whole box full of thousand dollar bills to pay for that bread or milk. A bottle of soda pop could set you back a million dollars - that is if you had that much lying around. During all of that they were having an election to replace the government. Just like we are seeing in California at the moment, they had two main parties that were trying to get elected - not Republicans and Democrats - but the Communists and the National Socialist Party, a name that was too long to pronounce, so they simply condensed it to Nazis. So now you know where that word came from. Well, the nazis, who were actually just a bunch of street hoodlums, sort of like some of today's gangs, managed to get themselves elected, and they came to power in 1933. That was the same year that President Franklin Roosevelt was elected here in this country. But in Germany it was a man named Adolf Hitler who was elected as the Chancellor of the country, and like President Roosevelt in this country, he and his party worked to bring their countries out of this terrible great depression. Actually, he was not really elected, which is a commonly accepted error, because he and his party never received more than 33% of the vote.
One of the first things that the nazis did was to pass some new laws, called the Nuremburg Laws. Nuremberg, because that is the name of the city were they met to enact these new laws for the country. Those laws set the stage for all of the horrible things that they would do during the 12 horrible years that they were in power.
Those laws stated that Jews were to be banned from all professions. They could no longer be doctors, lawyers, judges, civil servants - All of those were Out! Good bye! - end of job. To me, as a small boy, it meant that one of my grandfathers, who was a lawyer and also an accountant - now out of business. No job. No income. They had been fairly well off - but now they had to sell their furniture just to be able to buy food. Of course, that only while it was still permitted for Jews to buy food.
What did it mean to me - personally, as one who was about to start school?
Well, one of the new laws was that Jews could no longer attend public school. Those who were already attending had to leave; those who had not started yet - it meant simply "don't bother to show up".
How many of you here are Jewish? Raise your hand or stand up. Don't be bashful. OK everybody - take a good look at your fellow students, because if this was germany during that time, tomorrow these students cannot be here with you any more. You get the picture. Good. Oh, but hold on for just a minute. You aren't going to get off quite that easy. How many of you here, who are not of the Jewish faith, remember hearing one of your grandparents mentioning that they were raised Jewish? Would you stand up please? OK, thank you.. You are out also. That was the law. If any one out of eight of your great-grandparents had Jewish blood, you were considered a Jew by the state, and you were subject to arrest, probably being thrown into a camp, and most likely to later be killed And as you might have heard or read , it wasn't just Jews. It was also gay people, it was the gypsies, and people with any kind of handicaps or disabilities. They simply disappeared.
We have about 75 students here today. (Note: At his point, about half of the class was standing, including the daughter of the teacher, who was surprised until he remembered that one of his wife's grandparents was a german Jew.) Can you imagine this: How many here are blonde? OK - you will go on to college. All the others cannot. Those are some of the sort of restrictions that were made. Or - everybody on this side of the room will be a plumber. Everybody on that side will be a carpenter. Only those in the center can continue to go to this school. and then on to college. That was simply the way it was. Nobody could question it. They wouldn't dare. Period. Everybody else who was still left, now had to join something called the Hitler Youth. It was NOT voluntary. You had to! Everybody, that is, everybody who wasn't Jewish, handicapped or gay. You had to learn to march, to shoot weapons, and those who could play a musical instrument would become a part of the military band that would play at the weekly parades when all the others had to march. Oh, if you had to go to Catechism - to Hebrew or other Religious School - to soccer - to swimming - ice skating - NO NO, that's all forbidden - only going to the Hitler Youth meetings was allowed. No exceptions were permitted It was a complete and very successful brain-washing of an entire nation. Nobody disobeyed! Oh sure, a few did. But nobody ever saw them again!
So, if it was so bad, why didn't you leave? You might want to ask. Right? Because it was not so easy. First, you had to have a place to go, a country willing to let you in, and all the documents that would make it possible for you to be permitted to leave. Then you would also need a visa to enter another country. There were so many people who wanted to do that, thousands and thousands, that all of the agencies that issued such documents were completely swamped. They had to find a way to process everybody, so they set up a lottery. You had to draw a number. If you drew a low number, you might have a shot at getting out. If you had bad luck, and drew too high a number, forget it - no chance.
While my parents were occupied with trying to find a way to get us out, I was staying with my Dad's parents for a few weeks. One morning I asked my grandpa if I could go to his office with him. He was president of a company, where he had worked since he started there as a stock boy when he got out of school. He wasn't really crazy about having this little boy bugging him in his office, but finally gave in like most grandparents would if you bug them enough. So I just happened to be there on this particular morning. Yea, drawing with crayons on scratch paper that he gave me. I'm sure some of you have done that. But on this morning a guy walked in, who had been my grandpa's chauffeur - the one who had driven us to my grandfather's office earlier that morning. Only now he was wearing a uniform. It was the black uniform of an officer in the SS,. what later came to be called a Storm Trooper. My grandfather was very shocked and surprised and asked him, "What are you doing here? What is the meaning of this, Fritz?" He replied that he was now there on orders of the government. He said, "The company is to be Nationalized as of today. I am here to get your keys. The keys to the building, your office, your desk, and of course the car. This company now belongs to the state, and you can clean out your things and leave. Jews are no longer wanted or needed here." Finished. End of job. End of company. Not only that, but my Dad also worked for the same company, and our car also belonged to the company, both of which were also now nationalized. Can you picture that happening in your family, your parent's jobs or their business?
That was more than half a century ago - but I never forgot the scene, and often saw it like a movie before my eyes. I also decided that someday I would find this SS Captain.
My parents tried very hard to find a way for us to get out. We even had all of the necessary papers once, but they expired because then we could not find a ship that would take us. It seemed impossible - and my parents were very frustrated, and they actually gave up hope. When they heard about an agency in England that was bringing out some Jewish children to save them, my parents signed us both up. My little sister, who was not quite 3 years old yet, left with one of the transports and was taken in by a family in Sheffield England. Cute little blond girls were easier to place in a home, than a 9 year old boy. Has anybody here heard of the "Kindertransports"? That is what they were called? But, finally, I was to also scheduled to leave on one of the next transport ships, in - just a few more days. But that was when the war started. Germany attacked Poland on September 1, and then on September 3 England declared war on germany, and all possibility for escape was ended.
During this time the germans made ever greater demands on us. First they announced one day that Jews were no longer allowed to own silver. We were ordered to bring our silverware to the neighborhood police station. Anyone who did not, would be shot. Next it was our radios. The order came that we were to bring our radios. This was so that we could no longer listen to broadcasts from other countries. You had to comply, and if found with a radio in the house, you would be shot.
One day the order came that Jews could no longer live in one family apartments or houses. We were to move in with three other families in one apartment. You would not be permitted to take your furniture, nor would there be room for it. Period. At the same time, many people were disappearing. Vanishing. Never to be seen or heard from again. We knew that some had been taken to a place called Dachau - a concentration camp.
We finally did manage to get the necessary papers that we needed to get out. We were finally on a train, along with about 100 other Jewish refugees. As we reached the border, everyone was to be searched. We were only able to take out one suitcase each, and we were not allowed to take out German money. Only 10 Marks per person - that was about $3 at that time. If you had more it had to be turned in. My father still had some money, which he put in an envelope to mail to his father and mother. He asked one of the guards if he could walk to the mailbox in front of the railroad station, just a short distance from the train to mail a letter to his parents. The guard agreed. Sure, that would be was OK. But as my dad dropped his letter in the mailbox, the train started to move. My mother and I quickly ran to the door of the train , and we saw my Dad start to run to catch the train. There were two guards standing by the station. One of them raised his rifle to shoot my father, who was now trying to reach the train before it left the station. As he pulled the trigger, the other guard slapped his rifle down, and said, "Let him go. It's just a dirty Jew!" My Mom and I grabbed my father's arm and pulled him into the train. That was my final memory of that country. I vowed then that I would never set foot on that soil again. After the war, a few years later, my parents searched everywhere for the remainder of our family, and of course for my father's parents. About fifty members of our family had disappeared without so much as a trace.
After more than 50 years, in 1997, I finally was able to locate the Captain whom I spoke about earlier. He was now living in a Home for Old Soldiers in Southern Germany. It also happened to be near the city where I lived before coming to the United States.
I called him, and I spoke to him several times on the phone. I told him that I was an American journalist, and that I was writing a book about "those times" as the Germans call it. I said that I would be coming to Germany and would like to visit and interview him. He was a bit suspicious, but he finally agreed to see me.
In August I traveled to Norway and Sweden. I called him from there and told him that I was now in Europe and would be in Germany next week. The appointment was still on. I called again in the morning , when I arrived in the city. "Sorry, the Captain is not available", I was told. "Who is calling?" I ended up speaking to the Director of the home. He informed me that the Captain, now a very old man, was sick - perhaps had pneumonia - "It is impossible for you to meet with him! I cannot allow it!"
I finally got the director to agree to permit me to conduct my interview by telephone. He said that "if the old man becomes too tired I will have to end your conversation". OK - I had no other choice, so I agreed. I tried to set up my Radio Shack tape recorder with the telephone gismo. Didn't work . The interview began. I asked him how old he was; when he was born. He could not remember that exactly. He recalled his service as a Captain in the SS, with war service in Germany, Poland and on the Russian front. He was wounded, and lost one foot on the Russian Winter, but one of only two men from an entire regiment who survived the battles.
I asked if he remembered what he did before the war. He remembered working for a firm - in the furniture business - very nice people - treated him with kindness - Jewish people. "They were all nice - kind - didn't pay much, but I was only a flunky - but it put food on the table." We went on to talk about his military service. He remembered everything quite clearly - only not his age. His being wounded. He was taken prisoner later in France. I asked if the name Glucksmann had any significance for him. That was our family name. (It means Lucky Man.) "Ach yes," he said. "Oh yes. Of course. There was a little boy. Ja. Are you that little boy?" "Ja, I wondered, when you called me from America - a journalist, who wanted to interview me, an old soldier, a nobody really. Why?" He said that he suspected something, but did not quite know what. We both were on the verge of tears, but we continued to talk on. I was hardly able to continue scribbling notes, and was quietly cursing the stupid tape recorder.
"Yes, I remember everything. What I had to do. What I was ordered to do. I could only do what I was told. There was no way to resist." Then he asked, "Did anybody survive those terrible times? Your grandpa? Any of the others?" "No" , I told him. My grandparents were murdered at Auschwitz, along with all the others, Six Million others. "What a terrible shame." He said. " I always hoped one day to tell them how sorry I was. How much I regretted doing what I had to do - what they made me do." He asked me, "Can you ever forget? Can you ever forgive me?" I told him that I could never forget - never. And as for forgiving ... it is not possible for me to forgive. In the Jewish tradition, only the victims can forgive - and they are all long gone." Then he said that "We were all washed along by an irresistible tide that washed us all along in its wake! It took all of us-------all ..." At this point he began to cough. He could not talk. Another voice came on the line. "I am sorry. He is old and very sick. I must end your interview here. Sorry!" the director of the Soldiers' Home said. But it didn't really matter anymore. I was too emotional to continue anyway.
About two weeks after my return to California, I was having a cup of coffee and reading my Sporting Green when the phone rang. It was the Director of The Old Soldiers' Home in Germany. " Herr Captain Spechler asked me to call you. He passed away at the beginning of this week. He was quite sick. He was well over 90 years old you know. But he spoke of you daily, after you talked with him. He was a different man. He was as if somebody had taken a heavy load off his old back. He made me promise that I would call you when he died."
So, now my story is complete - if I should decide to write it ... perhaps ... we'll see.
Many important lessons are to be learned from the terrible events of those years, as you will see during your upcoming trip to Washington, DC, and your visit to the Holocaust Museum in that city. Perhaps one of the most important is that one must fight against and speak out about injustice - even when not directed against you. One of the very few people who did that in germany was a minister, Pastor Niemuller, who said:
Copyright 1999 Harry W. Gluckman
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Last updated 01/09/99 (rge)