Brown Babies: Deutschlands verlorene Kinder

Another interesting program on the ARTE channel (from the same source as the potty special), this one dealing with the so-called Mischungskinder, children who were the offspring of African American G.I.s stationed in Germany and German women after World War II. The program follows four different people who were placed in orphanages by their German mothers and adopted by black American families in the 1950s.

As part of the documentary, these people (three women and one man) in search of their biological heritage, and with that, their identities,travel back to Germany to discover these aspects of themselves. Two of the mothers have already died at the time of filming, but the two alive got to meet their daughters, and one, currently living in the United States with her more "acceptable" white husband, gave an on-camera interview.

The mothers, all women around my own grandmother's age, coming of age in Nazi Germany, were of course products of their time and culture. Yes, this was still the time in the South when a white man and a black man could not eat their sandwiches at the same lunch counter, had to drink from separate water fountains, use separate restrooms. African-Americans were treated not only as second-class citizens, but were terrorized in their own home towns and just had to bear it. In fact, Hitler once said off hand (probably off the record, too) that he got the idea of Jewish segregation from the American model of segregation. Separate but equal? Not exactly.

Europe, on the whole, got a good reputation for being more liberal and accepting of other cultures when American G.I.s were stationed there during World War I, and to this day it still has somewhat the same reputation. Famous examples are black American expats Josephine Baker and Richard Wright, who settled in Paris. And, according to the documentary, the African-American G.I.s stationed in France and Germany during and after the war were treated better than they had ever been at home. Mostly this had to do with their relative novelty, the fact that there weren't a lot of black people in Europe at the time, and what lady can resist a man in uniform?

Well, unfortunately, the G.I.s (and not just the black ones, all American G.I.s) were expected not to fraternize with the enemy - which Germany still was at the time - and certainly not to pick up German girlfriends. The women who ended up having affairs with black G.I.s (or relationships, or marriage proposals) and subsequently became pregnant, had a double burden: not only was the father gone (in many cases, the U.S. Army purposely relocated the men after finding out about illegitimate children), but her baby was a Mischungskind - a "mixed baby" that stuck out like a sore thumb and ruined the whole Aryan race concept. Many women kept their children and were stigmatized, or gave them up for adoption to lead "normal" lives with German husbands.

In the United States, pamphlets circulated trying to send these "brown babies" to black American families, where they would "fit in better." This was the fate of each of the four people followed. Sometimes they were treated well, sometimes they were treated poorly, but they always knew they were adopted - always knew they didn't belong. Henriette, one of the women who was lucky enough to find her mother alive, visits her frequently in Texas where the old woman lives. Speaking in a thick Bavarian accent, she tells the camera with tears in her eyes, "It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, and maybe the worst mistake of my life." Owing that, it still turned out well for them, thanks mostly to Henriette's interest in genealogy.

It's amazing to think that that was just two or three generations ago. Nowadays mixed-race couples are completely free to get married, have children, and live full and happy lives together, without the social pressures terrorizing them. Of course, there are still differences among individual families, but in most of the Western world, it's easier than it's ever been to love whomever you choose. It's come a bit late for all the "brown babies" but hopefully they can rest knowing not only a bit more about where they come from, but that their grandchildren or great-grandchildren will not be put up for adoption based on the color of their skin.

Summer Camp Austria: the Beginning

Starting on the 26th of July, I have been hired to teach German at an international sleep away summer camp in Zell am See. After a week of orientation with all of the staff members, the campers arrived yesterday. It's been pretty hectic getting all of the kids situated and dealing with parents, regulations, etc. I'm a bit afraid the kids are going to be spoiled brats from what I've heard about the socioeconomic standing of some of them...

The kids come from all over, but mostly Russia, the Middle East, Switzerland and other parts of Europe. I was on airport duty picking up the kids from Munich, which was incredibly stressful. I never realized how hard it can be to try to wrangle 60+ kids around an airport!!

All of my co-workers seem pretty cool, though. I met two on the train ride from Salzburg to Zell am See and the rest when I got to the camp. They've traveled all over the place, and many of them are from New Zeeland, though there are also a number of Americans, a couple of Canadians, an Australian, and various Europeans. Our orientation was a bit less hands-on than I had imagined, but I guess it did the trick.

I will stop here, being absolutely pooped. Hopefully more news will pop up soon...and pictures, too!

Memoiren eines mittelmäßigen Schülers

A book loaned to me by one of the teachers at the HAK, Memoiren eines mittelmäßigen Schülers (tr: Memoirs of an Average Student), is a semi-autobiographical and historical journey by German writer Alexander Spoerl.

I enjoyed the book very much. The style is easy to get into. The writing is simple and informative - almost conversational. The story begins as Jakob van Tast waits in the hospital for his son to be born. The time is late 40's or early 50's. Jakob, with nothing else to do, returns to his own childhood within the narrative. This story takes us from a little boy behaving badly to a young man (uninterested, not finding his niche) desiring to be free of school, to a young man working as an apprentice in Berlin, to a young man drafted into Hitler's army. Later, through each of these adventures, and frames of mind, we come to recognize the whole man who has formed from these fragments of persona. At the end, Jakob not only discovers the birth of his daughter (an ironic view of men and their perception of their offspring as an extension of themselves?) but reunites with (i.e. sees) an old teacher of his from the Gymnasium, who has completely forgotten who he is. Only "average" students are rarely remembered by teachers, sorry to say. We remember the excellent ones and the terrible ones - with behavior problems - most of all, especially after 20, 30 or 40 years...

I loved the irony. I loved the honesty. I loved that Spoerl made no bones about Hitler, the Third Reich and all that bullshit in 1950, no less, right after the war! Jakob falls in love with a Jewish girl, has an affair with the wife of an officer while in the army...things that make for a juicy story. And yet, that's not the point. Jakob's growth as a human being is of importance, not the juicy details of plot, but his existential qualities. It reminded me of Camus. Without all of that freaky-weird imagery.

Ode* to Cologne

 What you didn't see from my Amsterdam photos:

the famous Cologne catherdral

me in front of Roman ruins

To highlight Cologne as a city in itself, although this is out of chronological order and, thus, most likely irritating to certain die hard sticklers out there on the world wide web, I have decided to create a separate post of the pictures I took in Germany.


Because we were only there overnight, there's not a whole lot to see. We could have easily spent more time in the Cologne/Bonn area. Certainly, there was lots to see, plenty of Kölner Kölsch to drink, and enough "funny German accents" to hear (according to Jake; let it be said that I don't agree) to make a longer Auftenthalt in the Rhineland.


As it was, we had a pretty tight schedule: night train from Vienna,
wandering around to get pictures of the Dom, a trip to the Römisch-Germanisches Museum (Roman-Germanic Museum - yes, founded in 50 BC! According to the Romans, that is...the area had been inhabited earlier as well, but if you're not part of the empire, that doesn't count...)

We also made it to Bonn to see the Beethoven museum, which was nicely productive for Jake, who is an oboist and working on a project on the Viennese oboe (distinctive from other oboes in that it is mainly - only? - used by the Vienna Philharmonic). Jake is quite the burgeoning expert on such things, so questions should be directed toward him. I couldn't tell you the first things about oboes.


However plebeian my attempts to appreciate classical music, I do. The Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, being his birthplace (he lived most of his adult life and died in Vienna), houses lots of family archives, furniture, portraits, musical instruments, etc. If you're in the Bonn area, it's worth a visit. If you're not, they have a FABULOUS website (follow the link) which is worth checking out as well!

First, here are some photos from the Römisch-Germanisches Museum. I sort of over-indulged in taking photos here...being an archaeology nerd. 


<-- this is the mosaic floor uncovered during WWII (via the construction of a bunker...) It's good to know war is good for something.





























I  don't know why, but the shoes always get me -->
I find it amazing to see 2000-year-old shoes on display! Imagine your Nikes lasting that long!

I believe this was labeled "Women's Things" i.e. perfume bottles and a mirror

That's right: "Gladiators"!

belt buckles

wheels

reconstructed carriage based on the lion's head axel

tombstones

And yet more floor/wall mosaic:

Capricorn: the emperor Agustus' symbol 

After the museum, Jake and I took a walk along the Rhine:

 For some reason, there were all of these locks along the bridge. They appeared to be love lockets...photos to follow...

For example, below, are some of the "love lockets" we saw:









































<-- Jake was not impressed with the one made out of an old beer keg!

view of the city from the brigde

To finish, we have photos of Bonn. Namely, the outside of the Beethoven-Haus...









And of downtown Bonn:


and the EU Commission (which we thought we could tour for some reason...we can't...perhaps when Bonn was the capital of West Germany - and the EU Commission had existed - this might have been possible :P)



As it stands, the EU Commission -->

is just a little old office building!

see? 

And, of course there was a place called "Steppenwolf" so I had to take a picture!! (I recently read the Hesse novel...possible review to come...)




One more thing:

Mom: they do have T.J. (K.) Maxx in Europe!

*This is neither and ode nor an advertisement for eau de Cologne I just liked the pun :)