Bielefeld 2006
“It wasn’t until later that I actually realized how many Germans were behind the Nazis. We arrived in Göttingen in May 1961, on the very day the trial of Eichmann began in Jerusalem. Of course, I was very interested in the reactions. So in the ’50s, what bothered me in the 50s was to what extent Adenauer accepted high-ranking Nazis into his government, Globke, who wrote the commentary on the Nuremberg Racial Laws, and Oberländer, who then became Minister for Expellees and the Sub was suspected of having participated in war crimes. Then of course there was the desecration of Jewish cemeteries in 1959. So we came to Germany with somewhat mixed feelings, but had good experiences right from the start. We then got to know people in Göttingen who - mostly people in the SPD - who were in a concentration camp at some point during the Nazi era or who were in emigration. Then we got to know a younger generation of people who were too young and who viewed this whole German past very critically. Our children went to three different schools. Jeremy was in first grade in high school, Daniel in elementary school and Jonathan in kindergarten. That’s when we got to know parents who all had the right views. We soon felt very comfortable in Göttingen. We did experience a different Germany after all. A Germany with which we could then identify. Over time, the critical attitude towards the past has not decreased, but the second and third generations have become much more critical in many respects and we can live in Germany today because we see Germany as a democracy. In the meantime I have got my German citizenship back, I am also American and Wilma is now - who was never a German citizen - is now also a German citizen and at the same time American.”