Georg Iggers in Esslingen in front of students, 2004
I experienced the first almost 6 years of National Socialism as a child. I was born in December 26, into a family that was consciously Jewish, but also consciously German. There was actually no contradiction between Jewish identity and German identity. And then, of course, I was confronted with anti-Semitism as a child. On April 1, 1933, there was the boycott of Jews, right after Hitler came to power. Then, on April 3, the Monday right after the boycott, I came to school. I was actually very privileged in some respects, I came to an elementary school in Hamburg where I felt nothing of anti-Semitism. I had a teacher who was very nationalistic, and when I look back, there’s a lot that I don’t like. The big topic was the First World War, and how Germany suffered. There were two big blackboards on the wall in the classroom, so one blackboard, what we lost, including the colonies. And I think Germany was lucky to have lost the colonies, but people didn’t see it that way back then. And then also how we were surrounded, so Germany only had to have 100,000 soldiers and so on. The military was emphasized, and how the Germans had fought so heroically in the First World War. But then there was also a lot of youth movement, we hiked with pennants, and sang, built campfires. It was all very nice. I didn’t feel any anti-Semitism at school, but I did in the neighborhood. So there were more and more things where we were not allowed to go. I’m a passionate swimmer, even today, I wasn’t allowed to go swimming anymore. Jews were no longer allowed. I couldn’t go to the movies anymore, Jews weren’t allowed in the movie theaters. There were all kinds of stores that said, “Jews not wanted.” That affected me, of course. Then the terrible propaganda of the “Stürmer,” the “Stürmer” was a pornographic newspaper that was posted everywhere, very blatantly anti-Semitic, and then I suddenly realized that I was excluded, and then I became more and more consciously Jewish.