A letter uncalled for
I have no need to defend Germany. I do, however, object to the nature of reader Yohanan Av-Yair’s letter (“In their DNA,” March 14) and your decision to publish it.
Shortly after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, it was three German acquaintances, if not “friends” of the family, who donned SS uniforms and attempted to prove their Nazi bona fides by taking my grandfather from the house late one night and shooting him seven times just a few hundred meters away. Other family members met their end due to Nazi brutality in the Lodz Ghetto. I have plenty reasons to hate.
On the other hand, my father recounted a story from his childhood town. A German family acquaintance, also in SS uniform, was approached by a small Polish boy, who pointed at my father, telling the soldier he was a Jew. The soldier could have taken his pistol and shot my father. No one would have batted an eye. Instead, he grabbed the boy by the collar and tossed him away like a sack of potatoes. That SS soldier saved my father’s life by his decision to not act on knowledge he already had. Perhaps he also taught the Polish boy a lesson.
My father’s late brother also recounted an experience. He attempted to flee from the German-occupied zone of Poland to the Russian-occupied zone. Near to escaping, a German soldier suddenly stood before him, rifle raised. The soldier looked him over and asked Jude (Jew)? My uncle stood still. The soldier asked again. My uncle answered ja (yes). The soldier then motioned and said lauf (run)! Figuring he would be shot in the back, my uncle stood still and recited the Shema. The soldier said again, more emphatically: Lauf, mensch, lauf (run, man, run)! It then dawned on my uncle that he was telling him to escape, and to do so quickly.
Sadly, most other families had very different experiences.
I have no problem with mentioning Germany in our Yizkor prayers. Its national history is a fact. But if we speak of antisemitism as part of German DNA, Polish DNA, Ukrainian DNA or that of anyone else, do we not stoop to the level of the antisemites who, according to their racial ideology, attribute certain negative “Jewish” characteristics to biologically determinant factors?
I am very aware that antisemitism is alive and well in Germany, and in many other places. But not all Germans were or are antisemites. In fact, some today are actively more pro-Israel than some of our own co-religionists. GABE GOLDBERG Jerusalem