My grandparents were German Jews who got out of Germany in the late '30s, barely in time. And other relatives didn't get out. So I don't have illusions about how bad it can get, how fast.
I have German citizenship as part of reparations for my grandparents losing theirs at the time. In 2016 I felt like I had to decide NOW whether to start over in Germany or ride it out here. I concluded that I didn't want to start over like that even though it was likely to be bad here, so here I stay.
In that processing, I gained a lot of sympathy and understanding for why so many Jews didn't and couldn't leave Germany in the '30s. Starting over in a new country and a new language is no small thing, even with the money and connections to pull it off. Both sets of my grandparents did it twice in their lifetimes. My parents and their siblings did it once.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2020-08-16 01:58 am (UTC)My grandparents were German Jews who got out of Germany in the late '30s, barely in time. And other relatives didn't get out. So I don't have illusions about how bad it can get, how fast.
I have German citizenship as part of reparations for my grandparents losing theirs at the time. In 2016 I felt like I had to decide NOW whether to start over in Germany or ride it out here. I concluded that I didn't want to start over like that even though it was likely to be bad here, so here I stay.
In that processing, I gained a lot of sympathy and understanding for why so many Jews didn't and couldn't leave Germany in the '30s. Starting over in a new country and a new language is no small thing, even with the money and connections to pull it off. Both sets of my grandparents did it twice in their lifetimes. My parents and their siblings did it once.