Tearing the Silence: Being German in America [Hardcover]

Ursula Hegi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 1997

Brilliantly interviewed by bestselling novelist Ursula Hegi, German Americans born in Germany during and immediately following World War II speak out about the legacy of grief and shame that continues to haunt them.

Like Studs Terkel in his classic Working, Hegi uses the art of the interview to delve into the personal histories of these women and men as they confront -- some for the first time -- the terrible and pervasive silence that made any mention of the Holocaust taboo in their homes and schools while they were growing up. They share their pain, anger, and compassion as they take us into the world of their parents and try to sort out the impact of the war on their own lives.

Echoing many of the themes Hegi explored in Stones from the River, this powerful and provocative oral history is the first book to capture the long-silent voices of post-war German Americans stifled by the legacy of their homeland.

"Compelling for anyone interested in stories that transcend countries and races". -- Sabine Reichel, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Provides an important perspective and an understanding of post-Holocaust Germany, Hitler's legacy of shame and grief and the immigration experience". -- The Associated Press

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ursula Hegi grew up in Germany and moved to the United States at age 18. As she grew older and raised a family, questions about her roots and her native land haunted her until, at last, she felt compelled to write about them. Tearing the Silence brings together her interviews with dozens of German-born Americans, and their confrontations with the taboo of the Holocaust.

From Library Journal

Hegi's outstanding fictional accounts of life in World War II Germany (Floating in My Mother's Palm, LJ 3/1/90, and Stones from the River, LJ 1/94, an Oprah Book Club selection) were the catalysts for this powerful nonfiction collection of interviews of first-generation German Americans. Herself a German-born American, Hegi aims to shatter the reluctance, even refusal, of Germans to mention the Holocaust other than to say, "We suffered, too." The Germany Hegi grew up with and ultimately struggled against is reflected in the personal accounts by other Germans, now living in America, whom she interviewed informally. For example, there is Eva, who remarks, "Just because I'm German doesn't mean I am a Nazi," and Hans-Peter, who says, "It's my heritage?yet I had no say in it." This singular work is an important addition to a greater understanding of the Holocaust and to giving credible cognizance to submerged feelings. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Kay Meredith Dusheck, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1ST edition (July 2, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684829967
• ISBN-13: 978-0684829968
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An "easy" read that challenges us to look at hard issues, October 1, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Sacramento, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America (Paperback)

Reading "Tearing the Silence" is part of my journey to achieve some level of peace and acceptance of who I am--a "late born" German, whose family immigrated to the US in 1953, when I was 8 years old. For years I have struggled with how a doctrine of hate and genocide could become accepted in a land that gave us Beethoven, Schiller and Goethe. As was the experience of many in the book, our family didn't discuss the holocaust. As adults, my brother and I started our own search for understanding, Chris approaching it from the religious perspective...the role of the church in the resistance...and the colloboration with Hitler. I took the humanistic path, reading books such as "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl and visiting museums and concentration camps. Nothing helped me understand what could cause such a complete breakdown of religious, moral and ethical values. How often I thought: Why didn't my parents DO something about it. They are decent human beings. How could they let it go on? Did they really "not know?" In reading "Tearing the Silence" it helped me understand that my brother and I are part of a larger group who share similar experiences and who feel that same shame, but that it is also our generation that must be vigilant not to let the impact of these dark events be mitigated by time. I now no longer constantly think "Why didn't my parents...." I now think "What would I have done? Would I have had the strength of my moral convictions to put my life and my family's life on the line? What can I do now to be a peacemaker and healer in this world?" Dietrich Bonhoffer, the great German Theologian, said, when asked if he would resist swearing allegiance to Hitler as part of his duties as a Lutheran Minister "I pray I will find the courage to resist." That too is my prayer if my convictions are ever tested. In the meantime, I recommend this book to those who share my background or those living with us....so you can better understand the guilt and shame we carry (as we must). My only disappointment was that Ms Hegi generally selected the experiences of people whose parents were very violent, cruel, disfunctional and abusive. I don't believe that represents German parenthood, unless my own family experience is unique. Our German parents were loving, suportive of us and each other, and I owe much of who I am today to their personal sacrifices.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Oral History of Germans Born Late Living in US, July 5, 2000

By 

Dorit "Singing teacher mom" (Chesapeake, VA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America (Paperback)

Ursula Hegi does a great service by examining the feelings of the "2nd generation" of Germans who were too young to have participated in the Nazi horror, but who have had to deal with it nonetheless. It is also an examination of what it is like to be a German immigrant in the US, and deal with American Christians and Jews and their feelings towards Germans and the Holocaust. As a child of Holocaust survivors from Poland who has read much of the "2nd generation" children of survivors literature, as well as other interviews with Germans of the "2nd generation" (Sabine Reichel's "What Did You Do in the War Daddy" comes to mind), I believe this book contributes greatly to creating an understanding among all of us who have been so heavily effected by the Holocaust. It was also an eyeopener for me to read the descriptions of the relationships these people had with their parents, and compare them to the issues Holocaust survivors and their children deal with. Very well written and hard to put down. Highly recommended.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting for those of Hegi's generation, February 6, 1999

By 

"kmw3011" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tearing the Silence: Being German in America (Hardcover)

At first I also thought this was another "guilt trip" - something the present generation of young people in Germany have resolutely turned their back on, probably to the relief of much of the rest of the world. But, as a German born in Germany towards the end of the war and leaving to come to America just before I turned four (where the banks of the Mississippi in Minnesota after bombed-out Berlin were Paradise Found despite loss and dislocation), I found the commentary and the interviews fascinating. They were able to stir up long-compartmentalized memories of what such an origin at such a time meant and continues to mean for those of us who "escaped" into a better world. Knowing more fully from these interviews that others of my generation share memories, traumas, repressions and longings which had mostly been "silenced" by the new world, and being able to understand them as specifically shaped by our being the children and survivors of families torn apart by the war, and by the pressures of being German in the post-war world, has been illuminating, clarifying, and in a strange way reassuring: it IS possible to confront, face this legacy rather than simply trying to ignore it. Read the book if you too are of this generation and background; and do not expect it to resonate much if you are not.