German History Lessons

I've gotten permission to share this conversation I had with one of the staff at EuNC. Her name is Ingrid. I was sufficiently moved by our talk that I felt it was worth sharing. - Andrew

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I just got a heck of a lesson in 20th century German history from a lady who works at EuNC named Ingrid.

She initially asked what further travel plans Gina and I had for the summer, and after filling her in I mentioned that one place I'd love to visit happened to be Berlin. She then shared what it was like for her and her husband, Jacob (pronounced YAK-ob), to travel Germany while the Wall and the Iron Curtain were still in force. She told me what it was like being in Berlin before the Wall came down, again during a time in the late 80's when the situation was uncertain, and again in '89 when she could hear people chipping away at the Wall with their hammers 24-7 as it came down.



I shared that I was a young teenager at the time, and didn't remotely grasp what was happening but would never forget the radio announcements that the Wall was down or, following that event a year or two later, the coup de'tat against Gorbachev and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Our conversation moved further back in time, and I took the risk of bringing up the Second World War. Various times in the last five months, I've tried to learn more about that period in history from a German perspective without any luck. The Germans I've spoken with aren't thrilled about talking WWII. It's like going through a really bad divorce and then having someone clueless come along and ask you intimate questions about your marriage. It's a pretty sore subject.

True to form, Ingrid was less than thrilled that I'd brought it up but she also said she felt it was important for Germans to talk about what happened. She said it was important that Germans not hold it in and act like ignoring history would make an especially dark period go away. She also said that, to this day, she isn't proud of being a German because of what took place over 60 years ago. When she was in Holland with her husband, who was then her fiancee, the whole country celebrated the Dutch Queen's birthday by hanging out flags. Ingrid was mortified by this display of national pride, because she had been raised with the idea that national pride had to do with nationalism ... specifically with National Socialism (Nazi), and was therefore dangerous and bad.

Our conversation revealed a division between the mindset of a German (or even European) and an American. America has its own dark periods of history, as does Christianity. I specifically mentioned slavery, racial prejudice, and the Crusades. I explained that, as an American Christian of a generation far removed from such times, I could learn about these things and talk about them freely with a sense of sadness but not a shred of guilt. I explained that I was able to separate my sense of personal responsibility from that of those individuals and people groups of the past who carried out such deeds and possessed such attitudes.

On the other hand, Ingrid reinforced my perception that Germans (or Europeans) internalize their history to a far greater degree. While she did not explicitly say whether or not my theory was correct, she clearly possessed a far greater sense of personal responsibility and share in the corporate guilt of the German people for what was done during the Third Reich.

Two interesting stories emerged from this conversation:

First, Ingrid shared this story. After she became engaged to Jacob, he returned home to Holland. An older man he knew asked him how things were going now that he returned, and Jacob happened to mention he was engaged to a German girl. This man ended the conversation, and hasn't spoken a word to Jacob since. This man had personally suffered under Hitler, and decades later, continued to harbor the hurt and bitterness in his heart so that he could not accept that his friend was going to marry "one of them."

The second story Ingrid shared also had to do with a man who had suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Jacob and Ingrid went to the United States, as non-Americans, on "home assignment" and toured the American South for six weeks. Following the service at one of the churches they visited, the pastor suggested they stand out front by the door and greet the church members as they left the sanctuary. As they were standing there shaking hands, an older man came up to Ingrid with a very stern look on his face. Ingrid was immediately fearful she had inadvertently done or said something wrong during the service to upset him, due to cultural differences. This stern-looking older man came up to Ingrid and told her how much he had suffered as a soldier fighting the Germans. He said that, as a result, he hated all Germans. But when he became a Christian, the love of Christ entered his heart in such a way that he was able to release the hatred and the pain behind it. He wrapped her up in his arms, and said, "Ingrid, I love you. Because of what Jesus Christ has done, I love you."

Ingrid blinked after telling me that last one, smiled, and said, "This is heavy talk for coffee break, isn't it?" At which point, I thanked her big-big for sharing these stories with me, since I had hitherto been unable to get anybody else to talk to me about the past in Germany. I'm so grateful she was willing to share, and I wanted to share with you as well.