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Rating: 
Summary: "Tell me about your life . . ."
Review: "We are not political." This assertion by the German family hosting the senior judge in the 1961 film Judgment At Nuremberg typifies the prevailing attitude of the parents of Hegi's subjects. It lies at the foundation of the "great silence" experienced by Ursula Hegi and other children who had to come to America to discover the Holocaust. Hegi and her peers grew up in a vacuum of information about the Nazi years. Realization came as a shock, disillusioning some, generating anger and resentment in others. But as Hegi's subjects relate, few cast off their roots. Some made pilgrimages to the sites of the Nazi crimes. Others sought understanding from parents who kept them in ignorance. Assembling a collection of interviews with her counterparts, Hegi gives us their viewpoints, life histories and introspections of their pasts. It's a unique and worthy effort. In trying to reveal the present feelings of German children who came to America, Hegi undertook to understand for herself why Germans remained reticent about the Nazi years. She delved into people's lives through the interviews, asking them to examine their own feelings to see how they equated with her own. Clearly, the responses amazed her with their familiarity. Silence from the older generation and a strong desire to understand the root causes of Nazism in the younger, immigrant population. The stories told, garnered from twenty three individuals, relate the upbringing and disrupted lives of Germans, usually children, who carry the burden of their parents' origins. American children, cognizant of the Holocaust in ways the immigrant children were not, might characterize their German-born peers as "Nazis," even when it was clearly impossible. For most of the interviewees, the accusation was more mysterious than offending. Confident of their own innocence, whatever resentment arose was usually directed at their families in Germany. While this book is of great value in bringing the memories of the post-Nazi generation into view, it also poses some interesting questions. Oppressive fathers and submissive mothers aren't a uniquely German phenomenon. We aren't even clear as to whether these dominating parents are viewed as Nazis or sympathizers by Hegi's subjects. The only common theme, unique among immigrants to America, is the Holocaust. Some wonder how "normal" people could have engaged in such barbarity, asking themselves how they would have reacted had they been aware of the circumstances. Hegi, as investigative journalist in this book, is careful to avoid judgment. But the subjects raising these questions pose another: how did they view injustices in their adopted country. Few current prejudices are related in the interviews. One man admits to discomfort at seeing the "Dots;" South Asians "who "smell bad" and "never offer you a fair profit." The reader cannot help but wonder how these people reacted to the protest movements of the 1960s. Did they react to racial hatred in America with quiet acceptance as their parents had done in Germany? Unlike Germany, the violent reaction to protest was visible on any news channel in America. Did they object to America's most controversial war, or support it? One is left with the impression that these exiles comprised part of Richard Nixon's "Silent Majority" and that they, like the parents they admonish, remained equally silent when confronted by issues of moral weight. What Hegi has done is document again the universal that ethical values remain the province of those who stand to be counted. They are, after all, no more or less than human.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting for those of Hegi's generation
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: An "easy" read that challenges us to look at hard issues
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: On being German in post-war America
Review: Tearing the Silence is one of the most important books that I have read, as I am the child of parents who grew up in the Third Reich. It was a truly rewarding experience reading this book and it helped me understand how others in my situation have been affected by the Nazi aspect of their German heritage. If I remember correctly, though, the author really only interviewed people of the "2nd Generation" born shorty after the war; there are, however, people like myself who were born somewhat later and had to come to terms with their heritage during the 1980s rather than the 1960s. The inclusion of one or two interviews with people in this situation would have added considerably to the book.
Rating:
Summary: On being German in post-war America
Review: Tearing the Silence is one of the most important books that I have read, as I am the child of parents who grew up in the Third Reich. It was a truly rewarding experience reading this book and it helped me understand how others in my situation have been affected by the Nazi aspect of their German heritage. If I remember correctly, though, the author really only interviewed people of the "2nd Generation" born shorty after the war; there are, however, people like myself who were born somewhat later and had to come to terms with their heritage during the 1980s rather than the 1960s. The inclusion of one or two interviews with people in this situation would have added considerably to the book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Oral History of Germans Born Late Living in US
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Understanding both sides of the story
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking collection
Review: Ursula Hegi moved to the US from Germany at the age of 18. She was born one year after the war ended, and she remembers vividly what her elders told her about those years. In her Introduction to _Tearing the Silence_, she states why she wrote this book, and how it helped her identify with her cultural heritage. With the title _Tearing the Silence_ she makes her point very clear: Post-war German immigrants have stories to tell. Hegi conducted interviews with post-war German immigrants in the US. Most of the stories were similar to her own: born and raised in Germany during, or after, World War II, and immigration to the United States before age 20. Some are children of SS officers, others are children of privates. Some live happy lives and do not focus on the past, others are haunted by what happened. There are some great stories in the book--very thought-provoking. I was amazed at how some of the same phrases were repeated in all of the stories--even though the interviewees never met each other. Many were told that there parents "...never knew about the Holocaust", and others said "Germans suffered too..." With _Tearing the Silence_, Hegi provided a much-needed contribution to World War II history, and biography.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking collection
Review: Ursula Hegi moved to the US from Germany at the age of 18. She was born one year after the war ended, and she remembers vividly what her elders told her about those years. In her Introduction to _Tearing the Silence_, she states why she wrote this book, and how it helped her identify with her cultural heritage. With the title _Tearing the Silence_ she makes her point very clear: Post-war German immigrants have stories to tell. Hegi conducted interviews with post-war German immigrants in the US. Most of the stories were similar to her own: born and raised in Germany during, or after, World War II, and immigration to the United States before age 20. Some are children of SS officers, others are children of privates. Some live happy lives and do not focus on the past, others are haunted by what happened. There are some great stories in the book--very thought-provoking. I was amazed at how some of the same phrases were repeated in all of the stories--even though the interviewees never met each other. Many were told that there parents "...never knew about the Holocaust", and others said "Germans suffered too..." With _Tearing the Silence_, Hegi provided a much-needed contribution to World War II history, and biography.
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