Family history and world politics…

A few words of caution to deal with the rise of the American Reich…

My heart is unsettled.

Yes, I just finished scrolling through my Instagram feed. Yes, I peeked at my FB account, which is private so I am not involuntarily following the newly unveiled American Reich. I want to look away. I want to ignore it. But my family history won’t let me.

I am the granddaughter of Germans who immigrated to the Netherlands in the 1920s. During this time Germany was reeling from the loss of WWI. Many Germans immigrated to the Netherlands for a better life. The story goes that my grandfather, who served in WWI, was on his way to the United States. While waiting for a ship in Rotterdam he got waylaid. At that time he decided to stay in the Netherlands. It was there he met and married my Oma, another German immigrant, in the town of Den Hague. It is where all three of their children, including my father, were born.

In the 1920s, Germany was going through a time of reckoning. They had lost WWI. The world told them they had to pay for the losses incurred during the war, via the Treaty of Versailles. To pay for the war the German economy tanked as inflation soared. This led to political extremism and social unrest.

Perhaps due to the unrest and lack of economic opportunity – and high prices due to inflation, my Opa left Germany and went to a more peaceful and prosperous nation. Although my Opa had been a soldier in WWI, he was an artist at his core. In the Netherlands he found fellow musicians. He afforded a storefront where he made and sold his violins. He met his wife and started a family. He had found his paradise and lived it for a little over 10 years. I know this because he was killed in WWII when my father was only 10 years old. It was 1944.

How does a German not living in Germany, who hadn’t been a solder in over 20 years, who was 45-years old get drafted into Hitler’s army? Because Germany forcibly claimed the Netherlands a few years prior. Because Netherland was kicking out all ethnic Germans. Because Germany was losing and Hitler began to draft old men and boys to fight his war.

My Opa didn’t support Hitler. The Netherlands didn’t support the children of ethnic Germans born in their country. As my Opa went to war, my Oma took their three children back to Germany. My Opa was killed by shrapnel during the battle of the hedgerows in Normandy in the weeks after D-Day.

A feeling of terror overcomes me when I see photos of the new American president rising his fist to salute his followers. Is it the terror my Oma felt when she saw Hitler on TV? When Hitler came after her husband? When she feared for the lives of my father and his siblings? When I see the the new American president’s head of his Department of Billionaires give an emphatic flat handed salute after a speech, the same terror is felt.

What frightens me most are the smiles and laughter I see and hear from their followers. They laugh at people like me because they don’t understand my fear. They smile because they believe this person they call a leader cares about them. They smile because they believe whatever he and his administration does, will be for the betterment of the United States of America.

Notice I don’t say for the betterment of the people of the United States of America. There were many Germans who did not want what Hitler wanted. They saw through his lies. They saw a man who only cared about his own rise to supreme power. They saw how their fellow citizens, burned by a bad economy and rising inflation, in anger said they wanted to make Germany great again, no matter what and believed Hitler was their man. They saw how this belief, pushed a mortal man into a position of extreme power. They saw how these same, angry people applauded the building of concentration camps and the execution, murder, slaughter of innocent people whose ethnicity and religion was different than theirs.

Today, many of my fellow Americans see through these lies. They see a man leading the American Reich who desires supreme power. They see a man take advantage of angry people who feel wronged by the world around them. They his audience of smiling followers, their teeth bared, ready to the fight. A fight that will be against fellow Americans.

I struggle to figure out a way to connect with people who have a different perspective of reality. I don’t feel welcome by them. I don’t think they care about my concerns or my point of view. They don’t want to listen and learn. They don’t want to be compassionate. It is hard to reason with a person blind with anger.

What do we do? Unlike Germany of the 1920s-30s, the United States has a political system that can work for the people. The not so secret, secret to making this political system work, is to become active within the system. Most importantly, vote. But there are other ways to make those in political office accountable. Don’t let your fears stifle you into inaction.

How to hold public officials accountable? Here are a few tips I found on the internet:

• Learn about the different levels of government where you live, other than federal, look at state, county, local. Check this website to find out your state’s levels of government.

• Learn what level of government is in charge of what interests you most. Sometimes it is the local level that most influences your everyday life.

• On the federal level – learn the different branches.

• Learn who your representatives are in Congress at congress.gov.

• Find out what they are voting for or against, govtrack.us.

• Contact your State’s representatives and let them know how you feel about the issues you care about.

• Attend community events sponsored by your state representatives – these can be listening sessions, public meetings discussing new bills or policies, it could be an informal event like at a county fair. Attend, listen, and be heard.

• Peaceful protest – If being involved in the above processes doesn’t produce the results you think are important or if you don’t feel you have been heard and several other of your fellow citizens agree – organize and let your voices be heard.

• Social media – Many government offices have social media accounts and monitor comments. Respectfully, use this as another way to let your voice be heard.

Keep calm, be vigilant, and be courageous. Democracy is the superpower of the American political system, but it is only a superpower if powered by the people.