Ease tensions over Nazi relatives?

Question

I found out a few months ago flipping through an old photo album that I am related to some Nazi war criminals (SS officers who fled after WW2 to Paraguay, Uruguay and Switzerland.) I have contact with none of them as my grandmother had gotten out of Germany just before WW2 leaving the rest of the family behind to come to America. I asked my mom who told me immediately to throw out the picture. Because of her resistance, I asked my aunt who told me there were a lot of Nazis in my family and showed me pictures. I want to know more, but it is a VERY touchy subject. I dont think this is a big deal as we had no personal involvement. Is there anything I can do to ease the tension and find out more about what my family is hiding from me? At first I was shocked, but now I'm just curious. It was a different time.

Answer 1

Talk to your aunt and find out their names. You can quietly do the research on them without ruffling any feathers. You might also find in your research that there were some good guys in the tree. If you make your focus on the WHOLE family and not just the Nazis, who could fault you? Genealogy is supposed to be about looking at the individuals behind us and remembering them for good or bad. We aren't bad just because an uncle 3 generations back was a criminal. Were that the case, explainthe dichotomy of the Eisenhower children who had Ike as a great grandpa and Nixon as their grandpa.

We're not bad by association; we're good or bad because of who WE are. Sometimes we're even better because of someone in our tree who did take a wrong turn. We learned from their mistakes. We changes our morals because of their immorality. We admit no right in their actions. We ARE better than they were. And we document who they were to show how far we've come from them. As you said...it was a different time.

Answer 2

Perhaps you can take a different approach with your mom. For instance, I don't agree that we should be at war with Iraq, but that doesn't mean that I am going to disown a family member if they chose to be a soldier. (In fact I do some volunteer work for an Army Reserves Family Support Group.) It is a possibility that your family members that were Nazis became Nazis because they saw it as the best option to protect their family. This does not make them bad people. In fact it makes the honorable, just like the soldiers in Iraq that are there with the idea in mind of protecting their families.

As for whether or not you should look into who your family members are: you should. It is important to know where you come from. Once you have a connection to your past you are better prepared to embrace the present and build for the future.

It is also important that you never feel guilty or ashamed for being German. Though there is a lot of propaganda out there today directed at making white people feel guilty for the past this can be overcome by looking into the past and white culture. Look at all the great things that have come out of white cultures and take a part of it proudly. (Every other race is allowed to be proud of their culture without shame, there is no reason why you/we can't do the same, don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.)

Edit: By the way, always look for the good in people. No matter how bad someone is or seems to be there is always some bit of good in them. It takes more effort to find in some than it does in others, but it should be considered also, you shouldn't put your full attention into the bad aspects or deeds of a person. I bet if you studied it enough you could find at least on good thing Hitler did. (I know that this is not a very popular view, but it is important to remain positive. The choices and thoughts you have now will stay with you until you are old enough and have the time to sit back and think through them all in detail. Do you really want to have only horrible, bad things to think about?)

Answer 3

What a challenge. I have been doing genealogy for over 20 yrs, and I know I have the tendency to want to find the answers, as well as understanding of events. At the same time, I came to realize that emotions from events often lies deeply buried, and is still a source of pain for those who were closely involved. One example I find a lot is elderly persons who grew up during the Depression. Families were NOT always sunshine and roses. For those, my approach has been to tactfully back away. Even when I didn't feel it, I respected their feelings.
As a comparison, there was (is still?) a rootsweb list called Blacksheep, which based its members on descending from a notorious or criminal ancestor. I stumbled onto that list when looking for records concerning a friend's ancestor who had been murdered about 1870. A member on the list descended from the youngest child of the family who committed the murder. That child was the only family member who was not hung by a vigilante posse. I put the 2 descendents together by email, and for both, there was both awkwardness but also healing. Both were a little surprised to find that even after the length of time, they still felt some residual emotions about it. There had been suffering on both sides.
In all my own research, I try to remain detached and not judge facts, just find and record them. But I can also see when it may not be possible for some to do that.

Answer 4

Hi,
I'm from Paraguay, and my folks are German, arrived in Paraguay in 1884. I don't think your family is actually hiding anything from you, because there couldn't possibly be any recorded information. We've had Germans arrive by the shipload around WW2, and they came for all sorts of reasons, all to do with WW2 of course - being on the business end of the food chain, being opposed to the whole thing, being bad guys, you name it. Either way, I believe your folks are trying to hush you because it's a touchy subject with the authorities in the US and some other places. But it's more likely than not that your ancestors who went away were just normal people, SS or not (heck, almost everybody was, in those days), who thought "let's get out of here before this thing blows sky high on us".
I would just let it go to sleep, that'll make your relatives believe you've forgotten about it. And I'm sure they would be thrilled to be found by you. Family is family, the world over. Paraguay and Uruguay are small places, just looking up phonebooks of Asuncion and Montevideo might lead you straight to them if you like (other places to check would be Filadelfia, Ciudad del Este, and Colonia in Paraguay; Punta del Este and Paysandu in Uruguay).
Good Luck!
Who knows, you might get to travel to some interesting places. That part of South America is lovely.

Answer 5

I don't think there is much you can do to ease tensions in the family about it, but I agree 100% pursue the issue. I would be curious too but I'm addicted to learning about WWII. I think the attrosities were awful but it fasinates me to learn about the military stratages, the people, the time and just everything.

With your mom she is probably like most families that have Nazi relatives, ashamed. It was a very rough time for people after WWII, both for the Jews and the german people wheather they were Nazi or not. It is a very different time now and that may be something you could talk to your mom about. Take care and enjoy learning!

Answer 6

You can't really ease the tension on this issue in your family. You should definitely research it but make sure you're very secretive about this. Your family probably doesn't want to talk about it because they feel guilty or something. But you have a right to know your family history.

Answer 7

Everyone has skeletons in their closets. You're not one is all that matters. Interest in this does not make you one. She doesn't want you to be attacked with prejudice either. If you're in L.A. you could contact the Museum of Tolerance and explain to them that you would want to understand why so many wanted to join the Nazi. Kind of tell them that you're side of your family left prior to world war 2 because they didn't want anything to do with the circus in Germany that time. They well help.

Answer 8

tension philosophically was portrayed by Homer ( Iliad ) with his great war metaphor ... war is like two teams pulling a rope no one wins . So you certainly used the right adjective . Because war is juxtaposition of opposites ( surrealism )

This was used by Plato for his explanations of justice in the Republican and twisted later by Nietzsche ( German) who inverted the archetype as fact twisted used by Nazi Germany to cause war using opposites to cause tension .( nihilist knot) used as ego)

Folklore is said as marchen in German and Hitler had the young Nihilist Germans march for him luring them into thinking it was a new Germany as there own identity . Though it was by their own confession a bad existentialist experiment .

So it was a experiment in time and space as history though it cast a dark shadow over Germany and it real marchen ( folklore ,spirit of the people .)
.
I would understand it in context of historical fact produced by ego not as true to Germany spirit that is wrongly misunderstood through relativity ( Einsteins theory use,by some ) to Germany .
Hitler was from Vienna and was a part of a complex he was not German so support the German heart ( self) not the ego that intruded them ,and most certainly forgive .
It is part of the natzi complex to suppress things , ( hide as in jackle and hyde a metaphor of a neurotic) as is relativity (natzi Geramn use ) as blinding you as is Homer the blind mans metaphor .though its just facts , not you as a person . That is your personal unconscous and colective unconscous are different parts of your whole ( Jung ) let your self defeat the ego .

Answer 9

I generally attempt to sense extra effectual by potential of having some "me time" as I devour some lunch in a cafe or a coffee shop....yet i comprehend that i'm in all hazard very fortunate to be waiting to try this. and then i seek for my acquaintances on Y!A once I get domicile to attempt and simplicity the rigidity further.

Answer 10

Hey------------- it was 60 years ago, look them up, it sounds very interesting, don't be put off my your mum, she's from another generation!