Kommentar aus Deutschland, bitte?

Andrea wrote to me:

"Yes, this sounds like a wonderful book ... It would be well received in the US I think, though I don't know in Germany. I am living in Germany as an ex-pat and they are very quick to say that this isn't Nazi-Germany and I don't think it's discussed at all here. Maybe a German blogger can offer an opinion. I for one would be interested in reading the book. It's a sensitive subject, but one that I don't think has been addressed much from this perspective."

I answered Andrea like this:

"I don't think "it" is discussed any more here than in Germany unless one brings it up. The movie industry, press, and the American penchant for simple pictures have cooperated in fixing the Nazi years in the American public mind as a stereotype in stark black and white. Part of my aim is to broaden our collective understanding of the time by showing that the Nazis, being German, put everybody into neat pigeon holes with graduated treatment. But they never quite figured out or agreed where to place (and how to treat) us mixed-race mongrels who had many friends and relatives in the "German" (or "Arian") population. Besides, in libraries full of books about the horrors of the Holocaust I have not found a single book that concentrated on the agony of the non-Jewish partner in "privileged" mixed marriages whose role it was to single-handedly act as the protector of their family. The "laws" and regulations were tightened and changed with regularity, and the protection could be taken away at any moment. For some people, years of protection were futile in the end."

Well, I think Andrea has a point. I know of course that today's Germany is a different country altogether from what it was under the Nazis. I have heard before, though, that foreigners sometimes have the feeling that many Germans today are hesitant to talk about Nazi history at all.

Ich würde gerne mal eine Stellungnahme aus Deutschland hören. Ist das Thema "Geschichte des Dritten Reichs" noch aktuell in Deutschland? Das wäre interesant, obwohl ich mein Buch für den amerikanischen Markt schreiben will. Kennt jemand ein Buch, das über oder vom Standpunkt des NICHT-jüdischen Ehegatten in "Privilegierter Mischehe" geschrieben ist?

Ich würde mich über einen Kommentar (egal - deutsch der englisch) freuen!

Mischling