Germany: Roots & Remembrance

Engineering is the action of working artfully to bring something about. For the last year, I have worked on memorials for relatives murdered in the Shoah.

Today, disparate Freund family members gathered in München. We all grew up thinking we were the only Freunds in a small family. False!

I met these Freunds for the first time. Then I introduced them to the historians in München and Kleinwallstadt who connected the family tree and arranged for our remembrance ceremonies tomorrow.

Deb and I began the conversation when I saw online that her husband’s grandfather was born in the Freund family hometown of Kleinwallstadt. Her husband, Roger, arranged for nearly 30 of his family members to come to München.

Information on the family tree spread across the globe. Cousin Philip Freund emailed me from Israel and came with his family.

At dinner, we spoke with Barbara (a historian) and Stefan (a volunteer) who helped create biographies of the murdered. Achim of Kleinwallstadt provided critical family information and joined us too.

I first phoned Barbara over a year ago. She answered my call on the street and was so enthralled that she stood outside without complaint although her hands were freezing. While in high school, Barbara was stunned to learn of the Holocaust. She learned that her grandparents had not been members of the Nazi party. Her empathy shows as she works with families like mine.

Family memorials aren’t the only things that Freunds engineer. Some of Sandy’s and my forebears were sanitation engineers. I can prove it.

Archivist Katrin took us to her office at the Technical University of München. Before I arrived in Germany, Katrin and I conferred for hours as she patiently reviewed and translated documents related to the extended Freund family.

It was fitting that our day included some engineered building equipment, though I don’t know what this thing does!

Amid all this, Sandy and I took a break to visit München’s world-class Alte Pinakothek art museum.

There were self portraits.

I think of how the European culture that produced Dürer, Cézanne, Rembrandt, Brueghel, Van Gogh, and Klimt, also produced fascism.

How thin is the veneer of civilization.

To read prior essays, click HERE.