Good Germans

A note from the protests against ICE and the National Guard in Los Angeles

I was born in a military hospital in Munich, Germany in 1960. It was a mere fifteen years after WW II. Throughout my childhood, I knew that you couldn’t say the name ‘Hitler’ in a bar. In fact, it was safest not to talk about the war, certainly not about camps or Jews, at all. So deep was the shame and possibly even the culpability of the people who might be in earshot. You didn’t want to make anyone “feel bad” or “worse”. As I grew into my teens, my contemporaries (young Americans and Germans) who surely hadn’t been there and hadn’t been culpable, started talking about the war. And the main question they/we wrestled with was: If there were good Germans, as they had been told in the privacy of their homes, what were they doing or thinking when they saw Jews rounded up and marched through villages? What were they thinking when they saw the smoke puffing from stacks just outside their hamlets? Who were these “good Germans”?

For many years, I have wondered how “Good Germans” stayed silent – and now I know the answer. I know because it is happening to us. They were terrified. They told themselves it wasn’t as bad as it looked. They told themselves that they didn’t have the facts. That surely people weren’t as cruel as they seemed. They told themselves that they would be safe as long as they kept their attention diverted, kept their heads down, protected their own families, and bided their time until the nightmare was over. I understand now, because those thoughts are occurring to me. They are occurring as I see and read about the National Guard and the Marines entering Los Angeles to ensure that our neighbors get rounded up and deported without due process. I understand that this is not Nazi Germany. I understand that Trump is not Hitler. But that doesn’t mean that those same elements are not at play.

I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to overcome my fear of, frankly, being physically hurt and losing work or benefits afforded me by the government (doesn’t DOGE have my information now?). But I will not be a Good German.

Here is what I know about what I saw at the protests on Saturday and Sunday:

Last weekend, I peacefully marched with average people – not a paid one amongst them. I marched with mothers with babies in strollers. I marched with workers who took to the street on their weekend. I marched with church-goers and union workers. I marched with friends. We all marched against mass, in many cases illegal, detention of immigrants at their homes, work places, schools, and churches. This was my second day at protests and the only aggression I witnessed came from the police and the National Guard. I don’t doubt that there were a few incidents in which protesters fought back or got angry and reacted. But the fact that that vast majority did not is a stunning show of restraint and humanity. Los Angelenos are truly scared and the only reason we are out there resisting is because our neighbors, co-workers, and fellow humans need us – and that need is the only thing overcoming our fear. RESIST!

Photo taken by me of the deployment of tear gas from The National Guard against peaceful protesters in Los Angeles on Sunday.