« Previous Page Table of Contents

Nurembergers Today: Some Things Don't Go Away

After more than sixty years the people from Nuremberg and her twin city Fuerth still keep up a kind of global community life in which even their children and grandchildren get involved. The promoter of communication and events is Mr. Frank A. Harris, a former Fuerther. He is to thank for keeping the rich legacy of these once thriving Jewish communities alive. For these people Nuremberg is not a spot on the map of Germany, for them "Nuremberg" is a code word for individual and common memories, for a part of their lives. This quality is captured best by the citation of Ernest Lorch as given in the title of this chapter. They always will be Nurembergers in their own way.

 

Obituary notices of former Nurembergers in

Obituary notices of former Nurembergers in "Aufbau", New York

"Our roots no longer rest in Nuremberg and Fuerth. We were thrown out, persecuted and scattered around the world, the very reason for our yearly Newsletters and reunions here in the U.S., not in Germany." Frank A. Harris in 1997

"My parents were killed, I am lucky to be alive to-day. The Nazi regime made my childhood miserable, I was deprived of an education, and at a young age had to settle on a new continent without any assistance. The Nuernberger Cityfathers and Historians should know that I will never forgive the Nuernbergers, especially the older ones, for the evil they have inflicted on me. I speak and read German fluently, so if you wish to contact me you could do this in German." A.E.H., letter of May 17, 1998 (NCA files 412-27-10)

"Another subject I want to discuss with you, is the attitude towards Germany of today. I fully agree with the total accusation towards our Generation of Germans, of which I have enough personal experience to sustain it ... But on the other side I deem a confrontation with present Germans essential. I was a guest lecturer some years ago on a technical high school in a northern town of Germany, where there had been no Jewish community ever and many of the colleagues or the students never had met a Jew in their life. We were surprised about the widespread ignorance, but found interest during long talks and maintain still good connections after the many years. Dialogue on an equal basis between two religious or two nationalities will hopefully remove their terrible prejudice which prevailed throughout the dark past. Much has been done already, for instance during my present studies at the university I have met with German students, who not only speak Hebrew, but also have an enviable knowledge on Talmud and else." Yaakov Rosenthal in the 1998 edition of the Nuernberg-Fuerth Newsletter

 

Cover of the Second Generation Newsletter 1997

Cover of the Second Generation Newsletter 1997

"Second Generationers: Tell your brothers, sisters, parents, children, cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles that if they show up next time, they can be guaranteed a meaningful Roots Experience. They will meet people to whom they are related by heritage if not by blood. You may want to let them know that we are married, divorced, single, gay, straight, with children, without children, wellheeled, struggling, Jewish-identified, agnostic, other, guarded, open, talkers, listeners.

The common ground? For starters, our parents had cultural, linguistic and culinary backgrounds unlike our friends' parents, as a general rule did not know much about football and baseball, and thought being on time was a supreme virtue. Some of us think about traveling together to Nuremberg and Fuerth, others would rather pair neighbors' socks." From the Nuernberg-Fuerth Newsletter 1996

« Previous Page Table of Contents


This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
This material may not be copied, sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be reserved by the copyright holder.


JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

  Leaving Nuremberg     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page


Yizkor Book Director, Lance Ackerfeld
This web page created by Mike Kalt

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 21 June 2003 by LA