My childhood included a traumatic time in Germany (1950-1953), when my father was in the Occupying Forces. During World War II, his unit had liberated Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. The military books on our coffee table showed horrific images of the War and the victims of extermination camps.
I was confused: This happened? This can't be! Oh, my God, this is real! Those images never left me.
Herr Schmidt down the street was a camp commander. Dr. Braun was in the Nazi Party, but was forced to join, he says. Sophie Scholl, a University of Munich student, and the White Rose movement, resisted.
Surrounded by ruins, I struggled to understand how No One Knew. My conclusion, found on the Teesch family tombstone: Nur Gott Weiss Warum! (Only God Knows Why).
