The Brother We Left Behind

Like almost every American, I am a product of immigration. As a child, I was told those stories. A little under a hundred years ago, four families landed at Ellis Island in search of a better life for their children. Those children married and formed working class families. My grandparents. They worked their whole lives (at a nursery and boiler factory) to own a small house in the suburbs and to send their kids to college.

My parents. Now upper middle class worked their whole lives (COBOL programming insurance mainframes and architectural drafting) all so that I could… flunk out of college and still become a millionaire without a day of hard work in my life. The American Dream in action.

That’s not all of the story of course.

As you might guess from my name, I am of German descent. And for those of you that are good with history have realized already that getting the fuck out of Germany in the 1930’s was a Very Good Move.

My great-grandfather was one of eight brothers. The brothers who moved to America undoubtedly faced the racism and xenophobia that America has always shown. When the war came, that undoubtedly became worse. They weren’t trusted to soldier but as able-bodied white men, they were trusted enough to work in munitions factories.

So they did.

I’d like to think that they were patriots, who escaped fascism and then did the work to overthrow it from abroad. That is probably optimistic. More likely, economic pressures pushed them out of Europe and then they were just trying to survive within a hostile community. Or perhaps just trying to take advantage of high-paying work.

One of the eight brothers did remain in Germany. He joined the army and died along with so many others on the Eastern Front. Was he a Nazi, who joined eagerly? Or was he a conscript, dutifully serving his country? I don’t know.

But I think of him. I think of my ancestors who saw their country embracing hatred and faced a difficult choice. Will I wait too long? Is anywhere safe enough from an America gone mad?

I do not know.