Aspects of the True Self

Herman Salamon

MOTHER – My mother was my whole life. She brought me up properly.

FATHER – He worked as a bookkeeper in a lumber factory.

FIRST BROTHER – He was a lawyer. He died in Russia of typhus.

SECOND BROTHER (TWIN) – I was together with my twin brother throughout the war. He also survived. Like me, he married in Russia with a Polish girl, but a Polish Jewish girl of course.

SON – My son is a journalist. He is a happy boy.

SELF PAST – I cannot forget what happened. Night and day I think about it and about my parents. My mother had seven brothers and my father four brothers. My cousins and relatives all gone.

SELF HOLOCAUST – (Mr. Salamon was a prisoner of war in a Russian work camp.) Fortunately, I wasn't working like a prisoner. I could move a small distance from the camp. We were Poles and Jews together. It wasn't so bad. I was one of the best workers, and I received good treatment. For people who didn't do good work and for the intellectuals it was very bad.

SELF PRESENT – Some say to forget about this, we are sick and tired of this, we have enough. I can't understand. In my mind it has to appear day by day. Books and photos have to be shown. Show the children and the media. Do they think it can't happen someplace else? In my mind, it can happen anyplace.

SELF FUTURE – I tell you the truth – the Jews, especially this generation, are soft. Because we forget the history, we forget everything that happened, and that's the worst thing that can happen, for then, history can be repeated.

Siegfried Weber

MOTHER – My mother had been ill for a while, and she waited for my last visit before dying. We talked for an hour and then she sat up in bed and thanked me for everything. And then she laid down and didn't say anything more. And then, after the doctors took her out of the room, she died. Yes, that was a most grievous thing for me.

FATHER – My father had died already in 1943. Shortly afterwards, I became a soldier. It was at a time when, as a young man just going out on his own, I needed him. What experience had I as a soldier, during the war and after in captivity to digest these things? I missed my father for that.

DAUGHTER – We got Kristin from a children's home when she was three years old and then adopted her. And we had a lot, a lot of good luck. She is a first-rate girl. And we also have very, very good contact. That does not mean that I interfere with her life, but I am available for her when she needs me. She is 24 now. She does not live at home. She has her own apartment, her profession, and her friends.

SELF PAST – The past is mainly living together with my wife, a very happy time for 29 years. Here too, like with my mother, a tragic death. I've dealt with it for over two years.

SELF WAR – Naturally, you remember a lot, but there are very intense experiences that I recall again and again. I was on the eastern front I was lying in a rifle pit together with the leader of my group who was an East Prussian non-commissioned officer. Still a young man and, like all East Prussian soldiers, a very, very good comrade. We were still talking and all of a sudden the guy did not answer anymore. He collapsed. He had been killed by a shot in the head. Shortly afterwards, I was also wounded, injured in my leg.

ABOUT NAZISM – We as children were much too naive to perceive it politically. And I tell you frankly that we also, being children, enjoyed wearing the uniform. It would be nonsense to deny it today. At the age of 14, I joined the Hitler youth. In 1939 the war began. We heard the announcement, "bombs on England" and, of course, we were thrilled you know. There was enthusiasm. Nobody can dispute that today, and those who claim that they were always against it – that is complete baloney. The Allied films of the concentration camps, the piles of corpses that had been found there, were horrifying and had a particular impact on me in Berlin after the war. After that I read a lot about it. It was inconceivable that this could have been done by human beings, not just Germans, but any human beings. There were outrageous atrocities in early history, but what was really striking here was the systematic manner with which the extermination of the Jews and politically dissenting people was done. And I think that this is really the main difference. But you cannot blame the present generation for that. Look, in 1943 when I became a soldier, I was 18 years old. I personally do not have a feeling of guilt.

SELF PRESENT – For me personally the present is, of course, affected by my wife's death. She died on New Year's Day, 1982. The present means being somewhat lonely. I am also trying in private respects to build up a new life for myself. There are certain problems, but I hope that I will be able to solve them.

SELF FUTURE – Actually, my glance into the future is positive. As you have probably noticed, I am rather positive-minded person. I hope that I can handle the future in private aspects, professional respects, and politically.