An American in Germany amid COVID-19
Understanding Culture, Society and Politics
We’ve never heard the other side of the story—how people were forced to choose between following Hitler or death. How when any one of us under duress is faced with the same question, our natural instinct is to choose life. How the Russians invaded East Germany in tanks, plowing, raping and pillaging as they went. How my husband’s grandmother and aunt fled for their lives in the wake of Russian occupation.
We don’t know because we don’t ask. We only remember history as it is told to us. Remembrance is good so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past, but remembrance for its own sake only leads to shame. And shame will never let anyone move on.
I had just one day, and a rigorous final examination left in my five-month intensive German language course at the Volkshochschule, the local community college, when our state of Baden Wuerttemberg announced that schools would be closed due to COVID-19.
I am a citizen of the United States of America, but I didn’t move to Deutschland (Germany) for the army, to advance my career or for the benefits and excitement of international living. I moved for love. My husband is a German national, yet it just so happens that my grandfather was from the heart of Germany near Berlin—an area arguably Polish in a time when the Fatherland struggled to find its identity after the First World War. He left in 1924, the same year Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his Nazi nationalist revolution that would later take hold. After Ellis Island, my grandfather refused to speak German, stating to my mother, “I never want to go back.” With blonde hair and stark blue eyes, he had witnessed first-hand the devastation of WWI, and perhaps he prophetically saw what would occur had he stayed.
Who can explain why a country that not only suffered severe economic consequences post World War II, but also a literal severing down the heart of its land with the Berlin Wall, desperate conditions (toilet paper was a luxury) and restrictions, not to mention disdain from other nations, could emerge as an economic world leader just 75 years later?
And why is Germany’s COVID-19 death rate a mere 0.4% even amongst the older and frail? There are a number of statistical health and environmental factors currently debated across various social platforms, yet they all lack one specific contribution. They are analyzing from an outside perspective, not from within. I would like to offer a different perspective, my social viewpoint that I humbly submit in my ninth month of being a North American immigrant.
One of the last chapters in our language book tackled the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of the Fatherland in 1989, a spectacle my parents took me to witness in 1990. My language teacher decided that she needed to express the woes of what Germany had done to deserve what had happened. Her story reminded me of a historical building at the center of a nearby city. The baroque hall within is embellished by columns of marble, stairs that curve upward to floors bordered by beautiful iron casing. High ceilings with elaborate decoration speak of a time when the empire was beyond wealthy. There was once a proud glory named Germany. But today the building’s halls and stairs once donned by aristocratic wealth are empty save for a few offices for university professors and children riding scooters. On the center floors the day I visited, there was a student art exhibit of the atrocities of WWII. The Second World War is consciously remembered. When brought up in conversation I am met with silence and averted eyes. With the integrity of never repeating the past, there is a “rigorous” and “painful examination of memories and responsibilities.”
I raised my hand in class, “But Frau Mueller,” I stated in my coarse German, “The fact that Germany has come so far in 75 years can only be a wonder! It is stable economically and a world leader with open borders, helping more immigrants than many nations combined.”
Frau Mueller blinked as though she had not heard me. Gazing away, she stated, “We must remember.”
Why is it Important to Learn about Other Cultures
I would like to submit that German’s social and economic progress is a sign and a wonder. Or perhaps it’s their God-given nature. They are natural leaders, whether that has acted for the good or ill of others in the past. In an unprecedented televised speech on March 18, 2020, the Federal German Chancellor Angela Merkel petitioned her people regarding COVID-19, “This is serious. Since German reunification—no—since the Second World War, there has not been a challenge for our country in which action in a spirit of solidarity on our part was so important.” She added that it is “a historic task that can only be mastered if we face it together.”
This indeed houses the spirit of Germans. Germans think collectively; Americans think independently. North Americans seek to break rules and regulations. In this way our independence is our own detriment. Germans respect rules and regulations, and they are socially conscious. Before it became state regulation, companies sent their employees home and figured out how to conduct business online.
Germany is one of the few nations in the world that is led by a woman who doesn’t just carry power by royal title, but actual power to lead a factional government. We North Americans who pride ourselves on social progress haven’t been able to accomplish that yet. Women in the Land of the Free are still trying to prove that we deserve to be heard while German women already have a voice.
I admit that I have rolled my eyes while asking my husband for the hundredth time why we must fill out yet another form, complete another task, or why I must pass yet another examination for immigration purposes. Yet in truth, the Germans are fastidiously efficient. Before our government even proposed an economic stimulus bill to a congress that has for some time been embittered in rivalry and dare I say it, seeming hatred for the opposing party, the German government had already employed an effectual stimulus plan.
Our state just released four billion Euros in business relief, and each company may apply for up to 30,000 Euros. Companies may also apply for what is called “Kurzarbeit,” or reduced working hours. Within Kurzarbeit company may choose to pay only 50% of an employee’s salary while the governments steps in at another 30%. A worker is then only expected to work 50%, effectively receiving 30% of his or her salary for free. Some companies with seasonal work like construction engage in this benefit each year during the off season.
“80% salary for 50% of the work?” some North Americans might state in disbelief. “That’s great, but how does a reduced salary actually help?” The additional salary and business funds help because they are not loans. It doesn’t become debt. No one owes the government in return for their financial relief. It’s a liability-free extra money from the people’s own taxes. The banking and financial systems are also supported by the government, which means they in turn support their clients by deferring mortgage payments without consequence. Whereas our Republic gathers American debt into collective piles to pay off later, Germans adjust their living expenses and move on. How does taking out more debt solve debt? It doesn’t.
Yes, taxes in Germany are exceptionally high. So high that North Americans might sell all their possessions and live off of their land before they would pay such a price. But medical care is included in this tax price. We pay less taxes in the United States yet have unthinkable medicals bills. We’re afraid to live socially because of past communistic scares, and because we don’t really understand what living socially means. Nine months is a limited amount of time to know and appreciate much of this land, but it is enough to know that when I had an unexpected health crisis last year, I did not pay one single penny for two internal surgeries, countless doctor and specialist visits, and doctor-prescribed medication and supplements.
Benefits of Cultural Diversity
Perhaps the Germans have become world leaders because they deserve to be. Perhaps our North American pride keeps us from being humble enough to learn from others, namely those whose history includes atrocity. Perhaps this article is even offensive to some. Don’t get me wrong—I’m proud and thankful to be an American. I may not have had the freedom to pursue my dreams if it weren’t for my nationality, and my German husband loves the United States just as much if not more than I do. My favorite moment upon returning to the United States is when a Passport Control agent examines my documents, looks me in the eye and states, “Welcome home, Ma’am.”
But we’ve never heard the other side of the story—how people were forced to choose between following Hitler or death. How when any one of us under duress is faced with the same question, our natural instinct is to choose life. How the Russians invaded East Germany in tanks, plowing, raping and pillaging as they went. How my husband’s grandmother and aunt fled for their lives in the wake of Russian occupation.
We don’t know because we don’t ask. We only remember history as it is told to us. Remembrance is good so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past, but remembrance for its own sake only leads to shame. And shame will never let anyone move on.
The United States is and always will be my home. It has given me the freedom to become a businesswoman by merely obtaining a business license and filing taxes, something that is not so easy here due to regulations. But I am also proud of my German heritage. Every day I step into the vineyard-laden hills and forests surrounding our 600-person village. As I walk, I breathe in fresh air and bathe in the sunlight. I feel safe in this land that is becoming my new home.
We don’t need another Hollywood movie about the North Americans and British saving the world from Hitler. Let’s tell the other side of the story. Let’s talk about what happened after the near end of the world. Let’s learn how Mankind overcame the mistakes of the past to conquer the future.
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