One of the stories I always liked about my family was of my grandma and grandpa’s wedding. My grandpa was due to be shipped out to Germany on March 23th, 1945. The evening before, he asked my grandma to marry him, and she said yes. They were wed before he shipped out. At the time, many people believed it was because Grandma was pregnant. It was nearly three years before my mom, their first child, was born.
Grandpa served as a medic in World War II. He left near the end of the war. I never asked if he was drafted or volunteered. Hasn’t ever seemed important. I don’t know everything he did in his short time in the military (Grandma said they were married for 16 months before they lived together and she tried to visit him as often as possible while he was stationed at Fort Leavenworth). But I do know he never talked about his time in Germany. Why? Because Grandpa liberated death camps. It affected him so much he never talked about it.
My grandparents lived in German immigrant communities. The story goes one of Herman Goering’s near relatives lived in Moundridge during WWII. Even though he had lived there for many years, he was shunned during the war for his relation. It eventually stopped, but the stigma still existed.
I tell these two stories for a very simple reason: Obama is not Hitler. Democrats are not Nazis. Public Option is not a plan to kill old people or disabled people. Health Care Reform is in no way akin to the Final Solution.
So-called “liberty-loving” Americans are throwing around Hitler and Nazi and death panels and brownshirts so carelessly they don’t realize the horrible disservice they are doing to history. Kansas’ German immigrants have been a part of this state since the 1870s. We built many communities in south-central Kansas. We built Bethel College. We brought winter wheat. To my knowledge, we were not locked up in internment camps, but the stigma of being German still existed. My family came to America with other Russian Mennonites. Other Russian Mennonites came after World War I and Russian revolutions. They suffered greatly under Lenin. Those who could emigrate did. Those who couldn’t were exiled.
I don’t intend to play a game of whose suffering is worse, but the mere idea that, somehow, providing health insurance to all Americans is evil. But how dare you compare me to Nazis. My ancestors were German, but we were not Nazis. I am not a Nazi. I am not a socialist. I am not a communist. I am a Kansan. I am an American. And, like you, I am a real American. Moreover, I am a peacemaker, a pacifist, descended from a proud history of community caring. It is for this reason that Mennonite Church USA supports health care access for “all Americans, particularly the poor and disadvantaged.” This is neither socialist nor Nazi: this is compassion.
So to all Americans: stop using Nazism to silence the health care debate. It is deeply insulting to Americans and the heritage of many Kansans who have long provided to this state and this country.
Loading ...