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82 D Chapter Twenty-Two d uncertAin reActionS Despite the brutality with which the Nazis proceeded to tighten the screws on the Jews, few of them were able to interpret the handwriting on the wall. This, in Uncle’s Otto’s unshakeable opinion, would pass, and he steadfastly kept rejecting the urgent pleas by Aunt Edith’s son from a former marriage to join him in the United States.Leave their beautiful house for no reason at all? The Nazis would not dare to touch him, the highly decorated World War I veteran. Leaving now would look like they had something to hide.When he finally realized he was fighting a losing battle, it was too late. While the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin offered Hitler the opportunity to present the new Reich to the world in all its glory, the idea of having so many foreigners on his turf causedhimuneasiness.Loathingtheunbearablethoughtof non-whiteandnon-Aryancompetitors possibly winning silver or even gold medals,he was thrilled when the entire French team, marching by his box, saw fit to raise their hands in the Hitler salute. During the games,a handwritten memorandum was delivered to Hitler,signed by five clergymen, among them the pastor of Dahlem, which read: If blood, nationhood, race, and honor are declared the most important German values, the Protestant Christian will have to resist in obedience to the first commandment . When Aryanism is glorified, forcing him into hate of the Jews, Christian brotherhood must stand in his way. The führer decided he could not afford the risk of a scandal during this magnificent event, for which the city had been carefully prepared. All anti-Jewish signs were temporarily removed in order to lull the visitors into the belief that Germany was now a truly free,healthy, and happy nation.But when the last foreign guest had gone,the terror returned.Hitler took swift action, throwing seven hundred pastors of the Confessing Church into concentration camps. Surprisingly, Martin Niemoeller was not among them. At my school, regular class expeditions to the Olympic stadium had taken place, from which Ditte and I, with the exception of the Jewish and half-Jewish girls now the only students not in the Hitler Youth, were barred. Our parents had decided to ignore the entire event,myfathermaintainingthatheknewwithoutgoingthatoneoxwouldoutruntheother. The führer had refused to shake hands with Jesse Owens, the triumphant African American athlete. “No wonder,” a classmate remarked,“negroes are animals!” They even Closed The Candy sTore 83 After this national spectacle, the atmosphere at home became more depressing every day. While not yet so noticeable for my little brother, for me, a young girl with hopes for a bright future, it was hard to endure.“What explanation will we give those who come after us,” father asked,“for not having even raised a finger in the face of naked terror.” ...

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