Life is full of strange symmetries — or does the human mind, striving for order in a chaotic world, make it so?
Images from a recent trip to Germany: My neighbor’s son, a nice Jewish boy from Milwaukee, marrying a stunningly beautiful, intelligent and sensitive German girl on a sun-kissed day on a lake outside of Munich.
Rabbi Ron Shapiro of Milwaukee Congregation Shalom presided over a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony, and captured the significance of the moment beautifully with his words.
Cut to our hotel room in Munich, home to the 1972 Olympic games, where we watched the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Even the eyes of Europe were on Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals in swimming, breaking the record of seven set by the Jewish swimmer Mark Spitz, in those Munich Olympics.
Of course Spitz was whisked away for his own safety, after members of the terrorist group Black September held hostage and eventually killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches.
My father, of blessed memory, was a refugee from Nazi Germany. He was very fond of a melody to the prayer “Oseh Shalom Bim’romav” and would often be humming it as we walked out of synagogue.
In the made-for-TV movie “21 Hours at Munich,” the Israeli wrestling coach, Moshe Weinberger, is shown sneaking into the Olympic village late at night, weaving as he walked, singing “Oseh Shalom Bim’romav.” To this day I can’t sing this last verse of the mourner’s Kaddish without thinking of that scene.
Interesting words
My niece happens to be studying in Munich. She obtained her German citizenship based on German law that grants that to descendents of German citizens who had their rights stripped of them because of their religion, among other reasons, during the Nazi era.
On my request, she took us on a tour of the Olympic village, which is now mostly student housing. Unless you knew where to look, you wouldn’t see the plaque on the building where the Israeli team was domiciled, commemorating the deaths of the 11.
What was interesting was the choice of words in German. It wasn’t that these innocent people were murdered in cold blood by terrorists, but they “died a violent death.”
Died a violent death — maybe there was a gas leak and an explosion, or maybe a plane crashed into the building. Future generations won’t know.
Similarly, Jody and I had gone on a guided tour of “Jewish Berlin” just a few days earlier. There was a monument to students, the majority of whom were Jewish, who rose against the Nazi movement early on, and were deported to concentration camps and eventually killed.
Again the German choice of words was peculiar — “sterben mussen,” or “had to die.” The word “ermorded,” murdered, could have as easily been used, but wasn’t.
Is it necessary for the collective German psyche to sanitize the Holocaust while at the same time remembering it? Perhaps.
Unfortunately, history seems to be repeating itself with the likes of Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad, when people write him off as a crazy without any real power; or when Hamas and Hezbollah are referred to as social service organizations.
The slogan of the Beijing Olympiad was “One world, one dream.” I also finished the book “No Shortcut to the Top” by the great mountain climber Ed Viesturs, while in Germany. He was fond of the statement, “Our dreams should wake us up.”
Indeed, it’s time for the world to wake up and stand up to what is happening. “May the One who causes peace to reign in the high heavens, let peace descend on us, on all Israel, and all the World.”
A plastic surgeon in Milwaukee, Paul Loewenstein is a first generation American. His father emigrated from Germany in 1937.
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