The Penitents
Can children expiate the sins of their parents? Tanya Gold has a fascinating story in the Guardian about the penitents—Jews descended from Nazis. A descendant of Hitler’s half-brother has converted to Judaism and is living in Israel.
“Two years ago I read a strange little story in an obscure American magazine for Orthodox Jews, claiming that a descendant of Adolf Hitler had converted to Judaism and was living in Israel. I had heard rumours in Jewish circles for years about “the penitents” – children of Nazis who become Jews to try to expiate the sins of their fathers. Could it be true? I dug further and discovered that a man with a family connection to Hitler does indeed live in Israel as an Orthodox Jew. Virtually unnoticed in the English-speaking world, he was exposed seven years ago in an Israeli tabloid. Then he sank from sight. I went to Israel to meet him – and on the way I was plunged into the strange subculture of the Nazi-descended Jews. . .”
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 7th, 2008 at 10:34
A fascinating, thought-provoking article that hits me right in the solar plexus. Thank you for sharing Ms. Gold’s article with us. I’d kiss you, but in this case I think a thank you is as good as a kiss.
It was guilt, after all, that made them convert. What a terrible thing to have carried such a burden. No human being should have to carry that. The holocaust…the victims… well, what else can anyone say? And to think that there are still people who deny that such a monstrosity ever occurred.
Many civilizations did disappear, and the Jews, despite anti-Semitism, Nazism, having no country of their own for thousands of years, still exists. Max Dimont, in “Jews, God, History,”–this was written in 1962–says that although one-half of one percent of the world’s population are classified as Jews, 12 percent of all the Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, and medicine have gone to Jews. Inspiring, yes, “nakakabilib,” but Ms. Gold’s article makes me feel strange, especially the one about the Israelis’ treatment of Palestinians. I won’t pretend to understand it, but it makes me feel…
Well, not skushno, but there’s this German word, “weltschmerz.” Yes, that’s it. Weltschmerz on a Thursday. I think I should watch Wayne’s World 2 tonight. Schwiing. There’s another foreign word for you.
August 7th, 2008 at 14:27
Interesting article. I think there was a bit too much hokey psuedo-psychology employed there to run down the other converts so that she could give a big build up to the star of the show, the so-called ‘Jewish Hitler’. Apparently, all the converts who had no famous familial connections were ‘weighted down’ and prone to a motivational ambivalence which precluded them from attaining peace, whereas the erstwhile, tentative relative of Hitler was portrayed as much more well-adjusted (and somewhat less neurotic) than the others – nor was he reported to the pychologist, apparently.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked the article a lot, but I just found the above pattern noteworthy.
Cheers.