Bear Canyon hiking trail
We are back in Montana where the people and dogs are as friendly as the characters in a Walt Disney made-for-tv special. After two years in Berlin, Bozeman feels like an old, familiar friend, one that we’ve outgrown a bit, but a comfortable place nonetheless. We don’t yet know how long we will be here, but our goal is to make a longer term move to Berlin next summer. Family issues called us back to the States, where we’re getting used to burgers and root beer floats instead of brezels and bratwursts.
Keeping our connection to German culture is high priority while we’re in Big Sky country. So on Sundays we’ll switch from our intermittent chatter “auf Deutsch” to communicating only in German. We did quite well this past Sunday, especially during the arduous climb up the Bear Canyon hiking trail outside Bozeman. I learned the word for steep (“steil”) which somehow never made it into my vocabulary while living at sea level in the vast, flat expanse of Berlin. In between heavy gasps of the fresh mountain air, the kids chattered away about soccer, their old friends, and the upcoming school year.
As much as I miss Berlin, I see this next year as a chance to reflect on and process the many changes in our lives over the past two years. I may have fewer blog entries, but I hope to move forward with a memoir and plan to do some public speaking about our experiences in Germany. My program “Germany’s Efforts to Confront the Legacy of the Holocaust” will be available through the Montana Humanities Speakers’ Bureau and I’m looking forward to giving presentations on “The Revival of Jewish Life in Germany.”
We’ve been back in Montana for just over a week, but further wilderness adventures will have to wait. Tomorrow Deutsche Welle arrives in Bozeman to include our family in a special broadcast on German Jews in the diaspora. Stay tuned for the full story.
I was brought to New York in 1939, just before my second birthday, and raised in a German speaking household by my Jewish refugee parents. Born in Montreal days after WWII began, my wife is also the child of German Jews. We recently became German citizens, as have all but one of our four children and all but three of our ten grandchildren. Your blog has been a companion and source of support throughout the application process, for which I thank you. Is there a way to be in touch with you by email or telephone?
Dear Jacques, I’m so pleased to hear from you and very touched that some of the words on my blog have been helpful to you. How wonderful that three generations of your family have reclaimed their German citizenship. Please do stay in touch. My email is dswartho@aol.com and I’d be happy to send you my phone number over email.
Warm regards,
Donna