Boycott
As a child I don’t remember questioning the authority of my teachers, I loved school and remember no run-ins there.
My parents were easy-going and so neither do I remember much contention at home, although as a teenager I had the usual adolescent battles with my mother, and remember storming out of the house during heated arguments. However what the fights were about I can barely recall, although I remember once desperately wanting a Loden coat that all my friends seemed to have. But my parents, usually indulgent, adamantly refused to buy it for me as it was imported from Germany and in those post-war years they insisted on boycotting all German goods.
And later there were some issues involving their disapproval of a few guys I dated, and of other youthful decisions I had made. But otherwise I don’t remember seriously questioning parental authority.
Then while working as a high school librarian there were few issues that brought me in conflict with the school administration, although when my teachers’ union voted to strike I marched on the picket line. And I joined the American Library Association and took outspoken stands on censorship and book banning. And in my community I sat on a local civic board that fought the city on budgetary and environmental issues.
But in my professional and social circles I was an outlier who was generally accepting of the status quo and unapologetically apolitical – a strange conundrum since I’d grown up in a passionately political family.
And for years I remained stubbornly apolitical until I could bury my head in the sand no longer. (See Good Girl and Getting Woke)
And with that awakening I realized how admirable was my parents’ moral stance in boycotting German goods, a lesson more valuable than a Loden coat.
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
I think you parents were not alone in not buying German goods. I knew LOTS of Jews who refused to buy any model of German cars, and, being from Detroit, with DEEP roots in the auto industry, I had to really gulp when we needed to buy a car quickly after I totaled my very old Valiant in 1977 and we decided to buy a VW Rabbit. How could we buy a “People’s Car” made by the same people who designed those cars for Hitler? But it was front-wheel drive (important in snowy New England) and the price was right. So we did. From there, it was a short leap to buy the BMWs that we’ve driven ever since. Dan’s family never bought American cars, so he convinced me, but it was a difficult decision.
Like you, I was a “good girl” who didn’t get into trouble in school, or push back much at home, until I did.
I understand Betsy, and confess that years later we too bought German cars. I remember trying to convince my disapproving parents that a strong German economy bodes well – surely a guilty rationalization on our part!
I can’t wait to read ‘Good Girl’ and ‘woke’. Being someone who always found herself marching, I always wondered how most of my friends and colleagues could stay silent. My activism has been such a driving force in my life. I think I need to take the time and reflect.
Hope you do read my older stories Patty.
There are things I wonder about too as you’ll see!
OK, whenever I think of German cars, I immediately remember a certain Simpson’s episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9p0jLMssSk
I’ll never buy a German car, because I will always be too cheap/poor to buy a Benz, Porsche, Audi or BMW and I don’t believe the “German Quality” shtick of VW, since most VW owners I know never bought a second one. There’s also the cheating on emissions affair…. I must admit that Nazi atrocities do come to mind as well. Could buy a Ford but Henry was problematic.
So I buy Japanese cars; research Unit 731 and you’ll never look at sushi in the same light.
Not that they sell cars, but I read about the US-Philippines war (1900-1903) not long ago and am surprised that any of them will even talk to us. Genocide was official US policy then as it was here at home where Native Americans were involved.
Eric Clapton is a schmuck but I simply cannot renounce “Layla and Other Love Stories.” And WDF happened to Van Morrison?
I believe that boycotts are excellent tools, and useful ways to exert pressure on miscreants in real time. But to how many generations the sins of the fathers extend is a thorny question.
Thanx Dave for the great Simpson Nazi car salesman clip, I don’t remember having seen it!
And yes collective or inherited guilt a thorny question.
Yeah, Dana. You strike a familiar chord regarding the boycott of German goods. My parents were adamant about all that. I’m still not much for BMWs or Mercedes. My father used to point out (correctly, I add) that the United States did business with Fafnir bearings and Zeiss optics all through WWII.
My wife, Susan, refused to purchase a VW. She said, “screw this. I’m not gonna buy a car that shouts ‘ACHTUNG’ from the radiator cap every time I open the damned hood.”
Ja!
And now the guilty confessional – years later we bought a German car and I remember explaining to my very disapproving parents that a strong German economy this time around would be good.
But I realized we were selfishly rationalizing, mea culpa!
I think boycotting German goods was very common post-WWII. My parents never got over it, so no Volkswagens in our family. Sadly, I think we need you to reengage in fighting book bans and censorship.
Yes Laurie, book banning is not a casual issue, heaven help us!
Dana, this is a well-written account of your journey into skepticism and then advocacy. Over the years I have seen how librarians have emerged as strong advocates for everything from free speech to the importance of learning and listening to different voices. The book-banning movement has really thrust people from your profession into the thick of battles with politicians who curry votes by restricting access to — if not outright banning — books. I’ve seen it happen right here in my town over the past few months, and I’ve developed great respect for librarians.
Thanx Jim, I did love my profession and although I certainty wasn’t as outspoken or as much an activist as many fellow librarians, I did my bit.
And since I retired I’ve been on the board of a non-profit that advocates for youth in prison,
http://www.LiteracyForIncarceratedTeens.org,
building libraries in detention facilities and bringing literacy and arts training to the kids.