Ursula Hegi Breaks A Silence With Book On Study Of German-Born Americans

Ursula Hegi is back on the bookshelves. This time, though, she’s resorting to non-fiction.

“Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America” (Simon & Schuster, 320 pages, $24) is just what the title indicates - a study of the experiences of German-born American children during or just following World War II.

Hegi, who teaches creative writing at Eastern Washington University, was born in 1946 “surrounded,” as she wrote, “by evidence of war - bombed-out buildings, fatherless children, men who had legs or arms missing.”

Yet she was confronted by a deafening silence.

“My parents and teachers only gave me reluctant and evasive answers about the war,” she wrote. “Never about the Holocaust.”

Her main intent in writing this book was to confront that silence. And to question it. As she explains in her introduction, she began the process while writing her novel “Stones From the River.”

First she looked for the personal stories of her contemporaries. This, she found, was difficult to do because while much has been written about World War II, “the personal histories of Germans who were born during or after the war and left their country of origin to settle in America have remained largely unexplored.”

She started with friends and colleagues. Then she put queries in magazines, newspapers and German club newsletters. Ultimately, more than 200 people contacted her. She interviewed 23, two-thirds of whom made her final manuscript.

The result, which is “Tearing the Silence,” stands as Hegi’s attempt to resolve her own past as well as those who shared a like experience. It is an attempt to reach an understanding, not a plea for forgiveness.

“Forgiveness is healing when it is appropriate,” she wrote, “but only too often forgiveness is trivialized, misused. It becomes a greeting card slogan, a cliche where everyone has to forgive before moving on. And there are certain abominations that must not be forgiven. Like the Holocaust. What we must do is try to understand how it began, why it happened, and mourn every single person who was murdered. We must never let it lapse where memory doesn’t reach it anymore.”

Looking for books

If you’re an Idaho bookmaker and you’ve created a book that you consider “eccentric,” then you might be just the person that the Idaho Center for the Book is seeking.

The center is looking for books to include in its 1998 Booker’s Dozen traveling exhibit. Criteria include “books in non-traditional format or that use non-traditional structural materials for pages and/or covers, or books that contain unusual artifacts.”

If you think your book is eligible, send a copy (with return postage) to: Tom Trusky, Director, Idaho Center for the Book, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725. For further information, call (208) 385-1999. Deadline is July 31.

The reader board

Simonides, author of “The Living Avatara,” will read from his book at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Katherine Allen, a feng shui expert, will talk about the art of placement at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie’s.

Julia Sweeney, author of “God Said ‘Ha!”’ will read from her book at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s.

, DataTimes