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Show I- - If, 1.4 ft- - T.i i.l i.i J News from the new New Germany Virtually since the end of World War II foreign writers ha e been discovering and reporting on the New Germany" in hooks usually with that term (or the New Germans") in the title One of the most recent, in 1996, was The Rolttu x of Memon Looking for Germany in the New Germain, hy the New Yotkers Jane Kramer, but there have c Life tried to separate them. Love always brought them back. been many others in preceding decades by equally notable writers, such as Alistair Horne, John Dornberg, and David Marsh. BY ROGER MILLER the topic, not You'd think alter more than a to mention the country and its inhabitants, would have put on a few years. But no, all three are evergreen, and newer Germans keep coming along to be discos ered by people like Fredenck Kempe. whose FatherLand: A Personal Search for the New Germany (Putnam. $25.95, 0399144978) is a worthy successor to all those searches for Germanys. Kempe, who is the editor and associate publisher of the Wall Street Journal Eutope and founding editor of the Central European Eionomu Rex lew and has covered German affairs as a journalist lor 20 years, has, as his title and subtitle indicate, a stake beyond the professional in this. This personal element helps make FatherLand immensely readable. Both his mother and father were German immigrants. and in his search for the new Germany he unearths some old family skeletons. In going through papers after the death of his father, a World War II U.S. Army veteran who had come to the United States in 1927, the author discovers strong evidence that he was an admirer and a racist. A of Hitler, an Jewish friend tells him not to magnify the significance of this, that it is little more than what was standard at the time. However, he also learns of another family member's actions whose significance is beyond magnification. e who remained in Germany after the war, had long This man, a been the subject of family rumors. No one knew the enormity of his monstrous acts until Kempe, by diligent ponng through German archives, learned he was a vicious, sadistic Nazi thug and very probably a murderer of the Jews who came under his control. The man was never prosecuted, and he died a pious worker for the Mormon Church to which most Kempe family members belonged. These revelations add a personal strand to what is the central thread of this book, as of all the earlier books on New Germany: the burden of guilt the country carries for the Holocaust. For various reasons Kempe believes the current generation is dealing with this burden better than their parents and grandparents did (or indeed could). He also provides a useful perspective on it by examining the position of Germanys Turkish population. Most thinking Germans realize that in killing its Jews, Germany killed a Jews were proud of being German, fought for their big part of itself. country, and added distinction to its literary, musical, and scientific reputation out of proportion to their numbers. It is ironic, and not exactly nice, that some Germans now yearn for their Jews, given the Turks. Because the Turks, who at 2.5 million far outnumber the Jews at their height, are not assimilating the way Jews did (or wanted to do). Moreover, many look for their identity not to Germany or even Turkey, but to Islam. Ironies abound: what with the touchy relationship between Islam and Jews, this leads Germans to fear that, should this Islamic trend intensify, the Jews in Germany will again not feel secure, and leave. Overall, though, Kempe is enthusiastic and optimistic about the countrys present and future. It has adopted the American economic model, which is clearly no sin in the eyes of a writer connected with the Wall Street Journal organization, albeit most Germans prefer more of a Sozialstaat (social welfare state). It has adopted American-styl- e democracy, though Germans fret over the stability of a borrowed political system. And it has unquestionably adopted American ways. Unlike the French, Germans readily incorporate American English into their language. They cannot seem to get enough of American pop culture. This has gone so far as a rip-oof David Lettermans TV show. Late Night with Harald Schmidt, right down to loony street conversations and mocking of the audience. In other words, the Germans are becoming less German. Whether their becoming more American is as good a thing as the author seems to believe is a matter for each reader to decide. i e, great-uncl- Y s. ,7 i J&V' VS.-'- .1 oy son " Pre-w- ar Gracefully written. A vivid picture of young love. Booklist An enchanting love story spanning fifty years of two people whose fives took them to opposite corners of the world, but whose love lived on in the place where it all began. Gazebo The novel A by Emily Grayson AT BOOKS I CRTS FVERYWI 1TRE WILLIAM MORROW v wvv.williammoriow i om ff Roger Miller is a freelance writer. He can he reached at rogerhookpage.com. - i.'i'.yjd'M.i'.m ftga |