The Balance Between Hope and Despair: Same old story

» biogardener - Same old story

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

In WWII, my father was persecuted for having a Jewish surname, something that he did not even know up to that point. When we came to Canada, I was harassed by some of my classmates for being German in a high school where 80% of the student population was of Jewish background. And here we had always been taught to believe that we were all human beings. And on top of that we had thought that being Jewish is a religion categorization whereas being German is not even a matter of politics but of language. And it encompasses all religious convictions.

And this attitude is apparent in Winnipeg to this day. At various times, some Jewish people have instantly changed their attitude toward me when they happened to notice my maiden name. I can't say that I appreciate preferential treatment as a byproduct of a name which I did not work for but inherited.

-- posted by biogardener