I enjoyed this, and share some of those memories. Here's one of many yeke jokes: Two dachshunds, Fritzi and Willi (pronounced vili, of course), are taking their morning constitutionals in Ft. Tryon Park.
Fritzi: Guten morgen, Herr Villi.
Villi: Guten Morgen, Herr Fritzi
After some further conversation,
Fritzi: Herr Villi, I vant you to know that in Hamburg I was a Dobermann Pinscher.
Villi: Yes, Herr Fritzi. And in Berlin I was a Rottweiler.
(Having thus established their pre-exile identities, the two friends continue their walk.)
In 1960 my Litvak mother was not happy that I was dating a Yekke girl, especially since I was taking the subway from Flatbush to Washington Heights. Often on my early (4am?) Sunday morning return trips home, many of my fellow train travelers were on their way to go fishing in Sheepshead Bay. I didn't miss those long trips after I ended the relationship.
I knew an extraordinary German Jewish communistic book dealer. Hunted her mountainside for mushrooms into her eighties. Escaped Nazi Germany to Mexico.
Love this!!
Thank you Marissa. We live among spirited survivors for whom Frankfort on Hudson became a new home.
I enjoyed this, and share some of those memories. Here's one of many yeke jokes: Two dachshunds, Fritzi and Willi (pronounced vili, of course), are taking their morning constitutionals in Ft. Tryon Park.
Fritzi: Guten morgen, Herr Villi.
Villi: Guten Morgen, Herr Fritzi
After some further conversation,
Fritzi: Herr Villi, I vant you to know that in Hamburg I was a Dobermann Pinscher.
Villi: Yes, Herr Fritzi. And in Berlin I was a Rottweiler.
(Having thus established their pre-exile identities, the two friends continue their walk.)
Thanks so much for sharing this story! I'm 84 and live in SoCal, where too many women get face lifts and fear aging.
Wonderful! Of course, inspiring! Thank you.
In 1960 my Litvak mother was not happy that I was dating a Yekke girl, especially since I was taking the subway from Flatbush to Washington Heights. Often on my early (4am?) Sunday morning return trips home, many of my fellow train travelers were on their way to go fishing in Sheepshead Bay. I didn't miss those long trips after I ended the relationship.
Wonderfully written fascinating and inspiring story. Brava
Thank you! I could not stop reading and was disappointed when I came to the end.
Yes, there are people "like us" who want to hear and talk about the way it was and the way it.
Again, thank you.
I knew an extraordinary German Jewish communistic book dealer. Hunted her mountainside for mushrooms into her eighties. Escaped Nazi Germany to Mexico.
Yekke. Humph.