July 6, 1941: You Can't Lock a Million People Up

Article in The Hutchinson News Herald (local newspaper)

Transcription:

Escaper From Nazi Camp to McPherson

Young German Jew Enrolls In College After Adventures

McPherson - A fugitive from Germany, escaped from a concentration camp, Tom Doeppner, 21 German Jew, has found refuge at last in Kansas, and is enrolled as a student at McPherson college.

Twice he got out of Germany, but once was caught and returned.

It was in 1938 he first made his get away. Just 18, he had been ordered to take the first train to Leipzig, to enroll in a regiment there.

"I got on the wrong train," he remarked, "and found myself at the Holland frontier, headed west instead of east as ordered. They caught me and sent me to a concentration camp.

"The stories you read about the treatment given prisoners in those concentration camp are unfortunately only too true. No human being can hold up under the torture when the officials are trying to learn something, or trying to make one change his views."

Doeppner managed to escape from the concentration camp, It can be done. He made his way into Belgium, and then to Holland, and from there made his way to America.

Read Only Lies

"The German people don't know what is going on," the young German declared. "All they know is what the Nazi propaganda officials let them know. Most of it isn't true. They can read the newspapers, but nothing is printed excepting what the government permits.

"As for the radios, only German programs are allowed heard. You soon get so tired of them you just sell the radio. Some people have foreign wave-length sets with earphones, but they have to keep them hid away in basements for if they are ever caught the secret police take away not only the radios but also the owner."

Doeppner said Hitler had set up what he called the German Christian church and had tried to suppress everything else. But he had found it difficult to do.

Church to Prevail

"In the Confessional church, made up of those who refuse to line up with Nazi religious movement, but who stick to the old Bible, is became a regular procedure to arrest the preacher and take him to a concentration camp, on the charge of talking against the government.

"But the next Sunday there would be a new preacher. There would be another arrest, and then still another preacher. Hitler can imprison hundreds or even thousands, but he cannot imprison millions and there are literally millions of Confessionalists in Germany, and they are ready to preach whenever they feel the urge.

"Finally, the Nazis gave up trying to arrest all the Confessionalists, but the Black Shirts patrolled the streets in front of the churches, taking pictures of everyone entering to worship. This, they thought would keep people away. But it didn't.

"They began then putting these photographs on the bulletin boards in the business section, with names and life history of those photographed, as a warning to business men not to sell them anything.

"They try everything to frighten the people, but the Confessionalist movement is growing. You can't lock a million people up."

I'm going to let you take a big breath after that. It's a good story, I'm just not sure it's true.

If you are a Harry Potter fan (as I am), you might recall a scene in one of the movies when Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, shows Harry Potter, student and hero, a distorted memory. The memory starts out fairly normal and reasonable, then things get weird and something feels off. Harry recognizes the weirdness at once. Dumbledore wants Harry to go to the original source of the memory, and get the real story.

That's this article for me. The painful thing is that I can't go to the original source to sort it out. So we have to sift it out and see what is true and what is debatable. There's a lot off here, and some things are sort of eerie. Like the line "You can't lock a million people up."

So let's start with this: Opa never said anything to anyone in the family (that I am aware of, and I've asked) about being in a concentration camp. He also has not mentioned it (that I'm aware of) in any of the documents to the AFSC. We saw recently that he asks his contact at the AFSC about whether or not to mention in his application for permanent residency his very brief detainment at the Holland border, in which he was not even processed but released back into Germany. (One of the questions on those immigration forms is whether or not you have been arrested or imprisoned here or abroad.) There isn't even a family lore about it (which there are about other things). So I am automatically set to question this statement that he escaped a concentration camp. But I'm not throwing it out completely.

We do have Opa's account of his escape to Holland, and while this article has elements of it, it is very different from what we have. Before I compare the stories, the only way we know about what happened (how) Opa went from Berlin to Amsterdam, is from his autobiography. We have found some discrepancies in that autobiography, but mostly it was through omittance or assumption about things he didn't necessarily know (as Opa wrote it many years later and with some dementia). So in Opa's account, his passport was marked "For Identification Purposes Only" which meant he would be subject to the draft soon. He proceeded to make his way towards the Holland border so that he could join his father in Amsterdam and try to make a way to the United States. He gets caught at the border, and explaining his situation, the Dutch border patrol takes pity and says that they cannot allow him to stay, but that they will help him get back into Germany unnoticed. We assume that that conversation took place during some form of detainment (although perhaps not so formal as a time spent in any holding cell). Opa then found himself back in Germany and spent time in a hotel while he awaited instructions from his father (who he had cabled for help). One day help arrived, and a team of people smuggled him into Holland. 

Ok- so now that I'm rehashing Opa's story- his seems a bit too polished. Either way- the newspaper story does not make sense in may ways. Let's start with geography. First: that Opa was ordered to Leipzig and "got on the wrong train" is a bit strange. The article quotes Opa as saying:

I got on the wrong train...and found myself at the Holland frontier, headed west instead of east as ordered. They caught me and sent me to a concentration camp.

Here's a little issue with those east west directions. First, Berlin is almost as far east as you can go in the country before you hit the Polish border. Leipzig is south of Berlin. A train going to the Holland border is a long train ride, where Leipzig is a pretty short jaunt south. So my guess is his "I got on the wrong train" is tongue and cheek, but he was never going east- and Opa would have known that intuitively, so my guess is that this is already a tiny misquote at best. Then the paper says that after escaping from the camp, Opa went into Belgium, then Holland. So... unless the camp was far south or Opa's train took a really round-about way to Holland, it doesn't really make sense for Opa to go to Belgium first. (See map- for those who didn't do fabulous in geography- this is Europe now, but you can see Belgium south of Holland/the Netherlands.)

This all makes me wish there was some way we could know for sure just what really did happen. How did Opa get into Holland? Opa's niece, Helene, has wondered about this story with me as well. She wonders if he did not need to "escape" at all but was able to easily get into Holland, but did have to work hard to stay there legally (and get a chance to go to the US). Maybe Opa knew a Dutch passport would get him a better chance of going to the United States? (Which is true.) Maybe he destroyed his German passport, not because he was to be enlisted, but to better his chances of not being returned there. We don't know when he destroyed it, if it was in fact destroyed, or what the nuances were. I do wonder if he didn't get the stamp "for identification purposes only" -what the impetus for his quick departure would be? I do think something had to have happened to get him to make the trek west on his own. Then I also wonder, why didn't his mother leave then if it weren't that difficult to cross the border? I wonder if she didn't feel as in danger at that moment  (kristalnacht had not happened yet). I need to gather some more facts. 

All this to say- I think this reporter went to one of Opa's talks rather than had an interview, and I think that he took some liberties and/or forgot things. Perhaps Opa mentioned he was detained and the reporter automatically thought "concentration camp" - and of course he would have to round out the story by quoting Opa on how bad the camps were (which were bad, but not quite the extermination camp situation that we imagine when we hear that phrase- that came later). My guess is that the talk was given to address the church in Germany, which again the information sounded a bit too Americanized, or at least weirdly optimistic. I need to do more research on that too. 

I just did a little brief glimpsing of the history of the Confessional movement in Germany. I am not an expert, but I do remember studying a lot of the leaders in seminary! Karl Barth, Martin Niemoller, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer are names of leaders in this movement, and any study of Christian theology has likely read or studied some of their work. The primary goals of the start of the movement was more to establish a separation of church and state (rather than overtly call out the morality of the Nazi government). This resistance evolved, and there are criticisms (in time and after the fact) that the Confessional Church did not do enough to make a strong stance against the anti-semitic nature of the Nazis and other moral deficiencies. That's my VERY short version of what I've learned.

Let's just say that the Confessional church was a force on the German religious scene, but I will say that the reporter might be over-emphasizing their strength in numbers and resilience. 

And yeah, Hitler could lock up millions. But no one could have known that.

So to wrap this novel up: Opa's travels from Nazi Germany to his father's house in Amsterdam is a mystery. This article certainly makes for a dramatic story, but I'm not convinced of its accuracy. There's a chance Opa read this and cringed, or maybe he felt the white lies could benefit him as a verifiable refugee. I have no idea. As I mentioned before, it's interesting in any case that Opa would be making a presentation about the Confessing Church, as he was never a member or participant in the organization. In fact, his family belonged to a group that the Quakers named "Konfessionsloss," Essentially, what religious folks today mean when they say the "nones." This term is for the individual without any religious attachment. Opa's venture into the Quaker youth group was an intellectual pursuit with spiritual benefits. 

And finally: don't believe everything you read. Even the "good guys" get it wrong. Primary sources are a fabulous thing.

July 6, 1941: Keep Fighting Life

Letter from Opa to Gisela

Translation:

McPherson, July 6, 1941

Dear Gis, 

Today is Sunday, the only day I have time to think for myself, and so I wanted to reply to your very sweet letter. It was so nice to hear in detail how it’s going for you and what you’re doing. Your work seems like it’s really very interesting; it’s great that you like doing it, though working nights is pretty hard, isn’t it? It’s too bad you can’t find any friends among the girls, but I know sometimes it’s better to not have any friends than to be forced to be a friend. But a person can also strike up a friendly relationship with people they don’t usually fit in with, without rightly being friends.  

Since exams in May, which concluded the school year, I’ve had a ton of different jobs, since I’m not allowed to take a permanent position, but still have to earn tuition for next year completely on my own. First I worked for a while in City Park, then I did garden work for an old rich lady, then I had a few other odd jobs until the harvest began. Harvest work is just about the best job a person can get here, since it pays well and you get all your meals during that time. Overall it lasts only a short time, but during that time you really have to work. The harvest here is done completely differently than it is in Germany, since the fields are much bigger. Here in Kansas there are almost exclusively wheat fields. The land is divided into sections, one section is exactly one square mile in size, between these sections are so-called section lines, which are good paths for cars. These section lines go exactly in the cardinal directions, so you can practically never get lost, since you’re just told: Go three miles north and five miles west, or something like that. Each farmer usually has half a section, or sometimes a whole one, sometimes more, seldom less. You can imagine how long it would take to harvest that kind of land with a scythe, which is why the farmers here have a special machine that they call a “combine,” that’s a machine that cuts the grain about a five-meter-wide strip at a time, then the cut grain is put on a conveyer belt inside the machine, where it is through a complicated process immediately threshed. Through a long tube the threshed grain comes into a big box that is brought along. The straw and all the weeds that are picked up get thrown out the end of the combine. A tractor pulls this machine fairly slowly, about at a walking pace. But since the whole time a five-meter-wide strip is being cut and threshed, it naturally makes for a relatively fast harvest. A truck then drives next to the combine, and the threshed grain is sent through a tube from the box to the truck, the truck drives to the barn, and two scoopers shovel the grain quickly into the barn, then the truck goes back to the field to pick up the next load. In the first position I had this year, I drove the tractor in the mornings, but in the afternoons I had to shovel, which is the least pleasant of all the jobs, and it doesn’t even pay better. The two shovelers switch off in bringing the loads. First I drove out with the truck to pick up the next load while the other guy stayed back to shovel the grain back into the barn, the next time we switched off, so that it didn’t get too boring. We worked from 8 o’clock in the morning until 12, then a half-hour midday break, then from 12:30 to 5, ten minutes for lunch, then we worked straight through till 10 o’clock at night and sometimes later. In the next position I had, the scooper was paid somewhat more than the tractor driver, so I tried to only scoop, and I was allowed to do it. So we shoveled approximately fifteen to twenty truckloads of wheat a day, you can really feel your muscles then. Once in a while we bring the load to an elevator, that’s a wheat storage facility where you can sell the wheat without storing it first in your own barn. You drive the truck with the full load first to a scale, where you’re weighed and a sample of the wheat is taken, then you drive into the elevator and there drive your front wheels onto a little stand. Then the front wheels are lifted up via the stand so that the wheat can trickle out the back.  It trickles through a grate on the floor into a big container, from which it is lifted with an electric hoist into the actual elevator. Then you drive the empty truck back onto the scale, the difference in the weight is taken, the result of the wheat sample is accounted for, and you get a receipt and drive back to pick up the next load. That is naturally a lot simpler, since you don’t have to shovel, but it usually takes longer, since you sometimes have to drive miles and miles to the nearest elevator and then wait for a while there. - This kind of work is certainly rather strenuous, but it’s healthy, and best of all is you usually get five or six dollars a day. - Now the actual harvest time is past, but there are naturally still some old-fashioned or very poor farmers who don’t have a combine, and I’m working for one of those men now. We drive with horse and wagon – the majority of farmers here don’t have horses anymore – stack the bundles onto the truck and then bring them to a big wheat stack where they are artfully piled up. I still can’t build a real stack by myself, to do that you have to know exactly how every bundle is laid down, since the stacks are approximately ten to fifteen meters high.  The farmer I work for stands up on top of the stack and I throw him bundles with a pitchfork. That’s fairly strenuous when you have to do it for the whole day, and the thermometer around midday climbs to 43 (109 degrees fahrenheit) degrees or higher.  

If I can earn enough money by September, then I’ll go to Manhattan, to Kansas State College. There I’ll still need two years to get my electrical engineer diploma. Kansas State College is one of the best engineering schools in the States, so it’s much more expensive than McPherson, but it’s what I have to do. I’ve already gotten a job there that will bring in enough money for board and room, about four hours a day I’ll be working in the library as a translator. I had some difficulties in getting this job, and had to drive there three times, after a long exchange of letters; the folks naturally didn’t want to hire a German; you can imagine that there is a kind of hatred of Germans here that we have to put up with. - I’m going to rent a room there with another guy, where we’ll eventually be able to cook for ourselves, but we haven’t completely agreed on that yet.  

I’ve found a bunch of good friends here, but there isn’t anyone with whom I want to strike up a full friendship, there are too many differences in upbringing, values and interests for that.  There is a guy here who I’ve become friends with unlike with anyone else, he is twenty-five, studied literature and history, last year he got his diploma. He’s now trying to find a position as a high school teacher, but that’s rather difficult. He’s an outstanding scholar, writes good poetry, which he can publish off and on. We’re together at least twice a week and always have a good time. But despite that I feel rather alone in some of my connections, though I’m not complaining, since I know I have it better than most guys my age, and much better than I deserve.  

You should already know that Anni wrote to me, and we’re going to start writing to each other again. Gis, time has changed a lot for me in this respect, old wounds are healed, and the scar is only there to remind me of the good and to help me in my life going forward. I’m not tied down, and I think it’s good that way. I’m with girls a lot, we have classes together, all of student life is fully built around coeducation. If you go to a get-together, to a picnic or something along those lines, it’s always expected that a boy has a date. As long as it stays within good boundaries, and that is the case in most circles, I like that a lot; it simplifies social life and helps relieve the pressure than can otherwise so easily become disastrous. Overall the relationship between guys and girls is really pretty free and unhindered, a kiss means nothing in America, or at least in American colleges, and that is naturally not always such a good situation.  

Every Sunday here I go loyally and dutifully to Sunday School and church. Not that I belong to any church, or even have the slightest intention of belonging to one, but one reason is that McPherson College is supported by a church and thus I already went for diplomatic reasons, but another reason is that here you usually meet more interesting and thinking people in church circles than outside of them. There’s no Quaker group in McPherson, about 80 kilometers from here is a Quaker university, but seeing as I don’t have a car, I naturally can’t go there often. Last semester here at McPherson College I drummed up a group of religiously-interested guys and girls, and we held a little meeting every Wednesday morning before breakfast. That was an interesting experiment, and we usually had at least six or more in attendance. There wouldn’t be any point in beginning a real Quaker group, since we already have a Student Christian Movement, an International Relations Club, and many other similar groups on campus, which provide enough opportunity for religious, spiritual and intellectual life.  

I’m now having some difficulties in securing my status here. I’ve applied for naturalization, but as you well know, you have to sign some things for that that are impossible for me to sign if I want to remain true to my conscience. On the other hand, my mother can only come here once this matter is fully settled, so I don’t know exactly what I should do; you know well what I’m talking about.  

It’s already late now and I have to be up early tomorrow. Be well, Gis, and keep fighting life, because few people can do it as well as you! It could be that we won’t be able to send mail to Europe anymore soon, but I know that we won’t become strangers to each other, even if we can’t write; as long as we can write, though, let’s do! Thanks very much for your picture, I was so happy to get it, it’s really an especially good one! I hope my picture looks somewhat like me, you know, a person can never judge that for themselves.  - I’ll wait impatiently for another letter from you soon.

In heartfelt friendship, 

Tom

I'll say it probably every time we have a letter from Opa to Gisela: I am SO grateful that we have these letters. I remember when asking Gisela for them, she was hesitant to give all the copies to me because he didn't think they would be of much interest. I understood what she meant, most of the letters are the mundane, every day stuff, void of very much drama. (Except the juicy pieces where you see that Opa and Anni definitely had some sort of relationship that was tense at best.) This mundaneness is precisely why I love them so much. They show me Opa as a 21 year old man who was still writing his friends in Germany and described his job as a harvester. It's the mundane that becomes fascinating. No one reports on the details of daily living, they skim to the highlights and add a little spice where needed. So much so that our accounts of history are often missing the key element that makes it real: normal people. 

Here is Opa, a normal guy who had some extraordinary experiences, but honestly- was quite regular. I could dramatize the harvest work, and it was really quite strenuous (I certainly balk at hard labor from 8am-10pm), but we have an entire history of regular people doing hard labor for less. He chose the work because it paid well, it fed him, and he got some muscles out of it. 

I can see how Ella was not super excited to hear how Opa had been doing such hard labor. She imagined her son as a man with superior intellect who could and would achieve great things with his mind. Yet, if we are able and the work is not exploitive, isn't hard labor an amazing lesson in strength and humility? I don't know about you, but when I carry a crazy heavy box - I feel like superwoman. It's why people get all crazy about working out in the gym. There's something visceral about being able to achieve a feat of strength. The gym doesn't do it for me. I can't lift something for the sake of lifting it. But harvesting acres of wheat and seeing that my work has accomplished something that contributes to the feeding of a nation? Pretty satisfying. 

Opa talks about friendships, how hard it is to make those intimate friendships where someone can share more than just laughs. It reminds me of how powerful those Quaker youth group connections were. They feel lonely without each other. Nothing can compare to their connection. If you think about it- it makes sense. They were each other's oasis in a dry landscape of nonsense and hate. Outside the Quaker walls were "heil Hitler" and an unquestioning love of nation and leader. Inside the walls were a space for exploration, questioning, different faith and maybe no faith at all. Opa goes to church and Sunday school for diplomatic reasons, and because this is as close to the Quaker group as he can find. His clubs have filled in some of the gaps of spiritual and intellectual growth that he received in the Quaker group. 

Has this ever happened to you? You had that amazing experience and tried to recreate it in as many ways as you could? But it's never the same is it? I remember for the first few years out of seminary, I mourned the loss of that community of learning and growth. I tried to make new friends and engage in the same kind of conversations, but it never worked. Eventually I let go of recreating the past, and was able to embrace a present and future with new and equally meaningful experiences. But it was hard. So hard. And I felt lonely. 

Opa starts to wrap up his letter with an update on his visa search. I'm realizing that he had hit a stumbling block on the naturalization process, as a pacifist, he could not promise that he would be willing to defend the United States in the military. At the same time, he knows that his success in receiving permanent residency in the US was the best chance of helping his mother. I'm frankly surprised at how much of a dilemma this was for him. 

The last part Opa reserves for encouraging his friend and confidant. "Keep fighting life." He knows that Gisela is on the front-lines of a devastating way of life, and he also believes that she is a piercing light for that darkness. Keep fighting. 

July 5, 1941: Canada or Bust?

Letter from Opa to Annelise Thieman of American Friends Service Committee 

Transcription:

Thomas Doeppner     McPherson, July 5, 19412

McPherson College

Miss Annelise Thieman

American Friends Service Committee

20 S. 12th St.

Philadelphia

Dear Miss Thieman,

I received letters form the Department of Justice directly and from Mr. Uhl from Ellis Island, that I have been granted extension of my temporary stay till September 1, 1941. Since I have made application for pre-examination, they will not consider my application for a student visa.

Sincerely yours,

Thomas Doeppner

It seems Opa has received the letter we read from June 26th, you can see it here. This letter is Opa's perfect summary of it. It seems his path toward pre-examination is set now. If approved, he'll exit and re-enter through Canada. Canada or bust? 

June 28, 1941: Do-Over Immigration

Letter from Opa to Annelise Thieman at American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Transcription:

Thomas Doeppner     Mcpherson, June 28, 1941

McPherson College

Miss Annelise Thieman

American Friends Service Committee

20 S. 12th St.

Philadelphia

Dear Miss Thieman:

As you suggested in your letter to Dr. Schwalm, I wrote to the Department of Justice, to apply for re-examination of my papers. As a result, I received the enclosed application blanks in three copies. I filled them out as well as I could but there are some questions which I do not know how to answer. In question 26, they ask about employments. Do I have to list there all the odd jobs I had, or just real employment, like I list under #27? Question 30 asks for what types of employment I am qualified. ShallI list engineering, although I have not yet completed my studies in that field? Question 39 asks whether I have ever been arrested abroad.  As you will know, the Dutchpolice arrested me when I first tried to cross the German-Dutch border. Since they let me free, or better sent me back, without any process of law, do I have to list that? As far as I know, I answered the other questions satisfactorily, or do you see anything that should be changed? If I shall go to Canada, what consul would be the best one to refer to in the application for pre-examination (Form I-155)? I would appreciate it very much if you would help me filling out these blanks in order that  I may have them sworn to and send them back to Washington.

I have a pretty good chance to get an affidavit from a lady here in McPherson, who is considered wealthy, although I do not know exactly how much she owns. She sent a letter to some attorney to find out just what her obligations will be, so I feel rather sure that she is going to do it. Would you please send me two sets of affidavit forms like those you sent for my mother?

Another question I would like to ask you. When getting your first papers or any later papers, do you have to swear to defend the United States by entering the army, or are there provisions made for conscientious objectors? For to swear this is one thing which I could not possibly do.

Now a question about my mother. Since the American consulates in Germany are going to be closed by July 15, will there be anybody to handle the visas, or does that mean that there will be no possibilities of getting a visa as long as the war is on?

I am trying to make some money now by having only odd jobs like harvesting, plowing, washing widows, etc. I avoid getting steady employment, but as far as I know, they will not object to these odd jobs, or will they?

Thanks again for all your help and work.

Sincerely,

Thomas Doeppner

The process of immigration and staying in America is extremely complicated, and remains so. My following thoughts are based on my limited knowledge so far, so I may not be perfectly accurate in my descriptions. 

Opa has been given an extension on his temporary status through September. He has until then to get his visa sorted. The direction he is going right now is to apply for re-examination and leave and re-enter the United States on a permanent immigration visa. From listening to the immigration attorney speak at a local non-profit recently, I realized that Opa's unfortunate encounter at Ellis Island resulted in receiving a temporary visa, rather than a student visa or other more permanent visa. That temporary visa he got seems like a visitors visa, which are only intended for folks who are visiting temporarily, and have no intention of staying. That's why he is not allowed to work, a visitor shouldn't be working, a steady job shows that the stay is not intended to be temporary. 

Opa has been trying to get a more permanent visa so he can have some of the rights and privileges of someone who intends to stay in the United States indefinitely. The student visa doesn't quite solve his problem as fully as he needs it to (it still functions as a temporary visa, and isn't too different from a visitor's visa in some of the rights and privileges to work). The best option is for him to leave, then re-enter under a more permanent visa. This sounds and feels really weird and lame. It's sort of like he's doing a do-over of his Ellis Island experience, but with some protective paperwork and pre-planning that will get him a better shot at getting the kind of visa he needs. I thought this was weird that the most efficient way a person can get a good visa is to basically hit re-start on the process and try it again. But this is still a thing. 

Opa wants to get his facts straight so he can do it right this time. I'm so grateful to the AFSC for providing the kind of counseling and advice that he needs to navigate the immigration process.

One of Opa's questions pops out at me as important to highlight. He asks if he needs to affirm his willingness to defend the United States by joining the army in the future as he is filling out immigration and papers for residency. His eventual goal as he has stated before, is to become a United States citizen. He is asking if there are provisions for conscientious objectors, because he is not willing to join an Army. This is interesting to note because my Opa served in the United States Army for 29 years. Something changed between this note and the day he joined the US Army. I'm intrigued to find out what it was. The way he told the story (shortened version) to us kids is that he always wanted to join the US military. Now I know that that wasn't  actually the case.

Opa's question about his mother fills the bottom of this letter with the lead feeling of deflated hope. He's asking Annelise to give it to him straight: is there any hope for his mother? 

Is there any hope?

June 26, 1941: Vague Immigration

Letter from Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service to Opa

Transcription:

US Department of Justice

Immigration and Naturalization Service

Washington

June 26, 1941

Mr. Thomas Walter Doppner

McPherson College

McPherson, Kansas

My dear Mr. Doppner:

This will refer to your application for an extension of temporary stay in the United States.

It is noted that you are making an application for pre-examination in order that you might depart to Canada for the purpose of applying for an immigration visa to an American Consul, and that you also request a change of status from a temporary visitor to a student. It is further noted that you desire permission to work while in this country in order to provide for your necessary school expenses.

Inasmuch as you have made application for pre-examination in order to adjust your status to that of a permanent resident of the  United States, your application for a change of status to that of a student, with permission to accept employment, will not be considered. However, you have been granted an extension of stay to September 1, 1941, in order to complete arrangements for adjustment of your status.

Sincerely yours,

Lemuel B. Schofield

Special Assistant to the Attorney General

By

T.B. Shoemaker

Deputy Commissioner, Legal Branch

I had to read that last paragraph four times to understand exactly what it was saying yes and no to. First things first: Opa's temporary visa has been extended, so he is now a legal resident until September 1, 1941. Note that it is June, so that's not an extremely long time to have an extension, but he will take whatever he can get. 

The last paragraph seems to state that Opa cannot be considered for a student visa with work permission if he has applied for pre-examination to adjust his status to that of a permanent resident. This is sort of what he was concerned about when he was writing with the AFSC earlier- he just wants the easiest, shortest way to legal residency. So now it looks like he may need to get approval to leave through Canada and re-enter on an immigration visa for permanent residency. 

I volunteered at a local organization last night that helps people with immigration concerns. There are lawyers there who are equipped to legally represent folks or at least advise them on their next steps. I was able to speak with one individual who had a story not so starkly different from Opa's, and while listening to the attorney's advice, I was struck by how similar the struggle with immigration is today. The person working towards legal status are constantly at the mercy of how their particular consulate will interpret the law. As the lawyer spoke last night, I imagined Opa hearing the advice of those at the AFSC and the responses from the Department of Justice. As the person in front of me last night teared up because things were still so complicated and difficult, I teared up too. I teared up for this person, but I also teared up for all the people who have been stuck in the in-between of immigration law- doing everything right but not finding a simple answer for their next step.

After this letter, Opa is OK, for now. His status is still temporary, his future still unknown, and his next steps still a bit hazy. I assume he will look into making a trip to Canada to re-enter on an immigration visa. If you are in the United States on a temporary visa, it helps to get permission to leave and then re-enter the US on a more permanent visa. It's complicated, and it takes an immigration lawyer to explain it. Last night, when hearing the lawyer talk about all the cases, I began to see just how complicated immigration law is, and without a lawyer to represent you, it would be very easy for an immigrant to be turned away or refused services or rights that they are entitled to. It was fascinating. 

Even after all the vetting and laborious process, someone could still get the boot for no reason at all. 

June 16, 1941: Again and Again and Again

Letter from Ella to Opa

Translation:

Berlin,16th of June 1941

Droysenstrasse 14

My beloved boy,

The day before yesterday your letter arrived, telling me that you spent your birthday rather nicely. How grateful I am to everybody who is so kind to you. Hopefully I can soon thank them personally and be nice to them. In the meantime you must have received my letter, telling you that the affidavit is not sufficient, and asked you to place a request (invitation) for me to come. How that is done, get the information from the Quakers, I don't know how myself. Hunschen did Ellen Ruth congratulate you for your birthday? And how is our beloved Pattilein whose letter should have arrived by now?  It is very hard to be so far away from both of you, and I hear so little. All my thinking, hopes, and wishes are about both of you. For a few weeks I seemed to be living in a dream, but that is over now, I am not able to concentrate, and the longing is much stronger again. Also many lessons have been cancelled lately, so I have much time to think about myself and things, and that is not good for me. I hear from Papa only through Ann'chen, and even then very seldom. I don't want to see anybody, everything seems so strange. The days in Guestrow were like a fairy tale, so harmonic, quiet, in loving (caring) surroundings. Aunt Berta came to stay with me for a few days, I am very happy about that. My boy, I don't care in which way I can come to you. Why should I object against land travel? On the contrary, if only I can come. Even though there too, the trip from the border has to be paid in Dollars from over there. It is pointless to get prices now, especially for the trip by steamer, since they change all the time. First the affidavit has to be in order, then the passage arranged and paid for, then I will get the Visa, and then I can travel. If only it would be soon. Now I am waiting impatiently for your letter.  I don't even know if you can study in Manhattan, but I hope so since you are writing quite positively about living there. I think soon a very detailed letter will arrive.

Did you receive my last letter? Say hello to your friends for me.

I kiss you lovingly

Your Mama

Note on side 

My dear boy. On my return trip from Potsdam I am staying a few days with Putschi (not sure about spelling), my chosen daughter (not really related) and think of you, my grandchild in love.

Berting

I just read this letter and my heart filled up and sank down. I don't know how to describe this feeling. I've been reading and writing about Opa's experiences in Kansas and his back and forth with the visa stuff that I kind of forgot Ella's voice for a bit. Here, with her letter, I get her back- a sort of reprieve for this strange homesickness I have for her. It sounds crazy, I never met her, but I miss her. I miss her and I will never be able to sit down in this world and share tea with her. I grieve for her. She is the person I would meet if I could go back in time and meet anyone. I long to comfort her and to have her comfort me. This connection I feel to her is as bizarre as it is visceral. When her letters run out, I don't know what I will do. The mere thought of not having another Ella letter to read brings tears to my eyes.

On this day, June 16, 1941, FDR ordered the closing of all German consulates in the US by July 10. It happens by July 15th. It's not completely impossible for immigration as folks can get to other countries and then immigrate from there to the US (as Opa did from Holland). It's not impossible, but it is now improbable at best. Ella's fate is growing dim.

And here we have Ella, back in Berlin after a reprieve to Guestrow, where the grass was green, the people kind, and her thoughts were free to have joy for a short time. She's back home, with a rejected affidavit, hopes in Opa's power of request, and pleading words for Opa to keep moving forward in his efforts to get her to the US. 

All she wants to do is say thank you to his friends. All she wants to do is teach anyone who is willing to learn. All she wants to do is live and be with her children. All she wants to do is celebrate a birthday with her children again, to pat their heads and embrace them.

I am so angry and sad and frustrated. Again and again and again and again this happens. 

June 15, 1941: Opa's Roomie Herb

A page out of Herb Michael's diary, Opa's roommate

Transcription:

Sunday, June 15, 1941

166th Day - 199 Days to Follow

Tom came up this afternoon, so that he could see the librarian tomorrow about work there next fall.

He talked to Wesley League, and seemed to be very greatly enjoyed.

Phil drove his car, (Mabel - a recent acquirement, somewhat dilapidated) and picked up Lorraine and I.

Phil had Alford, Tom- Gertrude (Phil's sister), his roommate, Dennison- - Lorby. It was a car full. 

We had a snack at the College Inn and Tom told the group how he got out of Germany.

In case you guys were wondering just how deep we have dug for the details on this story- this is how deep. We found the diary of a roommate of Opa's while he was in McPherson. Boom. Seriously though, Herb's wife Marianne and his daughter Elizabeth were  so incredibly kind to copy these pages out of his diary and answer some questions about Opa. Marianne told me rather wistfully about how she remembered Opa's "Dark brown eyes" - I think she may have wanted to date him! We've got a handful of pages from this diary that give some day-to-day details of Opa's life and life in McPherson.

I absolutely love this entry because college doesn't change does it? Phil has a clunker car he named Mabel and fills it with his friends on their way to an event. Seriously, how big was that car? There were at least 7 or 8 folks crammed in there. Love it. 

Here's my favorite line though: "We had a snack at the College Inn and Tom told us how he got out of Germany." 

I really wish that diary page was bigger though, I'd love to hear the details from Herb's perspective.