Irmina

Irmina is the author's grandmother. She found a group of diaries and letters belonging to her late grandmother and pieced together this history, then created a graphic memoir of her grandmother's life.  The author was surprised to find how she changed radically from someone who asked many questions to a person who looked the other way. I was unaware of where this memoir would take me when I picked it up and was disturbed by the decisions Irmina made in her life. However, I did feel that she had no good choices to make until I read the Afterward concerning the Nazi experience for ordinary Germans.

In the opening of the book Irmina has just arrived in London from her native Germany to attend a school for foreign language secretaries. She excels at school but is aloof at the parties that she is invited to.  At one party she meets a black man from Barbados, Howard Green, who is  attending Oxford University. They become good friends and spend every possible moment together, despite the ugly looks they receive in public.  Howard is used to dealing with discrimination but Irmina is not.  However, Irmina herself has to deal with discrimination as her fellow students call her a Nazi in class and her English hosts call the Germans animals when discussing the war. Irmina is determined to stay in London after finishing school as that is where there are more opportunities for working women. When her family can no longer send her money she decides that she must return to Germany.

The only job Irmina can find in Germany is through a family friend.  She lands a job at the Ministry of War. She thinks that she can get a transfer to the London office but when that falls through Irmina marries Gregor Meinrich and has a child. Her husband is an architect who works for Goebbels but several years after their marriage Gregor tells Irmina that he is an SS Officer. Irmina is bored and wants to get a job but is told that they must present a united front so that Gregor can advance in his job. She agrees as Gregor is on the verge of getting a big contract from Goebbels. The contract never materializes and Gregor is gone from home often on SS duties. As architecture takes a back seat to the war, Gregor takes a military post to the eastern front where he is killed.

When I finished reading this book I felt sad for Irmina. She was never happy with her life. It seemed that she was always at the point of receiving something great in life but then having it disappear before  her eyes. While after the war she had a long career in school administration, the author does not show that she was happy with it.  Irmina was shown as someone that students were afraid of.  Her reunion with Howard at the conclusion of the book was unfulfilling for her.  He had moved on with his life but had not. It was sad.

The Afterward written by Dr. Alexander Korb explained Irmina's life. She made the same decisions German women of that era made.  She changed in the same way ordinary Germans changed as the Nazis came to power and then took over the country.  I had to reread the book after finishing the Afterward as I had missed many clues into Irmina's psyche.

Dr. Korb explained that the subject of the coexistence of terror and living everyday life, such as Irmina had to deal with, is still being examined today.  The Nazi's concept of Volksgemeinschaft, a promise of a better society for the common good, was not accepted by society at large.  Irmina did not feel obligated to make any sacrifices for what is supposed to be the common good as she only contributed to the "voluntary" Winter Relief when it was deducted from her paycheck.  She repeatedly asked close friends what Volksgemeinschaft could do for her.  In contrast, she was deemed to be an ethnic comrade who belonged in Germany by providing proof of her ancestry in order to get the job in the Ministry of War.  She didn't think twice about it.  The fact that she had no empathy for those who were persecuted by the regime actually facilitated her path into German society.  She never questioned the regime and accepted its benefits without reflection.  She attempted to position herself and her family to their best advantage although she did not participate in the enrichment of herself at the expense of the deported and murdered Jews.  Dr. Korb felt that this decision of hers was not due to her inner distance from events but due more to her social background, not wanting to lower herself to the level of the street.  I thought that this was an interesting comment as throughout the book Irmina had this inner distance from events that she did not like.

The matter of whether ordinary Germans were aware of the genocide of Jews is easy to answer.  Dr. Korb explains that every German citizen could know that it was happening.  This was a matter of having knowledge and suppressing knowledge.  The deportation of the Jews was visible.  When German citizens stated after the war that they did not know what was going on, it was an attempt to not be held accountable.  Hundreds of thousands of Germans in occupied territories in the east came in contact with the mass murder and there were widespread rumors about the Jewish genocide.  It was well known that when Jews were deported that they would not be returning. Irmina, who once shopped in a Jewish department store, shopped elsewhere and threatened to report a relative for discussing the gassing of the Jews.  She basically strengthened the Nazi propaganda by threatening her relative.

Irmina's life was tragic. Of course, not as tragic as others during this era.  The author was courageous to write about her grandmother's life. I doubt that I would publicly air the family skeletons. She did a fabulous job in telling this story and the Afterward was essential in explaining Irmina's decisions.

Irmina is a must read!