|
 DIVIDED
LIVES
is the product of years of interviews, translations, and research. It
was inspired by the experience of my own paternal grandparents in
Nazi Germany. Their marriage was labeled a Mischele
(mixed marriage) because my grandfather, Felix Cohn, was considered
Jewish and "non-Aryan", and my grandmother, Herta Bahlsen,
Christian and "Aryan". It did not matter that my
grandfather was not Jewish and had his children baptized Christian.
My father, Carl Crane, and his siblings were called Mischlinge
(half-breeds), and because my father was considered half-Jewish he
was beaten daily in school by his Nazi teacher. Eventually, they
escaped Nazi Germany. It was my grandmother's personal tales of
intrigue and courage that sparked my interest in this subject. 
In
researching DIVIDED LIVES,
I spent a great deal of time in Germany interviewing Mischling
women whose experiences often mirrored those of my own family. These
women are still traumatized by nightmares of the Third Reich and the
Holocaust, the loss of a parent and other family members in a
concentration camp, and are torn between their Jewish and Christian
identity. For some women, this Jewish identity was their lifesaver in
post-World War II Germany, as they had to separate themselves from
the Germans who were looked upon as Nazis. These Mischlinge,
having been persecuted by their own people, wrestle with their
conscience in reclaiming their German heritage. Most of the Mischlinge
are still searching for a cultural, religious, or national identity
as a result of their persecution. 
In the
past few years,
there has been a burgeoning, renewed interest in Germany and the
Holocaust. Although there has been a large amount of fine scholarship
done on German/Jewish relations and the Holocaust, my topic of Mischlinge,
for the most part, has only been treated as an aside. A second-generation
American, such as myself, has never covered it from a personal perspective.
I hope
that DIVIDED LIVES
will inspire you by the strength and courage of the individuals in
it, and also serve as a cautionary tale, to remind us of what can
transpire when we lose sight of our humanity and our connection to
one another.
Thank you
for visiting,
Cynthia Crane
Divided
Lives Forum
Videos
Four short videos give
additional insight into the book. To play the videos, click on the
link below.
Play Videos
Acknowledgment
This book
raises a glass of fine champagne in toast to the spirit of women--the
lives they follow, pursue, or endure and the varied tasks they must
manage and balance. The women I know are incredible magicians and
jugglers. I am indebted to my paternal grandmother, Herta Bahlsen
Cohn, whose courage, tenacity, and independent spirit held together
her family, got them out of Nazi Germany, and sustained them in
America. Without your indomitable spirit, your memoir, and your
stories of Nazi Germany, none of this work would have started or
meant half as much. And my maternal grandmother, the late Alma Bender
Cummins, an angel and great beauty who held us all lovingly in the
palm of her hand, kept us in line, and gave generously of her time
and energy. Both grandmothers grew up with strong matrilineal lines
that continue through the generations. To the women who under fascism
had yet another noose around their necks, to those whose spirit
shattered under the memories and was never healed. To women of all
races, classes, and ethnicities who are or have been
“outsiders,” unwittingly or unwillingly forced into
outsider status, enduring traumas that no one should have to endure,
this book is also for you. (Divided
Lives, xi)
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