Father/Land: A Personal Search for the New Germany

by Frederick Kempe

"A joy to read, in fact, a book so good one doesn't want it to end…. Kempe has written a piece of contemporary history as it should be written, in clear, engaging prose, and with judicious and sensible arguments. He has expertly handled the history of modern Germany, and given us insights into the German soul, including his own, that are crucial for an understanding of our modern world." -Kirkus Reviews "While Kempe does not sugarcoat Germany's current problems-its dyspeptic tolerance of immigrants, its pervasive bureaucracy and pedantry, the viciousness of the neo-Nazis-he argues that young Germans are right to no longer feel guilt for the Holocaust, as long as they learn its lessons." -Newsday "This is a fascinating and important book for anyone interested in the New and Old Germany. Fred Kempe, a distinguished foreign correspondent who has reported from many countries, turns in Father/Land to a different land-the mysteries and dark secrets of his German family that lay shrouded since the Third Reich. As painful as it is, this is a search that Kempe could no longer refuse if he was to bring some sense to his American character and German roots. As he interweaves his family's history with that of the German nation, his personal quest becomes a window not only into the German past but also into Germany's future." -Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize and coauthor of The Commanding Heights "Father/Land takes us on a spellbinding journey into Germany's past and present that begins with a musty olive trunk of old papers Fred Kempe inherited from his father. Inside that trunk lies the enduring mystery of the German people. Kempe's lively writing makes us see the paradox of modern Germany in small things-such as the trashcans at the Frankfurt airport or the personal quirks of Kempe's teammates on an amateur basketball team in Berlin. When Kempe finally discovers the horrific story that lies buried in his own family's history, the reader has the shock of experiencing the nightmare of Nazism from the inside." -David Ignatius, columnist, The Washington Post, and author of A Firing Offense "From a skilled American reporter's search for his German ancestry emerges a rich and rewarding portrait of a nation moving toward a promising future even as it remains tied to an inescapable past." -Ronald Steel, author of Walter Lippmann and the American Century "No foreign correspondent knows Germany as well as Frederick Kempe. He understands us sometimes better than we understand ourselves. His book is a refreshing, human look at where Germany is going, and it shows deep understanding for where it has been." -Volker Rühe, former defense minister of Germany Father/Land is a brilliant, unorthodox work of observation, insight, and commentary, a provocative book that will become required reading for anyone seeking to understand modern Germany. And it is something more. For in researching the past, Kempe discovered that the ghosts of Germany's past were not limited to others, that the contradictory threads of good and evil wove through his own family as well. After years of denying his own Germanness, he would have to confront it at last. During a pilgrimage to Germany with his father, Fred Kempe promised him he would write about modern Germany. Twelve years later, as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal Europe, Kempe began a long journey of exploration in an attempt to answer questions that haunted him about his father's "How could such an apparently good people with such a rich cultural history have done such evil things? What causes evil, and what breeds good? After only half a century of reeducation and reconstruction, could the strength of German democracy and liberalism be as great as it seemed?" In this book, Fred Kempe delves into Germany's demographic change, its modern military, its youth, and America's role in the remaking of Germany after the war. He also looks at German pre-war history and how that history plays into shaping the future of the newly intact Germany. While searching modern Germany for the answers to his philosophical questions, Kempe finds himself in a parallel search for the roots of his own German heritage. Through seeking out relatives and searching documents that might enlighten him about the unspoken mysteries of his family's past, he discovers more than he bargained for, and at the same time learns a great deal about himself. The journey that began as the fulfillment of a promise to his father, led him as he had hoped, to a greater understanding his father's Heimat. In the last chapter of his book, Kempe calls modern Germany "America's Stepchild." He theorizes that Germans, because of their past atrocities, feel a great responsibility to their European neighbors as well as to the world. In their process of atonement, they have become a kinder and gentler people, while their strength remains. Their role as a world leader beckons them to heights to which they no longer ...

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Germany, Memoir, Biography

339 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 1999

About the author

Journalist and author. Editor and associate publisher of The Wall Street Journal Europe, founding editor of Central European Economic Review.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

The memoir of an American journalist who lived in Germany during the 90s who finds out that one of his relatives was in the SA, this disturbs him greatly as he had generally boasted that his ancestors weren't like that. Kempe handles this in a way that the Schadenfreude is unfortunately limited, but the book also sets out something of the Stammtisch conviviality culture and the everyday legalities involved in neighbour disputes making it overall an unhappy foreigner’s view of Germany in the 90s.

I ordered this book from an online university press in the USA, years ago when the exchange rate made their pricing irresistibly attractive, at the same time I got a few books about the civil war which made their way across the wide Atlantic sea carefully packaged.

[Raghu Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably in the history of mankind, no other nation and people has embarked on the kind of intense soul-searching that West Germans have undergone regarding their Nazi past, World War II and the Holocaust. Frederick Kempe is a German-American journalist who carries this search further in this book, both as an ethnic German and also as an outsider, being born an American. As I finished reading the book, I felt that I, as a non-German, got a substantially nuanced understanding of Germany as a nation that has been on the 'hot seat' of history since 1945. The book also gives Germans a positive feedback about themselves and a better understanding of their own post-war successes and possibilities of the greater civilizational role that they can play in future.

Kempe starts out with a musty olive trunk of old papers that he inherits from his father, which contains documents relating to his German family's mysteries and dark secrets. Though Kempe had always de-emphasised his German-ness and seen himself more as an American, the trunk makes him pursue the leads in the documents, taking us on a journey through Germany where he talks to students, teachers, Holocaust survivors, Turkish immigrants, soldiers serving in Bosnia and other 'normal' Germans, trying to gain an understanding of today's Germany, its youth and its politics and how the Nazi past is still such a major issue in the consciousness of Germans. In the process, he discovers the horrible truth of one of his own Grand-uncles as a cruel Nazi storm-trooper, having committed major atrocities on Jews.

As one reads the book, one can clearly see that German society has been on a guilt-ridden defensive as a result of the Holocaust. Even young Germans of today feel that any emphasis on German nationalism must be resisted due to its disastrous consequences of the Nazi-era. I remember my own visit to Auschwitz, where I saw many German families visiting the museum and the concentration camps with their children and answering disturbing questions asked by the children about the atrocities perpetrated there. I don't know of any other Nationality searching its own soul for its horrendous past the way Germans have done. Germans feel that there is no German identity without this historical guilt. But the book also shows that this has given them a heightened sense of responsibility and has been instrumental in the younger Germany playing a positive role in Bosnia in the 1990s and elsewhere on environmental issues. Kempe sees Germany playing a promising, constructive role in the world even as it must remain tied to its inescapable past.
Kempe writes about how much America is admired in Germany, contrary to the impressions one gets living in America. However, Kempe gets a little carried away about American values when he writes that American foreign policy is driven mainly by Altruism. This is quite a stretch and I feel much of the world sees American foreign policy as being driven mainly by American Geo-political interests, just as most other nations' foreign policy is. On the other hand, Kempe brings out effectively the important point that the democratic experience and knowledge of democratic culture of the present generation of Germany is solely America's contribution and that Germans are well conscious of it and that itis a heritage that they wish to build upon.

This book is a human look at Germany and so is very refreshing to read. It is a very honest exploration of kempe's multiple quests and is enjoyable reading. Strongly recommended reading for anyone interested in Germany and the world.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sociocultural trip through the collective identity of the German nation, this book is unbelievably insightful and thoughtful. Kempe uses the very personal story of his family's history to shed light on the wider psyche of Germany itself and its development throughout the life of the country. The idiosyncrasies of Germans and the deeper roots behind them are illuminated, and you'll enjoy the process. Eminently readable and well written, it is accessible to the most casual reader while still having valuable content for scholars.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I asked my German Professor for a book that encompassed modern German ways of thinking, and he gave me this. Written by a journalist with German-born parents, Father/Land is an investigation in the "new Germany." Kempe details the modern relationship between Germans and Jews, the Turkish immigration "problem" that many Germans protest, and many concepts of the German mind that are different and not so different from American culture. He delves into the Americanization of Germany, including the development of their modern political system by our own country. I also found quite interesting his exploration of his own family's Nazi background and the horrors he uncovered. Very enlightening and descriptive of the post-war generations and the direction in which Germany is moving.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dude has a -lot- of imagined hangups and "issues." Some of what he brings up are legitimate concerns about the country and its people, but come on dude. When you say you fear walking through the streets of Germany because all of these incredibly polite Germans still, deep down, want to put people into death camps, you're taking it just a BIT too far in an effort to sell books.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting read, if you are into Germany 20th century history, etc. Maybe a bit dry otherwise. The book is about the author's search for answers, both about his family (parents from Germany) and Germany's place in the New Europe. A bit dated now, but still very interesting.

[Brian Springsted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable personal story of a man yearning for a connection to his heritage, while dealing with the shame that arises from his ancestors. Anyone with German heritage who struggles to find pride in it should find this a wonderful read.

[Jay Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book is Father/Land not Father of the Land.

Excellent book - should be required reading in every high-school history class.