January 23, 1940: German Club Culture Night

Article in the Spectator (McPherson College Newspaper)

Transcription:

Naumann, Doeppner to Tell of Germany

The German Club invites German students to Deborah Kubin's home at 731 East Euclid on Thursday, January 25.

Dr. Naumann will speak on "German Customs Before Hitler", and Thomas Doeppner will speak on "German Customs After Hitler". There will be discussion, refreshments, and German songs.

I love this. The German club is meeting at Deborah's house (unfortunately they were not given a time, so hopefully Deborah's ready). Dr. Naumann is a German refugee who came to McPherson before Opa, and with whom Opa had a nice connection because of their shared experiences. I'm assuming this is a German language club, and they've invited the two "real" Germans to come speak about the culture of Germany. 

How fascinating that the culture is necessary to split into two categories: before Hitler, after Hitler. I wonder how Opa's presentation went. Did Opa remember enough of the "before Hitler" to remember the difference? I imagine he did, he was 13 when Hitler was elected.

I couldn't help but laugh and imagine Opa and Dr. Naumann snickering in a corner while the German students sang German songs. I'm probably wrong, I'm sure they were very nice and polite, but come on - they had to be laughing on this inside. Isn't every German laughing when they see the American version of Oktoberfest?