Minneapolis professor, a Holocaust survivor, reacquires his German citizenship
Updated: 1:18 a.m. | Posted: 5:05 a.m.
Fred Amram, a Holocaust survivor now living in Minneapolis, took a step that acknowledged a past and represented a hope for the future. At age 85, the retired professor became a citizen of Germany.
At St. Paul's Germanic-American Institute Tuesday, Fred Amram sat at a table next to German Consul General Herbert Quelle, signing documents.
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Fred Amram was born in Nazi Germany in 1933. When he was just six, just days after World War II began, his family fled for their lives, to New York City. He was a refugee, stripped of his German citizenship.
Recently, Amram found out his former country was offering re-naturalization for those whose German citizenship had been taken away. After consulting with family and friends, he decided to accept their offer.
"It's sweet that we are building bridges, we are speaking about atoning, we are speaking about making amends," Amram said.
He was happy to take the step forward and with the gesture from the German government. At the same time Amram talked about his bitterness over what happened to him and his family. He mourns the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. The vast number included his own.
"I'm bitter about my cousin, Aaltje who on the 19th of February, 1943, at the age of 3 and a half, was stripped of her clothing, pushed into an Auschwitz gas chamber, cremated, and all that was left was ashes and smoke, and all that I have left is a fading photo and a fading memory," Amram said. "And so today is bittersweet."
As part of the ceremony, Amram invited Ellen Kennedy, the executive director of World Without Genocide, at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. She talked about the millions of refugees worldwide, especially those who have fled the war in Syria. Kennedy paraphrased German-born American philosopher Hannah Arendt.
"She once said without a nationality 'a person has no right to have rights.' So remember, Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everyone has a right to a nationality," Kennedy said.
Amram's friend Manny Gabler, who lives in Minneapolis, also survived the Holocaust, after fleeing Europe with his family as a toddler. Gabler grew up in an international settlement in Shanghai. For many years, he had no country, until he became a U.S. citizen. He recently regained his German citizenship, and now holds both passports.
"When I went to Germany two weeks ago, I belonged there, it's my home," Gabler said. "There's some connection there. I can't explain it."
After the ceremony, Amram greeted friends and signed copies of his biography. He reflected on what he wanted to do with his new dual citizenship, although does not plan to move from the U.S.
"In Germany, like in so many other countries, there is a growing right wing and if I can do a teeny part in standing up against that right wing, if I can do a teeny part in saying 'No, we really are brothers and sisters.' Cool, that's what I want to do," Amram said.
Correction (Sept. 26): Earlier photo captions in this story misidentified German Consul General Herbert Quelle, Frank Aba-Onu, Vildan Teske, the Germanic-American Institute and the organization World Without Genocide. The captions have been updated and clarified.