Dreaming in English
WINNER, SUE
Dreaming in English For some people, it is enough to have been born Jewish—or to have been brought up that way. For some, "being" Jewish comes as naturally as breathing. I had to be blindsided by...
...It was in the spring of 1962, toward the end of my freshman year at the University of Iowa, that my world changed forever...
...Dreaming in English For some people, it is enough to have been born Jewish—or to have been brought up that way...
...Sigrid was the daughter of a Nazi Party member, but she used to joke she was "so American, [she] even dreamed in English...
...Until then, having grown up in a community where almost everyone I knew was Jewish, I hadn't thought about it very much...
...Sigrid woke me, screaming: "Look what you did...
...Then one morning, the campus newspaper ran a story headlined, "Eichmann Executed...
...That was the day I became a Jew.—Sue Winner...
...I had to be blindsided by the sheer craziness of my reflection in somebody else's mirror before I could fully embrace my heritage...
...We all got along great, and at Hanukkah, the three of us even lit candles together...
...I had gone to Sunday school, been active in synagogue youth groups, and pretty much taken my Jewishness for granted...
...But in the winter of 1961, Adolf Eichmann was convicted in Israel of war crimes against the Jews...
...Then I entered college, rooming with Marilyn, a Presbyterian from Iowa, and Sigrid, who was born in Germany...
...In the spring of 1962, his application for clemency was rejected...
Vol. 26 • October 2001 • No. 5
