Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

I watch (and share) a lot of videos that are focused on identifying ICE agents, documenting kidnappings, and lauding the creative, persistent resistance.

Sometimes I wonder what I’d say if I was holding the bullhorn or recording with my phone. I’m not sure that the words of an individual have any impact or can prevent a kidnapping by our government. Collective action, yes. But i don’t know if there are certain words that might free someone in the moment.

But what are the words that might resonate, even if further down the line? I’m all for the shame tactics, I’m all for pretty much any tactic that keeps my neighbors safe and resists fascism – yes, I am a person who is anti-fascist. Like most decent people.

Back to the words.

So I think quite a bit about Nazi hunters. I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s (Generation X) so I have memories of sensational images of elderly frail Nazis being extradited from the US to European nations to be tried for their crimes. I have no problem with that. They deserved no safe harbor.

I also remember interviews and clips with their children, grandchildren, and other descendants. Especially the ones who pled for mercy, leniency, etc. And the ones who seemed surprised and horrified by the revelation.

These are bits and pieces of what seemed to be something that happened in the past. History is repeating itself, again. My basic question today is the same – what will the children and grandchildren of these modern-day Nazi feel when their parents crimes against humanity are disclosed? What will they do?

The OG Nazi hunters used actual photos, phonebooks, word of mouth, directories, and other literal papertrail tools to do their work. The modern Nazi hunters have millions of hours of video, millions of photographs, first person accounts, government payroll records. I firmly believe that every single one of them will be identified and documented in an anti-fascist database that will be made public by the kind of accomplices who can keep such a database online and accessible regardless of the efforts to suppress it. A book of sorts that can’t be banned.

So their descendants and extended family will know. Future employers and future romantic partners will know. Neighbors and business owners will know. The parents of the other schoolkids will know. We all anticipate the leaders will flee to a sympathetic nation-state, leaving the minions high and dry. Where everybody knows their name, right?

So a man is a Nazi now, in his thirties. He married and has two kids after the authoritarian government collapses. He can’t afford to flee so he gets a low profile job, maybe under the table in a twist of irony. And one day his kid finds out Dad was/is a Nazi. This kid is now dealing with the generational shame and the community shame. Or grandkids who love their Pap and think he was a cop or a soldier protecting the nation. Their world is shattered through no fault of their own. But reconciling themselves to that reality  is on their family member who kidnapped people, not on the rest of us to reconcile.

From a 2012 story by the BBC

I am a descendant of a monster – my paternal grandfather raped, molested, and groomed multiple girls and women, both in my family and beyond. Other monsters in my family protected him while also being targeted by his evil ways. It is a twisted and disgusting legacy that destroyed multiple generations of my family, seeping into their marriages and their children’s lives and eroding the ties that bind family.

I’ve met one woman, my half-aunt, who was the product of his predation. She was adopted by her mother’s husband and still thinks of him as her father. I haven’t told her most of the story, but did tell her there was a story that she could ask about or find here on this blog. As could her adult daughters, my cousins, and their children.

I’m sure there are other victims. They will never see justice or amends made. They may never know. These were the 30’s-70’s when hiding shame was de rigeur.

I’m not reconciled to it and I’ve stopped running away. The story isn’t going to destroy me any more than the predation already did. So I choose to share the story. My hope is that future generations of my family who don’t learn this from their parents might learn it from this blog. Trauma is intergenerational so of course it is going to impact great-great-grandchildren.

Still, I’m despondent by how often it comes up. Do I keep the photographs that include him? The mementos and trinkets? I have all of the letters he wrote to my grandmother during WWII. Photos from his childhood with his parents, my ancestors. The personalized Zippo lighter from his retirement. Jewelry he gave my grandmother. I refuse to let these things exist, but I don’t know how to destroy them without destroying part the story.

But as vile as my grandmonster was and as many lives he destroyed, his evil was different than ICE Nazis. I’m not comparing their actions. I’m comparing the impact on their descendants.

Do the ICE Nazis even think about this? Are they such true believers in a new world order that they think everything will be peachy for their grandchildren? Do they want the paycheck so bad to take their kids to Disney and other special outings – that the higher end SUV Daddy drives versus the old Toyota will make it okay?

Do they really think the masks will conceal the shame and guilt their children will bear? Are they so blindly devoted to Trump that they think he will protect them as he builds his little kingdom? Even if democracy is not restored as it was, something new will eventually replace this travesty of a government we have now.

I think either these Nazis are ignorant fools who don’t think about these types of things or they just don’t care. They aren’t familiar with history. Or they don’t care. Their ignorance and apathy will be their downfall.

I take comfort knowing there are smarter people than me who are collecting and crossreferencing the public content across social media platforms. As someone who has been doxxed, TERF’d, canceled, stalked, threatened, etc – I have zero concerns about their exposure.

Fuck them.

I do feel a little sorry for their descendants and hope they will accept their destiny to make amends for the sins of their fathers.