Acknowledgement or avoidance? German-Canadian immigrant women's memories of national socialism

This study examines oral histories from ten women who immigrated to Canada from Germany between 1947 and 1960.;After living in Canada for the past 40 to 60 years the women did not fully deal with their pasts. Although the women were able to discuss the topics in this study and have discussed their experiences in Germany with family and friends, in many of these situations the women presented themselves as victims. They also concentrated on the more positive aspects of the Nazi regime, including the camaraderie in the BDM, and made it a point to emphasize that they did not know about the Holocaust while they were girls. It is important to remember that myths in life stories, the effect of the interviewer, and the repression of painful events including bombing and rape impacted the women's responses during their interviews. When discussing anti-Semitism and multiculturalism the women often responded with what they thought I wanted to hear. Despite this, by participating in the study and by discussing their memories and experiences, and in some cases their changing views of the past, the women demonstrated that they are making progress in the process of dealing with their pasts as Germans.;The main topics of this thesis are: The League of German Girls (BDM); anti-Semitism in Germany, encounters with Jews in Canada and multiculturalism; and how the women in this study remembered feeling about World War II while they lived in Nazi Germany and after living in Canada.