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我們的直接鄰居，心髒外科醫生Rick Barner（巴勒醫生）在去年12月31日去世，享年85歲。照片右手邊的尖屋頂的豪宅是他和太太最後20年的家，為18世紀初英國安妮女王時代的建築風格。周末有個紀念聚會，我們都去了。中國土豪恐怕也受不了這棟建於1891年的房子，現在價值160萬美元，但是修起來是個無底洞，據說需要修屋頂的討價還價的費用是60萬美元，他們正與保險公司聯係。他們有個年輕的管家住在後麵的客樓裏，去年他對我們談及這修屋頂的款項，我說如果我們遇見這昂貴的修複費用，我馬上賣房子走人，可是周末他家的麽兒子說房頂必須修好才會上市。
聖路易斯的外科名流去了不少，包括Alex Patterson夫婦以及聖路易斯大學的腦外科主任，還有本區那位比較好玩的大律師夫婦。這幫家夥討論的話題是特定儀式請什麽交響樂隊到家裏表演，選擇哪些曲目，哪位小題琴或大題琴手值得請等等。幸好我也懂些古典音樂，但是仍然側麵提醒自己入錯了群。與聖路易斯大學腦外主任交談時，我說自己抵美國後更知道腦外受人尊敬的程度，在我成為美國公民的議式上，法官說“無論你們是腦外科醫生，還是家庭主婦，請起立作個自我介紹”。腦外需要在醫學院畢業後接受至少七年的住院醫生訓練才能當主治行醫，如果加上專科會更長，所以我說在華大見到快完成腦外訓練的住院醫生帶個7-8歲的孩子不稀奇，他說自己在華大訓練完獨立行醫的年齡是34歲。這位長輩在華大醫學院讀書的歲月正是華大諾貝爾獎倍出的年代，他說出的獲獎教授的名字比我還熟，發現限製性內切酶而獲諾貝爾獎的Daniel Nathans比他高兩屆。
巴勒醫生擁有燦爛的人生，他發明的術式現在成為美國心髒外科的常規技術。他在西雅圖西麵的郊區長大，作為醫生的後代，他讀的西雅圖華大本科和醫學院，分別在聖路易斯華大，愛因斯坦醫學院和聖路易斯大學任職。他們不喜歡紐約，暫短停留後回到中西部長期工作，三個兒子在聖路易斯郊區的Webster Groves長大。因為喜歡圓藝，有次在房前丟花園的東西時被人誤認為是這裏的打工仔，看來這不是我們僅有的擔心。在這個紀念場合，家人分幾處使用文字和照片來反應父親的人生，有處以Rick的日爾曼新娘為題的文字說明：《Rick’s Teutonic Bride》（“瑞克的日爾曼新娘”)。這德國女性為巴勒醫生孕育了三個兒子，我見到的兩個都是高個子和藍眼晴的德國種。他們的兒子分別讀了Vanderbilt, Tulane和西北，在文字中提及父親沒晚交兒子們的私立大學的學費，但是有個現象值得提及，那就是三個兒子基本上都留在了大學所在地或其附近的田納西、達拉斯或芝加哥。
巴勒醫生的日爾曼新娘生於Koenigsberg, Germany, 這地方位於德國中部, 但是成長在德國比漢堡還北的海濱城市Kiel。從與她的美國兒子交談看，這德國女子是嫁入美國就不回德國的那種人，孩子則不熟德國地理。不少歐洲人到美國後就是美國人了，很少中國人這般的故土情節，這是中國人在世界各地不被信任的原因之一。我的波蘭裔美國朋友甚至對我說過這樣的觀點，即使波蘭在地圖上消失他都無所謂，我當時聽到他說這話時可以說是目瞪口呆。聯想起當年江澤民訪美時，克林頓總統的演講稿撰稿人Eric Liu在美國紐約時報等大報上提出過一個尖銳的問題：“他又不是我的總統，我為什麽要歡迎他？為什麽德裔美國人對德國領導人訪美無動於衷？”。幾個原因可以解釋這位耶魯骷髏會成員的問題：華裔在美人數太少，以及自身的不自信和對美國文化的排斥。但是華裔人數在馬來西亞接近三分之一，也沒有擺脫富而沒有政治地位的事實，所以人數不是絕對的問題。想想當年，英裔北美殖民地的民眾在穩定後不久，就拿起槍杆與自己的母國英國喬治三世的部隊死拚而追求獨立。
日爾曼新娘年輕時大幅的晚禮服照片仍然放在正廳的樓梯旁，可惜不好意思在他家拍照。她兒子指著已經去世的母親的照片說：“她呀，年輕時是會迷倒人的！”，因為我向他證實那介紹材料裏使用傳言的語氣稱她與基辛格曾經戀愛過，她母親認為“基辛格聰明，但個子卻太矮”，這莫非道出了她找高大美國心髒外科醫生的原因？她兒子說這是老媽親口告訴他的，兒子在父母都去世後寫這些出來取樂。那文字還描述Rick為了營造求婚時的戲劇效果，差點從窗戶旁摔了下來。
當年不少美國士兵娶歐洲婦女回美國，《廊橋遺夢》裏的太太為意大利裔，在愛荷華過煩了美國鄉村生活，與Clint Eastwood般的美國攝影師有外遇。我們女兒鋼琴老師的丈夫的母親，就是美軍經過解放的比利時途中娶回的當地姑娘，一輩子說帶口音的英語。我以前寫過華大傳奇教授John Olney的故事，他是在法國南部的街頭見到一位奧地利女士而把她追成了太太，當時John Olney為迷茫的美國毛小子，回美國換專業並且補了醫預科的課程才讀了醫學院。這Rick條件好很多，當時已經醫學院畢業了，在德國Kiel的美軍基地服役，以完成免學費的ROTC義務，而這位叫May（從難叫的德國名Mechtild Boehuke簡化而來）在基地從事翻譯等秘書性事務。Rick見了May兩周就求婚，隨後便是在美國的50多年的婚姻。醫生太太不需要工作，不找基辛格也不錯。
這個追思聚會是巴勒醫生的兒子在我們小區每年的例行會議上宣布的。當時我們在附近的私立小學開了三小時的會，確實讓我們見識了這些住曆史性大房子的家夥們是如何經營社區的，當時居民們為每年25萬美元左右的預算爭得麵紅耳赤。有位在這裏住了幾十年的成功律師曾經起訴過小區的董事會四次，他自稱是小區的Donald Trump。但是洋人爭論歸爭論，最終還能以幽默風趣收場。該律師為了他家前院的一塊三角土地的歸屬問題，這次不惜與董事會打官司，他要改變百年來Founding fathers定的規矩。當然董事們會與他在法庭上見，費用5萬出自小區的預算，沒有辦法。查了他和太太是富得流油的律師，就像John Edwards那樣專打醫療事故或損傷的案子，擁有上幾百個成功的案例，有些是千萬美元的賠償金，這小子完全不差錢。成為個人損傷索賠的律師也不用去超級名牌，似乎隻要是愛爾蘭裔的白人就行，他們夫婦均為達拉斯的South Methodist大學畢業的。
我太太從另一角度反映了此次會議的精彩：“今天晚上我們小區開了三個小時的會，要討論小區基金和安全問題，還有一家律師要訴小區居委會用了他們的地盤，真像看了一場好萊塢大片，而且還和自身利益有關。美國式民主，有趣！律師貪婪、自私！和大家格格不入，律師太太濃妝豔抹，衣飾獨特，神情高傲，隻能說好萊塢的大片真的是來源於生活，那些演員真的沒有誇張，有的有錢人就是那個樣子。”
古老的房子，美國這麽年輕就有雄心複製歐洲的文化。
巴勒醫生的工作照。
巴勒醫生和聖路易斯藝術圈的名人Elizabeth Sayad。我在網上找不到巴勒醫生和他的德裔太太May的照片，May已在2011年去世，享年71歲。巴勒醫生在80歲左右則和Elizabeth走得很近，出席各科藝術與捐贈晚會。倆人沒有結婚但是分別喪偶，現在都已經去世了。
Clint Eastwood和Meryl Streep的《廊橋遺夢》。
By ERIK KIRSCHBAUM. Sept. 23, 2015, New York Times
Berlin — WHAT is America’s largest national ethnic group? If you said English, Italian or Mexican, you’re wrong. Today some 46 million Americans can claim German ancestry. The difference is, very few of them do.
Indeed, aside from Oktoberfest, German culture has largely disappeared from the American landscape. What happened?
At the turn of the last century, Germans were the predominant ethnic group in the United States — some eight million people, out of a population of 76 million. New York City had one of the world’s largest German-speaking populations, trailing only Berlin and Vienna, with about a quarter of its 3.4 million people conversing auf Deutsch. Entire communities, spreading from northern Wisconsin to rural Texas, consisted almost exclusively of German immigrants and their children.
As they spread through the country, they founded church denominations, singing societies, even whole industries — pre-Prohibition brewing was dominated by Germans, whose names live on in brands like Pabst, Busch and Miller. Their numbers shaped the media — there were 488 German-language daily and weekly newspapers around 1900 keeping the language and culture alive — and politics: Midwestern German-Americans were a backbone of the early Republican Party.
The enormous number of German-Americans was also a factor in keeping the United States out of World War I for so long — activists lobbied against intervening on the Allies’ side, while politicians worried about losing a sizable voting bloc.
Partly for that reason, when the United States did enter the war, German- Americans came under intense, and often violent, scrutiny, especially after the revelation of an ill-conceived German plan for Mexico to invade the United States.
There had long been doubts about the loyalty of German-Americans, especially in the myriad pockets of the Midwest where they were particularly dominant. Many had hoped to stave off assimilation by clinging to their language and dual loyalties — but that commitment to their culture suddenly became a vulnerability.
In what is a largely forgotten chapter of American history, during the roughly 18 months of American involvement in the war, people with German roots were falsely accused of being spies or saboteurs; hundreds were interned or convicted of sedition on trumped-up charges, or for offenses as trivial as making critical comments about
the war. More than 30 were killed by vigilantes and anti-German mobs; hundreds of others were beaten or tarred and feathered.
Even the German music of Beethoven and Brahms, which had been assumed to be immune to the hysteria, came under attack. “It is the music of conquest, the music of the storm, of disorder and devastation,” wrote The Los Angeles Times in June 1918. “It is a combination of the howl of the cave man and the roaring of the north winds.” Sheet music, along with books by German authors, was burned in public spectacles.
Not surprisingly, those who could hid their Germanic roots; some switched their names; many others canceled their subscriptions to German newspapers, which virtually disappeared. Whatever vestige of German America remained after the 1910s was wiped out by similar pressures during World War II, not to mention the shame that came with German identity after it.
My grandfather Joseph Kirschbaum lived through this disruption. Born in New York to German immigrant parents in 1891, he didn’t start learning English until he went to school, and continued to speak German at home, with friends and in the shops and restaurants he would frequent with his parents. And yet, later in life, he claimed he couldn’t remember any of it.
In some parts of the United States, there might be appeals by politicians to win over the Hispanic-American vote, the Italian-American vote, the Jewish-American vote, the African-American vote or the Irish-American vote. But you will be hard-pressed to hear anyone — not even the speaker of the House, John A. Boehner, who has never tried to make any hay out of his German roots — canvassing for the support of the German-American vote.
Still, while German-American culture might be extinct, German-Americans have continued to make a mark on the country, from Neil Armstrong, the astronaut, to Robert B. Zoellick, a former president of the World Bank. Steinway pianos were first made by a German immigrant named Heinrich Steinweg (who became Henry Steinway). Chrysler was established by Walter P. Chrysler, whose family was of German descent, and Boeing was founded by William E. Boeing, the son of a German immigrant.
Yet as the centennial of World War I passes and the 25th anniversary of German unification nears, there are some tender shoots of a renascent German-American identity. A German-American congressional caucus was created in 2010 and now has 93 members. The popularity of craft beer has led to a resurgence in German- style Biergartens, while sports figures like the soccer coach Jürgen Klinsmann and the N.B.A. all-star Dirk Nowitzki celebrate their German identity.
It may be that an identity lost can never be regained. But why not try? It would be good for everyone, reminding millions of Americans that they too are the products
of an immigrant culture, which not long ago was forced into silence by fear and intolerance.
Erik Kirschbaum is the author of “Burning Beethoven: The Eradication of German Culture in the United States During World War I.”
順便補充一句話。 博主說的 “巴勒醫生的日爾曼新娘生於Koenigsberg, Germany, 這地方位於德國中部,...” 可能需要一些注釋。
這 Koenigsberg 是曆史上德國的 東普魯士省（East Prussia）的首府。 它幾經變遷，但都還在普魯士或者德國的統治之下。 數學裏有一個曆史上有名的謎題，名為 “Seven Bridges of K?nigsberg” 就是利用了這個城市河流多橋的地理特點為背景所構成的問題。
不巧的是，這個城市現在已經不屬於德國了。 二戰以後，它被蘇聯占領，並且蘇、德訂立條約，割讓給了蘇聯，連原來的名字都失去了。新的名字是 Kaliningrad。 它原來位於德國的東北角（但是 東普魯士省的中北部），現在與德國其它領土已經有幾百公裏的波蘭領土居間隔開了。 一個在那個城市生活過的德國人，可以想見 是不大願意回去麵對現況的；連德語人口都遭遇到遷移等命運，所有可能有的舊日回憶都無處印證了。
我年輕時，學過一年德語。印象最深的就是那個語法了，動詞和時態在句尾，頭疼。
我前陣子想找個地方散散心，放鬆一下，對先生說，我們去德國，尋找你的“root”, 然後去華沙。先生是第三-四代德國移民後裔。他說：“從小我母親就告訴我，我是美國人。德國與我沒任何關係。”他們整個大家族，百年來沒見任何人回去尋親。”
這位德國後裔說的並不能代表一般的德裔美國人的真實曆史。 事實上，曆史上的德國移民們對於自己的語言文化的傳統是很珍惜的。這裏麵有一個語言的原因。 學過德語的人都知道，德語的語法比英語複雜，所以比英語更不容易混淆或發生誤解。 早期的美國（到20世紀初期為止），外國移民的文化持久不變達到一兩百年的，是德國的移民團體。 那些年代，現在被某些人視為威脅正統的 Hispanic 文化根本不構成任何影響力。 隻有德國移民還在各地建立德語學校。 所以德國移民到達美國三、四代了還能說德語的很普遍。 但這不是僅僅因為德語。那些年代德國國內的教育、產業都進展迅速。一直到二戰以前，大學裏理工科的第二外國語還是德語為主。 美國製造原子彈的首腦科學家 Oppenheimer 是哈佛畢業生，但是去德國的哥廷根大學取得物理博士的；即可見其一斑。
這個德國文化的傳統在一戰期間出現問題。因為德國在一戰期間被無聊媒體醜化為 Hun （匈奴），美國各地也萌發了反德的浪潮。德國移民的小社區遭到不法攻擊，甚至發生死傷。種種醜陋的 xenophobia 出現。 德國移民與後裔們痛定思痛，才停止把自己的文化驕傲公開表現出來。 我有一位同事是德國後裔，我問他知不知道以前有過 反德的浪潮，他很意外，說從來沒聽家裏說起過。 從辦學到主動教育兒女的美國意識，不是自然的，而是有過曆史上的一段冤屈作祟的。 我們旁觀者不能不忘記這一點。
所以說，許多人說，隻有中國移民到了美國還有故土情結，是錯誤的。 還有其他國家的例子，是我親身經曆見識的，暫且不說了。 但是，請大家不要描畫一個 stereotype，無論如何，真實的曆史總比虛假的刻板印像 來得好，而且經得起考證。
Actually, you are right. The Jews are not very much trusted even though very much respected in America, even less so in Europe. But the relationship has a tortuous history and their situation is completely different from the Chinese's. The Chinese largely voluntarily move to America and other countries, whilst the Jews were expelled from their land by force. The alienation between the Jews and the locals grew out of a positive feedback loop of mutual distrust. The locals, especially in Europe, discriminated the Jews by prohibiting them from owning land and from many occupations. The Jews kept to themselves and held tenaciously onto their own tradition, language and religion as well as kept a tight biological and cultural lineage. They always viewed themselves as outsiders and longed to return to their promised land, Israel. The Chinese have no such excuses. They largely come to the host country voluntarily, yet they do not assimilate well and many have no intention of doing so. Many have neither a modicum of loyalty for the country they have sworn their citizenship to, nor an iota of respect for the contract they have signed with their employer.
當然隻是喜歡喝德國啤酒，烤豬肘子，用德國造的廚具，開德國車。
我認識的資深律師，沒有幾個人喜歡自己的職業。是一個如何與人吵贏的，並且常常需要放棄基本原則的職業。：）