Dria lives a world away from me. I am German. Dria is Jewish. We are bound together by the burden of history. Never forget! History lessons about the Nazi regime. The unspeakable things that my forefathers did to Dria’s people. I have never talked to Dria about this. Maybe there is some sort of mutual understanding. We can be at peace now and and share what is good about our culture.
We share recipes. We share ideas about natural simple living. I love to see pictures from her village in Israel.
Worlds away from each other we can be friends on the NaturalKids team. Yet we have a another connection through the work that our hands do. We are both doll makers. We share the love of German style dolls. So I was very excited when she sent me photos of her hands making something. I can relate to it. I know what skill it takes to turn those little corners on a sewing machine.
The lovely little details and the joy we get from seeing a finished doll that has come together just right…
Please visit her lovely shop on Etsy to see her amazing creations! I think she is working on a smiling Star-baby here.
Ulla Seckler is a dollmaker who was born and raised in Germany. She lives in beautiful Colorado with her husband and two kids. You can find her Notes by a German Dollmaker on her blog where she shares some great German recipes, pictures of her sweet dolls, and life lessons learned. Don’t forget to stop by her Etsyshop and take a peek at her wonderful doll creations.
It’s great that you are able to be friends and hold no ill will about the past. My maiden name is Bledsoe, once I met a girl with the same last name. I am white and she is black. When I brought up the name thing, she laughed and said “I don’t think we’re cousins.” I told her I was sorry and she smiled and said thank you. Some people feel I was wrong to apologize for something that I didn’t do, but I believe that it was owed and I truly am sorry for what her family must have went through. We can’t change the past and we can’t forget it, the best we can do is acknowledge it and try to move on.
Enjoyed seeing Dria making the a doll and then the finished product when I clicked on the link. Such skill and creativity!
Ulla, i am truly touched by your words. Brave and generous.
Needless to say that i believe that each person is responsible only to his own actions. And that i have felt close to you since i joined the naturalkids team 🙂
You are a beautiful person.
Hi Dria, I was very much struggling when writing this post. You know one of my best friends here in the US is actually Jewish. We have never talked about this subject because I know it is too painful for him. I know his family lost lots of people during the Holocaust. I can’t help but feel the guilt and shame inherited from my people. My grandparents were not directly involved or bigtime Nazis. Yet I feel that everybody who knew and didn’t do anything about this is guilty…I have read countless books on the subject and thought about it so much. I hope if I ever got to be in such a position I would be brave enough to stand up for what is right. Thanks so much for your kind comment on my post. I am glad you liked what I wrote. Shalom.