Jerry Springer . . . Is ENGLISH by birth?! Who Do You Think You Are?

[expatinscotland]

OMG!

I had NO idea.

He was born in London, the son of two German Jewish refugees.

that reunion had me weepy.

sigh

Jerry is English.

Wow.

Jerry is English.

Wow.

that was amazing.

God, that was devastating.

I love these programmes- I think he summed up really nicely with his line about being a link in a chain.

great programme, very moving

deeply moving

i managed not to cry til 5 mins from the end

I was sobbing throughout.

They looked so happy, in front of their shoe shop.

That was amazing - very moving, but lovely reunion. Uncomfortable viewing, definitely, but as chuffinnora and twoifbysea say, we must never look away, never forget it.

Very moving programme - definitely a good one for use in schools. It really makes the holocaust personal - I think sometimes the sheer scale makes it harder to relate to - but when you're looking at one person's story through the ghetto and camps it makes it much more real.

I am torn between shame that the human race could EVER have allowed that to happen and - well, pride is the wrong word, but for want of a better one, pride that Britain both increased its acceptance of Jewish refugees, contrary to what others did, and also stood up to Hitler and ultimately stopped that evil. (Obviously not single handed, but ykwim).

Welled up when he met his second cousin's son. I know a little boy named Yuron, had no idea it meant 'joy' - and meant so much in that context.

I remember being outraged when my little sister was told, at SCHOOL, that ordinary Germans didn't know anything about the holocaust. Think I'll make her watch this on iPlayer just in case she still believes that appalling lie.

Yes. it was so moving because it was about individual people and their stories. Springer was great.

I remember watching a Jerry Springer show once (just the once, obv), and in his summing up bit at the end, he talked about how his father had kept an old car in the garage for years, even though he never drove it. Jerry asked him why he still had it, his dad told him that he needed it there in case they ever had to up and leave in a hurry. That story makes so much more sense now.

You know who else was born to a German Jewish refugee, a professor no less?

Olivia Newton John!

I always love that; it seems so unlikely. (My grandad told me; they went to school in Berlin together.)

We were on our own against Hitler until the Yanks finally turned up, though. Everyone else had either given in or been defeated. ('WE' including the Empire, not forgetting that lots of brave people from Australia/Canada/India etc. etc. etc. fought against Hitler and Mussolini.)

the series is made so well, no?

i know this silly, but it dawned on me while watching the show how recent WW2 is

i.e. i was born 37 years ago - no time at all (of course, am a spring chicken)

but only another 37 years before that (i.e. 37 years before 1971) was 1934 - before hitler came to power

Sorry if my post sounded inappropriately light-hearted. I did find the programme very moving; it's VERY like my own family's story.

what i mean is: someone standing right here in 1971 would look back at 1934 in the same way as we, today, look at 1971

(wibble)

Stinkyfeet - I suppose the feeling of being hunted never really leaves you.

Incredibly moving.

It's the only one I've ever watched, tbh.

Tutter, that echoes what Springer said on the programme and the sense I had when visiting the Sachsenhausen concentration camp some years back. EVERYTHING was awful, but somehow the one of the most poignant reminders was that the architecture, mundane details like pipes and radiators and lightswitches were all so modern.

It was easy for me - before then - to think of the Holocaust as 'some other time'. But of course it wasn't. It was just yesterday.