Spoonfuls of Germany

Tag Archives: world war II


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The missing, and the silent

Oscar Rosen and his wife Rachel Rosen, née Kesler, on their engagement in Metz, France, February 1936.

A few months ago, I watched a German TV program about Niklas Frank, the youngest son of Hans Frank, who as governor-general of occupied Poland in World War II was responsible for the murder of the Polish Jews and other war crimes and crimes against humanity. Talking about the right-wing German party AfD and its claim that the years between 1933 and 1945 were merely a “stain” in Germany’s “glorious” history, Niklas Frank said, “Someone who really loves Germany (…) first and foremost carries the pain about those 12 years.” Continue reading →


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American professor in Philadelphia adds gusto to German-American friendship

Sausage vending machine in Hanover, Germany, 1931 (Wikimedia Commons).

This is my last blog post for The Year of German-American Friendship. Over the past thirteen months I have profiled people in the US from very different backgrounds and professions: a butcher, a miller, a gingerbread baker, a candy maker, a German food truck owner, the two founders of a döner restaurant chain, a food historian, and a fruit grower – all with a link to Germany.

I am wrapping my series up with Elliott Shore, who epitomizes German-American friendship and is professor of history emeritus at Bryn Mawr College. Shore is an American academic who combines in-depth study of Germany with a strong personal connection to the country. Continue reading →


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How #AmericaCooksGerman

Photo credits (clockwise): @nikkioutwest, Kristl Walek, Dan Schneider, Eleanor Oliver, Sandra Atanackovic; (center): @michellecialone, Sandra Atanackovic, @kurtrosetree.

There’s no beating around the bush – German cuisine is neither hip nor cool. The Washington Post, in a March 2018 article entitled “Grandma’s food’: How changing tastes are killing German restaurants”, explained well why German restaurants in America, some of them over 100 years old, are closing all across the country. Their clientele is simply disappearing, and the grandchildren of their loyal customers, while they might visit Berlin, viewed as the most exciting city in Europe, they don’t return with a craving for German food that makes them seek out the German restaurant in town. Nor do millennials hurry to the kitchen to cook something German. Continue reading →