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Strangers to Their Courage: Poems | 
 enlarge | Author: Alice Derry
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Buy New: $18.45
New (2) Used (7) from $6.26
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 96
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0807127205
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
EAN: 9780807127209
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In her startling new collection of poetry, Alice Derry contemplates an awkward, even taboo subject--the persecution and suffering of the German population before, during, and after World War II. Sparked by her desire to capture in verse the torment of her German cousins, who had survived the horrors of war only to be separated by the division of Germany, Derry composed these poems over a quarter of a century, ultimately chronicling the anguish of an entire people who "deserved" their lot, a people permanently tainted by the horrifying events of the Third Reich and the Holocaust. "Before I realized that I was becoming part of a contaminated language and people, I was part of them," writes Derry in her powerful introductory essay, an eloquent discussion of racism, ethnic prejudice, and learned hatred. Indeed, Derry's intensely personal poems have an immediacy that approaches documentary. She divides the people into two sections, the first telling the stories of her German relatives trapped behind the Iron Curtain, often from their point of view. "When I felt our first son move inside me..../ I walked into the cold, muddy spring, / the rubbled streets, and took my place / in the food lines." The second section ponders the distinct experiences of German Americans. By giving voice to a group that Americans and others have been given permission to hate, Derry eloquently reveals a subtle truth about blame and guilt--in the end we are all implicated, all human suffering is a part of each of us.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Truth; Understanding in a World of Judgment August 4, 2008
Rebecca Lynn Horst (Sequim, WA)
I have waited a long time to write this review. Alice Derry is a professor at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington. She is very humble and quiet about her abilites, but strong about her beliefs and justice.
I am aware of the risks Alice Derry took by choosing to write about her loved ones from the German WWII generation. In a culture bent on a one-way perspective of WWII, it takes courage to even open this book and begin to read.
I made Christmas gifts of several of these books for friends. Some, just friends of friends. All lived through the periods during and after WWII. Alice Derry's writings show the pain and dispair behind the guilt of complacency and denial.
If anyone has a Grandparent, neighbor, or friend who grew up during WWII and is of German descent this is a true gift. It empowers those that have stripped themselves or have stripped of the pride they should have for their herritage and themselves. The pieces in this book are written from a seemingly empathic understanding of the ignored experiences and injustices committed against those assumed to be guilty of the horrors of the haulocaust in WWII Germany; simply by mere association. The general populous of Germany were not all in favor of the political view of Hitler, but were labled with blame. A plague of punishment, guilt, and stigma coat areas of Europe contaminated by Nazi occupation into current times.
Through the works in this book, Alice Derry allows her readers to understand the legacy of WWII from a rare perspective and find ballace. Those I gave this book to have found healing. In the words of my German/Swiss/Austrian friends that I gifted this book to; "She understands; someone finally understands."
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