The Conflict of Exile and Heimat
ReunionThe Schwarz family’s belief in Germany as home collides with political exclusion, forcing Hans away while his parents remain exposed to danger.
increasing
Bearing strength in each event
decreasing
Bearing strength in each eventdecreasingHome as Inheritance
Home as Inheritance
Rooted identity
The Schwarz family has lived in Stuttgart for generations and identifies strongly with Germany.
Safety assumed
For Hans and his parents, belonging appears permanent. Exile is not part of their imagined future.
Threat Dismissed
Threat Dismissed
Confidence in the nation
Dr. Schwarz expects Germany’s cultural traditions and civic loyalties to overcome Nazism.
A divided assessment
His son’s experience at school grows dangerous while the parents continue to hope that their own home remains secure.
The Decision to Leave
The Decision to Leave
A safety calculation
Dr. Schwarz tells Hans that his parents will send him to relatives in America until the storm passes.
Home divided
The parents choose departure for their son while insisting that they themselves belong in Germany. Protection requires a painful split.
A Birthday Departure
A Birthday Departure
The journey begins
Hans leaves Germany for America nearly a year after Konradin first entered his life.
A severed adolescence
He departs with his friendship, education, and family home behind him. The timing makes a personal milestone mark a forced rupture.
Exile’s Long Afterlife
Exile’s Long Afterlife
Success without return
Hans builds a career in America but avoids German language and literature because memories remain painful.
Belonging unresolved
The memorial appeal draws him back to his former school. His life abroad has not made the lost homeland emotionally remote.
Before the Nazi rise, in Hans’s family life
During the early Nazi rise, before Hans is sent away
December 1932, in Dr. Schwarz’s surgery
January 19, on Hans’s birthday
Thirty years after Hans arrives in the United States
