Chicago Tribune

Commentary: The Nazis murdered my ancestors. So why do I want to become a German citizen?

August 1942 was a catastrophic month for my German ancestors.

On Aug. 5, the Nazis herded my great-grandfather onto a train in Berlin bound for the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Five days later and 650 miles away in Paris, they rounded up my grandfather, who had tried to escape to France, and forced him onto a transport headed to Auschwitz.

Both were exterminated at their final destinations, along with my great-grandmother, great-aunt and a distant cousin.

I am a Jewish American. And on Jan. 21, my 60th birthday, I plan to visit

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