Negotiating Racial Politics in the Family Transnational Histories touched by National Socialism and Apartheid (Egodocuments and History, 11)

In Negotiating Racial Politics in the Family, Henkes investigates how migrants negotiated their various responsibilities and loyalties towards family and nation, plus other major ethical obligations, when they became implicated in repressive political regimes such as National Socialism and Apartheid. Negotiating Racial Politics in the Family: Transnational Histories touched by National Socialism and Apartheid Copyright Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures Introduction Family and Nation as Imagined Communities Race and Narratives of Whiteness A First Acquaintance Shifts in Time and Tongue Part 1: National Socialism Across the German-Dutch Border 1 'Will My Own Brother have to Fight Against us Now?' Political Controversies A German-Dutch Royal Family Family and Nation Under Pressure Gnadengesuch (Request for Exemption) Race as the Elephant in the Room 2 "If War Comes, I will be Tossed to and Fro" Longing for the 'Good' Germany Into the Blue A Heimat in Holland? 'You are no Longer German' A Sprinkling of Sand in the Gears 6 Guilt and Shame 3 'Even After the War we will Stand Alone' Marriage Certificate Stateless 'A Man I had to Protect' Growing Isolation Terrified Together and Yet Alone 'One Cannot Say It Belongs to the Past' Part 2: Apartheid Across the Dutch-South African Border 4 'Can we Build a Future on this?' The Second World War in Breukelen and Bloemfontein Foreign and yet so Familiar A Shared European Origin Emigration Fever On the Way to the Promised Land The Dutch Reformed 'Dopper' Church in South Africa 'A Life Full of Grace' 5 'They are so Different from us' Whitening at Sea A New World in Black and White Boers, British and Outlanders Among the Dutch in Pretoria Blank Baasskap (White Rule) A Servant Hutch in the Garden Stay or Return? The White Civilisation Narrative 6 'I never set out to Wage War Against my Family' Family as a Gateway to a 'Strange' World The 'Other' in the Household Apartheid at Work Contact Zones A Tense Family Reunion You must have been - or gone away from - there The Presence of the Past Epilogue Migration and National Identifications Implicated in Racial Exclusion Touching Tales Bibliography Index This book is situated at the cutting edge of the political-ethical dimension of history writing. Henkes investigates various responsibilities and loyalties towards family and nation, as well as other major ethical obligations towards society and humanity when historical subjects have to deal with a repressive political regime. In the first section we follow pre-war German immigrants in the Netherlands and their German affiliation during the era of National Socialism. The second section explores the positions of Dutch emigrants who settled after the Second World War in Apartheid South Africa. The narratives of these transnational agents and their relatives provide a lens through which changing constructions of national identities, and the acceptance or rejection of a nationalist policy on racial grounds, can be observed in everyday practice. "This book is situated at the cutting edge of the political-ethical dimension of history writing. Henkes investigates various responsibilities and loyalties towards family and nation, as well as other major ethical obligations towards society and humanity when historical subjects have to deal with a repressive political regime. In the first section we follow three pre-war German immigrants in the Netherlands during the era of National Socialism. The second section explores the positions of three Dutch post-war emigrants who left for South Africa. The narratives of these transnational agents and their relatives provide a lens through which changing constructions of national identities, and the personal acceptance or rejection of a nationalist policy on racial grounds, can be observed in everyday practice"-- Provided by publisher