Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

TRACES Midwest/WWII History Museum presents. . .

Anti-German Hysteria during the World Wars
Speaker: Paul Lutz
January 3rd, 2008 at 12PM and 6:30PM
Room 326 at the Landmark Center
75 West Fifth Street, Saint Paul
FREE: No admission

Dealing with the issue of war and hysteria against particular ethnic groups, as illustrated by anti-German attitudes during both world wars in Iowa, Chuck Lutz’s lecture will center around the experiences of his father, Paul C. Lutz, as well as the experiences previous generations in his German American family. A vital comparison to today’s politically charged state of “racial profiling”; this lecture forces us to examine how we create an enemy out of an entire culture in times of war.

Paul C. Lutz was a Lutheran pastor in Lime Springs, Iowa, when the United States entered World War II. Dangerous gossip began circulating in the town about Paul Lutz, not because of his political views, but because as a “German church” leader, Lutz occasionally led German-language services.

Entering the army in late 1943 as a chaplain, Lutz traveled from Germany to Italy to Spain, and visited the prison camp Dachau, where he witnessed the atrocities Hitler perpetrated against the Jewish people. As a chaplain able to translate and offer consolation to US soldiers and foreign soldiers, Lutz was quickly transformed in the eyes of his peers from a suspicious character based on his German roots to an upstanding US citizen willing to use his skills for his country.

Speaking on the experience of being a German-American at a time when his country was most against all things German, Charles Lutz speaks on the experiences of his father, and tells one man’s story as he fought for his country, and fought against the prejudice his country held for him.

For more information on Paul Lutz, see http://www.traces.org/germanimmigrants.html

Chuck Lutz, a member of TRACES Museum, is the Regional Coordinator for the Grassroots Advocacy Project (GAP), a volunteer project of Churches for the Middle East Peace

TRACES Midwest/WWII Narrative History Museum, located on the 2nd floor of the Landmark Center in Saint Paul, focuses on the first-hand accounts of those who experienced the Great War: from Midwest POWs and their experiences in Nazi Germany to German-American civilian internees in camps throughout the Midwest; from political and religious refugees who found a safe haven in Iowa to those who were unfortunate enough to perish within the walls of the concentration camps Dachau and Buchenwald. Open Tuesday -Friday from 9AM to 4PM, Thursdays until 8PM, Saturday from 10AM-4PM, and Sunday from 12-4PM.
Visit our website at www.TRACES.org, or call us at 651.292.8700