When we are born from a male and female union we are given life. Life includes things such as health and intelligence (physicality), which is part of our ‘nature’ – things beyond our control. As we grow up, the world around us nurtures us (spiritually); many things are directly affected by this including our knowledge and our emotions. Nature and nurture can affect our future. We will be given choices in everything we do, and the choices we make will or will not be inspired by our nurture or our nature. The outcome can be positive or negative, but, one thing all our choices will have in common is, no matter the person, their parents or their upbringing, we make the final choice. We didn’t choose our nature or nurture, but we do chose to use the nature and nurture either as an excuse or as a reason for the choices we make. We can choose to do the opposite of what our nature and nurture dealt us.
If you had every excuse in the world to be the worst type of person in the world because of your nature and nurture, what would you choose?
Here is what one person did.
Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger has the ultimate skeleton-in-the-closet, and he’s not shy about sharing it.
He was born in 1958 and was raised Catholic in Germany. As a young boy, he admired his father, Major Arthur Wollschlaeger, who was a tank commander in World War II and awarded the Iron Cross by Adolf Hitler.
Dr. Wollschlaeger said, “My father was a hero, I had no doubt. The fact that he was a Nazi didn’t mean anything to me because I was a child.”
But as he got older, he had questions that his dad didn’t answer. He was determined to know the truth. So, as a teen, he took a trip to Israel.
“What I learned about the Holocaust shocked me, not only from the fact of history I didn’t know, but also the contrast to my father’s stories of heroism. That was not a hero,” he said.
About his father, he said, “He admired Hitler during the war. The treatment of the Jews … he never used the term ‘murder,’ never used the term ‘extermination.’”
Dr. Wollschlaeger admits his attraction to the Jewish faith was driven by his discovery of the truth.
“There’s no question that my initial step towards Judaism was motivated by guilt and shame as a young German. How could that happen? How could my people do that?” he said.
He turned his guilt into conviction, and, ultimately, action. Seven years after starting his spiritual search, he converted, became an Israeli citizen and joined the Israeli army.
“I felt comfortable in a family of choice, the Jewish community, versus a family of origin, which rejected me,” he explained.
Over the years, his relationship with his father deteriorated.
“He was bitterly disappointed that his son betrayed him, the son whom he wanted to raise to be a good German,” said Dr. Wollschlaeger.
He moved from Israel to South Florida more than 20 years ago, where he now practices medicine. He hopes the next generation never forgets. He has taken his daughter to the concentration camps, which he calls “the entrance to a man-made hell.”
Dr. Wollschlaeger said, “We, as human beings, have the capacity to do tremendous good and do horrific and horrible things.”
But, it is rare to have both so uniquely intertwined in one family’s history.
Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger will be speaking Tuesday, Nov.10 at the Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort. R.S.V.P. at Chabadoflighthousepoint@gmail.com or www.JewishLHP.com.
Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the Director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches located at 4081 N. Federal Hwy., #100A, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. For all upcoming events please visit www.JewishLHP.com.
