gopiscrap
gopiscrap's JournalToday would have been my mother's 92nd birthday
I have shared her story here before, but feel compelled to tell it again:
Liselotte (nick name Lilo) was born in 1933 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She lived in downtown Frankfurt near the railroad station. When she was ten, Hitler decreed that all the children of the 3rd Reich should be removed from the major cities of Germany, since he felt that they were the future of the nation. Rge allies were making headway and were seriously bombing the major urban centers.
Since there was no public transportation (it was being used in the war effort) she and a group of many other children had to walk for miles tin the bitter cold and snow and ice to just inside the Austrian border and there she stayed in an orphanage til just after the war.
Five days after the war was over, the director of the orphanage all non Austrian children together and kicked them out as there was no Moner for them and scarce room to house them,
For the next two months she and others wandered through the countryside and cities of Germasny on foot, sleeping doorways, bomb shelters, empty abandoned shells of buildings etc. She had rock and rotten food thrown at her and was shouted at to leave many times as food was very hard to come by.
Finally an American military battalion picked her up and took her to an orphanage in Oberndorf Germany, For the next 17 weeks on each Saturday she stood against the wall of the basement and watched as parents came by to be reunited with their children. On the 17th week her father found her.
She married an American GI and when she was pregnant with me the frostbite she got on her left leg turned into gangrene and in order to save her fetus, (my life) she had to have her left leg amputated just below the knee with on local anesthetic.
This caused her great pain throughout the rest of her life. I remember being teased by my friends because of her leg and when coming to the US also because of her thick German accent.
She instilled me a passion for civic service and a deep sense of peace and justice.
I havejust recently been contacted by a writer to chronicle her story.
So: 92nd birthday Lilo Collier RIP
So I had a heart attack
on Tuesday. I have pushed my doctor to release me and he said I can go home tomorrow. See you all on Saturday at the protests. Don't be intimidated by that fucking orange gas bag! Take to your streets and show this corrupt administration that you mean business. Be loud, be lawful but be insistant on our rights and our disgust with trump and his bullies!! Stay safe and have fun!!! Mike
Looking for advice
I want to share the plight of a young girl from Frankfurt am Main Germany who during the war became a refugee. Her name is Lieselotte (nick name Lilo.) She was born in Frankfurt in 1933. At the age of nine, Hitler had decreed that the nations' children were the future of the Third Reich. Since all major cities were being bombed into rubble, Hitler had ordered that all children from the age of 6 -15 be evacuated and relocated from all the major cities. Frankfurt, being the financial and banking center of the nation was one of those cities. Because there wasn't any transportation available, Lilo (along with many others) was sent to walk to an orphanage just inside the Austrian border during the winter of 1943. It took forty six days to do so. Five days after the war, the director of the orphanage gathered all the children together and gave each child the equililant of 8 dollars and then sent them on their way, telling them the Austrian government couldn't afford to keep them.
Once again, there wasn't any transportation, so Lilo spent the next 4 months wandering from town to town in order to get back to her parents. Lilo slept in fields, bombed out builidlings, in churches when they were kind enough to house children. doorways and alleys. She was shot at, had garbage and rocks thrown at her. She slept in door ways, bombed out buildings, churches when the pastor was kind enough to let her do so. In her fifth month of wandering she was spotted by and picked up by an American military battalion. She was driven to a Catholic orphanage in Northern Germany and spent the next four months hoping her parents would come and find her. During this time she took part in the only recreation available, singing in the Obern Kirke Kinder Chor. Each Saturday the girls would be lined up against the dining room wall while parents came and searched for their missing children. Finally on the fourteenth week, her parents came and she was repatriated and sent home with them.
Because she had to walk through the Bavarian Mountains with substandard foot wear, during the winter, her feet and left leg were frost bitten. When she became pregnant with her first child that frost bite turned into gangrene and in order to save her baby's life, she had to have her left leg amputated just above the knee. For the rest of her life, every time she heard a siren or low flying plane, she cringed. She also endured the stares of people looking at her artificial leg, her little boy endured teasing most of his childhood. She had numerous health problems and was always watching her weight. Too much weight, the leg wouldn't fit. Underweight and the leg would slip off. After many illnesses, Lilo died at 51.
THAT LITTLE GIRL GREW UP TO BE MY MOTHER
My question is, I have been approached by a book writer who wants to tell her story...it wouldn't be just this episode, but about being in Germany and born the same year Hitler took power, also about her travails and her acclimation upon coming to the US. My biological father left when she had her leg amputated in the 7th month of her pregnancy. She married a career military person who passed away when I was 6 because of war related injuries.
Should I tell him to go for it, or do think it's old news and not that compelling?
Just trying to get some opinions...thanks Mike C
Had my meeting with the immigration attorney
First off, I want to thank everyone for their kind expressions of support and encouragement.
I just got done with meeting with the immigration attorney that I have. It was a good meeting. Most of it dealt with paperwork etc. He wants me to have about 2500.00 available in case I need bail. I need several copies of my Citizenship certificate. He wants me to have copies of my Alien Registration card and also my green card that I had before citizenship. He wants me to make sure that I have copies made for both my kids so in case something happens they have quick acess to documents. He gave me a card that I can put in my wallet to call the Nortwest Immigrant Rights Project, also the ACLU (of which I am a member) he said that if I go protest, I need to stay in the middle of a pack of people so I can't just be grabbed.
He said he would prefer that I don't protest, but said if I must, to be very careful. I told him that it is not in my dna to sit passively when there is such injustice. My faith will not let be silent, I also wish to be on the right side of history. Then there is being able to tell my grand children that I did what I could.
The attorney said that I am at heightened risk because of previously being put on the no fly list twice and also being charged with inciting a riot when George Bush the first came to Tacoma and we arranged a "welcome" for him that forced him to leave town 17 minutes early. The third reason I am at risk is because I have had the trump administration take me to court and challeng my citizenship. (Which I won the last time and was awarded attorney fees.)
The final thing he said to me is to make sure my neighbors, co-workers and specially my church community to know what's up.
So friends thank you s much for your support. I will keep you posted on any future developments.
Together we make "Good trouble" and stand up for our neighbors and those who have no voice.
Peace
Mike Collier
For those who celebrate: MERRY CHRISTMAS
I love this quote about Christmas from Howard Thurman:
"The Work of Christmas"
"When the song of the angels is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks:
THE WORK OF CHRISTMAS BEGINS
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To bring peace among the peoples
and
to make music in the heart."
And isin't that what life is about? To make music in heart with and for one another?
May your holidays be a joyful song of community and may your next year be a symphoney!!!
Frohe Weinachten
God Yule
Feliz Navidad
Buon Natali
Jouex Noel
MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL
In response to United Health Care CEO misfortune let me tell you a true story
In 1987 at the age of 29, I came down with salivary gland cancer. Although it was tough and expensive, it was doable and I was in remission. Fast forward to 1993 and it came back with a vengance and metastasized. Because it was deemed a "pre-exisiting" condition, the insurance company (Blue Cross) denied coverage. I amassed 197K in medical bills and filed for brankruptcies more than the allowable amount of times in the specified period. Because, I did that the doctors were forced to continue with treatment and my life was saved. Because of that, I was charged with abuse of the US Bankruptcy laws and Contempt of the Federal Judicial Process. I pled guilty to contempt of court and a violation of the Judges order to cease filing. I spent 13 months in a Federal prison, I am now a felon and did probabtion for 3 years. In addition, we lost everything we had. But I also negotiated in court that the bill be reduced to 11K. Three lessons I got out of this: 1) everyone should be on a single payer universal health care like I had in Europe. 2) in the US you either pay with time or money 3) fuck insurance companies and the greedy assholes that run them
OMG my heart is so filled tonight
That speech by Tim Walz tonight was amazing. And his son's reaction, my heart melted. I too, have suffered with ADHD and anxiety all my life. I was born with encephalitis and it messed me up pretty bad, I lost both my parents by the time I was 14. To see his son Gus have that reaction was so wonderful. In addition my foster nephew was the student Mr. and Mrs. Walz started the GSA with in Mankato. My foster brother's family lived there at the time and my other foster brother was a Lutheran pastor in North Mankato. You could just see the pure goodness and noble humanity eminating from Walz as he introduced himself to the nation. My heart is full and my hope and desire is off the scales to work for this candidacy!!! Mike C
trump's comments on the military
I don't know why it pisses me off so much, but his statements about those who get injured, die and or MoH awardees drives me nuts.
I guess it is because I lost my father to war when I was 7 years old. My dad was a Sargent Major with 19 years of service. He enlisted as a 17 year old in World War II, posed as a clerk in an East German Hotel, got shot in Korea and then shot again in Vietnam in January 1961. He died from those injuries on Dec 18, 1964. I can tell you first hand he pain of losing your father when you are 7. I can tell you the pain of my German mom who became a widow at such an early age.
But more than that, to me, what noble honor and sacrifice it is of those who gave their lives or were never the same again after serving on our behalf. As a naturalized citizen, I learned to internalize service to one's nation. While not serving in the military, I did work for my chosen State of Washington and also led a City of Tacoma initiative and ran for US Congress.
So trump, you selfish, heartless bastard: you can go a shove your bone spurs up you big fat orange ass!!!!
Thanks for letting me rant!!!!
The baby, I delivered when I was 19......
The summer I was 19 years old, I was working on a national singing tour for the Lutheran Church. Myself and 6 others went from town to town in a van. One night on our once a week day off, just the guys on the team took the van and went from Evansville, IN to Memphis TN. On our way back to Evansville coming into Owensboro KY about 2 in the morning, a car passed us at a high rate of speed. Very soon that same car was on the side of the road and was smoking, the young man driving it was waving a towel for some one to help him.
We stopped and inside the car was his 17 year old partner pregnant as can be and whose water had just broken. The young man stayed with the car and sent his partner with us to the hospital about 9 miles away. On our way, her little baby was born. Scared the crap out of me, I had no clue about child birth and neither did the other three guys that were with me. We were all aged 19-23.
Once we got her to the hospital and settled, we exchanged names and phone numbers etc. Through the years the parents of Christopher wrote to me and I got to know him. They had made us four honorary Godparents of Christopher. He has struggled in his young adulthood but today he emailed me out of the blue and told me that he has graduated college with a four year degree in computers. I was very happy. I am also grateful to have been a part of that.
I know it's not important in the scheme of poitics but it made my day and I wanted to share.
Thanks Mike C
"The Work of Christmas" by Howard Thurman
To my friends in this Democratic Community:
Each year as I celebrate Christmas, I share with my friends and family, this profound message:
"When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky i gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
THE WORK OF CHRISTMAS BEGINS:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among the peoples,
and most importantly,
TO MAKE MUSIC IN THE HEART!"
As a person of faith, this speaks to me more than any prayer, or sermon.
I feel it is our call, to do this and to make music in the heart,
by sharing a meal, giving of our resources, by turning frowns into smiles
by drying tears, and including the outcast and forgotten and by
being a social and political voice for those who have none.
I see this one often on DU, members step up and share with, affirm one another and also confront injustice and violence and work relentlessly for peace at home and abroad.
Enjoy your day, be in community, but look forward to doing the work of Christmas in the days to come.
May we always make music in the heart with and for one another.
Joyeux Noel
Felicem Natali Christi
Buon Natale
Frohe Weinacthen
Feliz Navidad
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Profile Information
Name: MikeGender: Male
Hometown: Frankfurt am Main
Home country: Germany
Current location: Tacoma, Washington
Member since: Sat Jul 18, 2009, 10:55 AM
Number of posts: 24,514