In part two of my conversation with my friend Liesel Appel, we discuss how she rejected Nazism in her home country of Germany only to find racial bigotry in America.
In Part 1, Liesel tells how as a baby, she was dedicated to Hitler at two weeks old by her Nazi parents. But she didn't learn who the Nazis were or what they stood for until a fateful visit by a Jewish man to her home when she was 9 years old. This incredible story led her to rejecting her mother, abandoning Germany, fighting against apartheid in the Congo and eventually landing in Florida. But instead of being embraced, the mostly white community of Palm Springs reacted to her then-marriage to a black musician with racist hostility.
This was an important part of her story that we didn't delve into in part one, so critical because of the parallels Liesel draws between how the German people fell for a fascist dictator in much the same way she sees people falling for Trump's divisive, hate-filled politics.
Liesel is an inspiration, someone who fights against injustice wherever she sees it. And that's why it's no shock that she became a passionate animal rights activist. Liesel's life experience makes her warning to us about how easily people can be led astray and how we combat that with compassion, kindness, and determination such a vital message to get out. It's with deep gratitude that I call her a friend and such an honor to be able to have these talks with her.
Liesel's memoir "The Neighbor's Son"
"Eternal Treblinka" by Charles Patterson
"Earthlings" is the film which first linked for me the concepts examined in "Eternal Treblinka" and is the reason I went vegan.
Vegan Linked ( @VeganLinked ) did an outstanding video profile of Liesel
Liesel's past husband, the incredible George Browne
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