Figure 1.--

A Dutch HBC reader was quit moved by this account and how the NAZI affected this family and boy. The impact of the of the NAZIs and other such movements and peoples ecation to them is a continuing puzzle. He writes, "I keep wondering about the Ross family. I am finding it difficult to get them off my mind."

Ralph Ross

The HBC page on Ralph Ross is endlesly fascinating. There is so much more that I would like to know about him. I would love to read the book to learn more about him, but have not been able to find a copy.

Ross Family

keep wondering about the Ross family. I am finding it difficult to get them off my mind. I wish I could fathom these people's minds. Even taking into account that our opinions leans heavily on hindsight that they did not and could not have one wonders what lured them into the spell of NAZIism.

Japanese Scouting

Ralph's attitude toward the scouting movement for one thing. The 'Japanese in uniform' pic for example. Not mentioning that they were scouts - why ? Personal conviction ? Seems unlikely. Self-censorship ? The reasons why the MAZI's didn't want scouting to be active in Germany are understandable enough. Such an oranization will try to achieve total control over education and youth movements.

Gerakan Pramuka

Similar attitudes led to the ban on Scouting and the formation of the highly nationalistic Gerakan Pramuka in the young Indonesian republic. But does it follow that they were against scouting movements in other countries? The Indonesian Pramuka have been striving to re-establish relations with Scouting for a long time, claiming that their organization was just scouting the Indonesian way, rightfully taking the place of pre-revolutionary scouting.

British-German Couple

Ralph's parents - they remind me of a charming British-German couple I knew in Gan Canaria in the 1970s. Well-traveled and well-read, witty, speaking each other's languages to perfection. He, an Englishman, a Doctor of Philosophy of Zürich university, she, from Hannover, every inch a lady. Funny thing: they left England for Ireland after the war, then onto Spain, never went back to their home countries. Turned 80 he became somewhat absent-minded, often confused. When his wife died of cancer he couldn't cope and asked me to assist with sorting things out. I found some brochures he had written in the thirties and forties in defense of National Socialism, a eulogy of Hitler, a brochure on the Bund Deutscher Mädel.

Dutch Boyhood

This Dutch HBC reader has provided us some fascinating information about his own boyhood experiences: "I consider myself throughly Dutch, although I have spent part of my life in Belgium. Our family lived for several years in the Belgian Congo and much of my boyhood was spent there. Just months after leaving the Congo, I was enrolled in a secondary school in Antwerp, Belgium. In the Congo, of course, I and my friends wore short pants all the time in the hot tropical climate. Our Antwerp school had a uniform, but it was no longer strictly enforced. I was the youngest of my class and one of seven or eight boys who were still wearing short pants. I continued wearing short pants to school until I was 16 years old. I generally wore lederhosen as I participated in an Austraian and German Scout camps. Some Dutch boys at the time considered lederhosen too German. My parents were very interested that I learn English, which is part of the reason that they sent me to Scotland for several summers. Some friends there wore kilts, I stuck to my lederhosen."

Sources

Ralph Ross, From Chicago to Chungking (1943). This book is a very fascinating account of his travels through the United States as a young German and NAZI as he describes himself.