The generalized classification of all immigrants is evident in The Gravedigger’s Daughter on several occasions. Niles Tignor, the “husband” of Rebecca Schwart insisted on referring to her as his “Jewess” or “Gypsy-Girl” though Rebecca is neither. Jacob Schwart had the same discomfort with his religious stance.
“Schwart! That’s a Jew-name, Yes? Or do I mean—He-brew? No. A German name. He and his family were German Protestants. Their Christian faith derived from a Protestant sect founded by a contemporary of Martin Luther in the sixteenth century. A very small sect with few followers in America” (Oates 74).
The “land of the free” was established with religious freedom as a primary goal for its citizens, yet many people were unable to experience this freedom without falling victim to torment and ridicule. Rather than being referred to as a German-American or German, many citizens were cursed at, even to this day in our society the labels still exist within a cruel sense of humor, most were called Kraut, Nazi, and Jew.
Only in recent years when German mass graves are discovered, are they treated with the dignity and respect. In 2009 a mass grave containing the skeletal remains of some 2,000 people, presumed to be Germans who died in the closing months of World War II, was located accidentally at the beginning of construction on a luxury hotel that was to be built in Malbork, Poland. As stated by Nicholas Kulish:
“Throughout the continent the public is far more used to Germans as perpetrators rather than victims, and perhaps nowhere is that more true than in Germany itself. Yet there are signs in the former German territories such as Malbork that an understanding of the human suffering, in particular of civilians, is beginning to gain traction, balancing slightly the long-held grudge of collective guilt toward the German aggressors who began the war” (Kulish).
