OPPENHEIMER, THE MOVIe

There seems to be this big bubble of greatness surrounding Oppenheimer, the movie, but I’m   about to break it by saying I’m glad I read AMERICAN PROMETHEUS, the book first. Why go against this flow of “greatness” we’re hearing over and over again? Because I wouldn’t have known much of what was going on otherwise. And that was my wife’s reaction. She hadn’t read it.

The volume was turned up way too loud. I plugged my ears in some places. Taking a potty break halfway into the movie, I ran into the theater manager in the hallway and remarked that it was too loud. He said that’s Christopher Nolan (the director) for you. He makes them that way. Enough bitching. 

The storyline hinges on two overarching concerns of the scientists and politicians involved with the development of the atomic bomb. Number one - we’ve got to successfully develop it before Nazi Germany does, and two - we don’t want to share any secrets with Russia, our ally at the time. 

In Oppenheimer’s earlier life, in the 1930s, he’d flirted with the communist philosophy along with many of his friends and acquaintances. He never did become fully involved and foreswore any allegiance to it. This early casual relationship to it haunted his professional career the rest of his life.

 

To cut to the meat of the story, Oppenheimer received the appointment to make it happen and found an ally in the tough army general tapped to oversee the work. He chose the desert around Los Alamos, New Mexico for the headquarters to develop the theory into a working bomb. From nothing, the town grew by a few thousand in a short time and a massive construction effort soon built the buildings necessary for the work.

I wanted to see more of the theoretical side of quantum mechanics incorporated into the movie, but that never happened. As a college student he leaned towards chemistry but soon found he despised laboratory work. A bit clumsy, he didn’t do well as an experimental physicist, and as the book states, “wisely turned to the abstractions of theoretical physics.” He excelled and became recognized for it which led to his success.

Jealousies did him in and after the bomb dropped on Japanese cities he seemed to be counted as unnecessary. The government seemed bent on sifting communists out of positions of power, and Oppenheimer found himself denied further security clearance. 

The movie is worthwhile, but the book more so. My little brain never did grasp the concept of quantum mechanics; it was always something I wanted to learn; I didn’t find it here. Please don’t let my sour grape take on the movie stop you from attending. Maybe I stand alone in my thoughts about it.

G-Rs still in mind

 With the Germans from Russia convention still in mind, I think of Grandma Bueling’s history and her journey to the United States. Still a very young lady, she traveled with her family to escape the harsh life. According to the ship’s manifest, the family arrived with $11 and luggage. The dollar amount is very similar to that of many other families who had to use most of their funds for travel expenses. Couple the shortage of money with the language barrier and you’d have a hardscrabble life until you could become established somewhere. Eventually they made their way to the Sheldon area where she met up with her husband, a full-blooded Swede. They built a nice farmstead and they were able to live out their lives in relative security. But true to form, Grandma never talked about her experiences much. We’ve learned the reticence she exhibited was common among other German immigrants. They’d learned not to say much for fear of being overheard and sent to the labor camps in Siberia. 

At the convention one presenter told of how adamant her father was to not speak of the past for fear of Stalin. He’d become separated from his wife and two children in the old country, so he made his way to the U.S., remarried, and started a new family. He would never speak of past life, that is until he lay on his deathbed. He called his children in and told them of his previous life. Given this information, a couple of his now-grown children began a search to see if they could find their half-siblings. They found success after much work and luck and could re-unite as a whole family. It was only when on his deathbed did he open up. Before that he would become angry for anyone asking. He feared harm could find him or his family. 

American Prometheus

 We don’t go to many movies, but we will go to “Oppenheimer.” I’m wading through AMERICAN PROMETHEUS now but will not have it read by Thursday when we plan to go.  Born in 1942, I don’t remember that first bomb explosion, but there was a spate of atomic tests I do remember as I grew older. I’ll probably have something to say about it on Friday. 

The GRHS 52nd Annual Int'l Convention

 July 19-22, 2023, Mandan, ND

All ethnic groups must have gone through difficulties at one time or another during their historical existence. That is certainly true of the Germans from Russia  who have formed themselves into an organization to keep memories. One of the sessions I attended revealed to me a powerful story that centered on a fellow who’d stepped on my foot the day before. The discussion turned to the Displaced Persons Act signed by President Truman in 1948. The man was included in that category and as a young boy participated in one of the long treks to reach safety and thus was able to come to the United States under that act. I asked him later if he remembered much of it and he replied, “I remember everything.” Then, stupidly, I asked how many days did it take. He answered somewhat irritatedly, “Days? Weeks! Months!” 

The author Mark Sullivan has written a book, THE LAST GREEN VALLEY, that tells the story of that family’s flight from the advancing Russian army and the unknown future it would bring as World War II drew to a close. I was reminded of a veterinarian in Enderlin who was a DP. The young boy I was can still hear him telling Dad in his heavily accented voice to pronounce his name Ma-hi-look.

On the day before the convention we took advantage of the opportunity to do a bus tour Fort Yates with several points between. There are only a half dozen four star admirals in our navy and before we departed one of them came on board to talk about his connection to Germans from Russia. A native North Dakotan Admiral Stuart Munsch is based in Italy as the commander of our naval forces in Europe and Africa. Why he was there I’m not sure, but he soon departed with  several naval aides in their crisp whites tending to him. I’m sure he was being kept apprised of the situation around the Crimea.

We toured the Catholic church in Fort Yates which features much from Indian folklore incorporated in its building. Behind the church we walked through the cemetery which surprisingly held many Germans from Russia graves with iron crosses. 

One of the presenters talked of how hidden stories have a tendency to “bubble up” with the passing of time. The dark past remains unknown until researchers uncover hidden first families caused by war or political affairs. Only then could unknown half-siblings unite. Some refused to talk of their past for fear Stalin could still could have reached out to them. Real fear existed.

A sampling of sessions includes the following: Anti-German Hysteria in South Dakota in WWI, Tracing the Migration of German Colonists to South Russia, The Holodomor in Ukraine, Preserving Documents and Photographs, DNA and Genealogy, Knoefla Soup, Strudla and Kraut, How to Make “Red Eye”, plus a couple dozen more I won’t name. We eat lots of kuchen, too.

The turnout this year was large and came from several different states and Canadian provinces. Essay contests, family history research and books contests, silent auction, and good food can be found there. We always come away with ideas of pursuing our own family histories more deeply and already look forward to next year.