My great Uncle Al, the one I interviewed about seeing Hitler and Mussolini, showed me a book of mostly typed notes he kept during his German-speaking mission from 1934-1937. Included are talks and outlines, tables, scriptures, poems (a lot of the poems were about mothers, do you think he was homesick?), and other observations. It was a delight to see his German, which wasn’t too bad. He even wrote out jokes in his talks, but the main focus was on religion.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I came upon a page entitled “Prayers?” Why the question mark? I wondered. Then, as I read the entry, my surprise turned to shock.

I’m certainly no Hitler or German history expert, but a curious missionary had copied down prayers that most certainly were aimed at Hitler! I had never thought that Hitler had ascended to some sort of religious figure status, especially because he had seemed to be rather intolerant of religion anyway, but see for yourself (my English translations are in parentheses):

Continue reading Guest Post: John Alvon Glauser, An Elder in Nazi Germany →

Michelle Glauser, a longtime participant at Keepa, is a young Mormon American woman living in Germany. I’ve long read her blog, Circles and Dots and Other Distractions, which is a riot of activity — she may be based in Leipzig, but she’s just as apt to be blogging about her trip through Turkey, or Switzerland, or Poland, as she is to be describing life as an ex-pat in a German university. Her recent master’s thesis is a serious study of the surprising meanings of blogging, especially mommy blogging.

Michelle offered to share here these extraordinary clips of an interview conducted by her of her 96-year-old great uncle Al Glauser, allowing us to come face to face with a witness of history. More detail about his life can be found at Michelle’s cross-posted interview on her blog.

My great uncle, John Alvon Glauser, was born in 1913. He is the oldest of the seven children of John and Lena Glauser, both Swiss immigrants who met and married in Logan, Utah. Lena’s maiden name was von Niederhausern, resulting in the “von” in “Alvon” (as a fun side story, Lena gave my Grandpa the letter N without a period or anything for his middle name since “Niederhausern” was so long–when people asked what it stood for, he always said “nothing” with a serious face). Al served a mission in Switzerland and Germany from 1934 to 1937. Because his stories of his mission have fascinated me for years, I felt like someone needed to record the story. As a result, last time I was in Salt Lake, I drove up to his house and recorded this video (the person asking questions and responding now and then is yours truly).

Continue reading (Guest Post) John Alvon Glauser: Face to Face with History →