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Critical Genealogy Assignment

Visual Analysis: For the visual analysis, I struggled to pick one item to use for this assignment. The first item I chose is my great-great-grandmother's wedding ring, which is an heirloom passed down through the firstborn daughter on my mom's side of the family. The second item is a piece of the Berlin Wall that, growing up, I had believed my grandma had given to my mom. Just recently, I learned my dad had obtained it while deployed with the army and was the one to give it to my mom. At first glance, the first object appears to be an older style of ring. The metal on the ring appears to be some sort of gold, and the gemstone is some sort of clear yellow gem. The ring is a US size 5, and the gemstone is just shy of an inch in length. My own bias knows that the ring is almost a hundred years old and that the gemstone is a yellow topaz. The second item is a piece of concrete, one side gray and plain, and the other has a yellow, orange, and green tint. It is in a clear casing with the following colorful words: "Berlin," "Die Mauer," "The Wall," and "Berlin - Divided City," and the numbers "13.08.1961 - 09.11.1989." The casing also has an outline of the map of Berlin separated into a few different countries. My bias is that the piece of concrete is a chunk of the Berlin Wall, and the colors on it are a result of spray paint. The numbers are the dates from the beginning of the creation of the wall and the date that the wall "fell." The words are a mix of German and English. The two items are actual things that both separated and connected my mom's side of the family. The ring is able to be passed along in my family despite the situations in the world. The wall separated my great-great-grandmother from her children with a physical barrier that she was never able to get out of. 

The photos were both taken by my parents. The ring was taken from a text message conversation I had with my mom a while ago, and the Berlin Wall was taken by my dad at my request. I realized when I went to upload my notes on my analysis that I had forgotten to take photos of the items while I was at home.

Oral History: For this assignment, I interviewed my mom to learn more about the German side of my family. I chose her because I have never met most of her side of the family, and the ones that I have met refuse to discuss the history with me. I started the interview with a warm-up type of question by asking my mom about my great-great-grandmother's wedding ring. I already knew a vague bit of the context behind the ring because my mom made sure I knew it well by repeating it to me throughout my life, both verbally and through text messages. My mom was hesitant to do the interview with me until I told her that it was for a class assignment; therefore, I had assumed that asking a question I already knew the answer to would be a smooth way into asking questions she would be less willing to answer. My mom would quickly surprise me by telling me about my great-great-grandpa, whom I had never heard of before. Before this interview, my family was dead set on telling people that my family had gone into hiding during World War II. I was shocked to learn the truth about him being a Nazi soldier. I had suspected that there was a part of the family history that was not being told; however, it still deeply saddened me to learn the truth. After that segment, I shifted the topic to my great-grandparents, as my mom had given all of the information she knew about my great-great-grandmother. I knew my mom had more knowledge about them since she was able to actually meet them. I was able to learn about how my great-grandparents tried hard to have a good relationship with my mom despite the language barrier, along with how they met. Towards the end, I shifted the topic towards what it was like for my mom growing up, as a dual citizen, which she responded to by talking about the hatred kids gave her for being German and having a mother with a thick accent. I felt I was able to relate to this part, as I also had grown up experiencing cruelty from my peers for having a German parent.

Historical Analysis: The timeframe of my family's story is from the start of World War II until the 21st century in Germany. The main locations where the story occurs are Berlin and Frankfurt. After the end of World War II, Berlin was separated into four different zones that were occupied by France, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. These four zones would quickly become West Germany and East Germany. The East was controlled by the Soviets, and the West was controlled by the other three countries. Up until 1961, the border between the two was open, and due to poor conditions on the East side, many Germans would flee to the West. On August 13th, 1961, soldiers in East Germany began to seal off the border between the two, using barbed wire that would eventually become a concrete wall. Anyone caught trying to cross this border was ordered to be shot. The wall would "fall" on November 9th, 1989, though it wouldn't be fully torn down until a year later; the borders were finally opened up between the two on that date. The context of the history of the Berlin Wall helps to be able to understand how my great-great-grandma and my great-grandparents were separated. It also helps to tell the story of how my great-grandparents were able to escape to West Germany. 

History of the Berlin Wall: A Complete Guide (1961-1989).” Berlin Wall Map, 8 June 2026, berlinwallmap.info/history-of-the-berlin-wall-complete-guide-1961-1989.

Textual Analysis: The text I chose was a portion of text messages between my mom and me from months earlier. My mom had randomly asked me if I wanted to see a picture of the heirloom she had just gotten cleaned. Afterwards, she went on to tell me the same story about the ring she had told me many times prior. I had grown up being told that the ring would be mine someday because I am the firstborn daughter on her side. Lexi is a half-sister from a previous relationship of my dad's that we found out about a few years ago, and Shane is my brother. After learning about Lexi's existence, I feared that I would no longer be the one getting the ring someday. The communication style is informal, with most of the conversation coming from my mom. There are many grammatical errors in the conversation. At the time of the message, I was working on a homework assignment and was annoyed by a mixture of her interrupting my homework and her telling the same ring story. My mom was likely missing me when she sent the message, since it was my first year of college and I am her youngest child.  

Oral History Interview Assignment