My wife, Jane, and I moved to Schöningen, Germany in 1972. At that time we had no idea that this small town was the birth place of her uncle, William Cohen. In fact, it was uncanny that Jane ended up teaching in the same school William graduated from. When we wrote to her aunt that we were in Schöningen, she proceded to tell us about the wonderful times she had walking with her husband "in den Elm", a beautiful forest outside of the town. We had made a few inquiries about her uncle and in a matter of hours the news was all over town that one of the Jewis families had returned to Schöningen. When we applied for our work permits, by German law we were required to self identify a religion, because a portion of our taxes went to the religious institution of our choice. We put down "Jude". There were two people in the office at that time, one in her twenties and the other in his late 50's. He was quite distraught and quickly said please put down "no preference" as he was afraid that once again something would come of being identified as a Jew. The young lady in the office quickly chastised him and said that this was not the Germany of his youth, "We live in a different time." she said. Even twenty five years after the war there was apprehension that anti-semitism could rear its ugly head once again. However, it was clear to see that there was a divide between the older and younger generations. Today, 65+ years later, Schöningen is acknowledging, in a very public and permanent manner, the slaughter of innocent people, citizens of their own town. In the video you can view by clicking on the link below, they are laying "Stolpersteine", commemorative plaques made of brass laid in the sidewalk in front of the house of the Jews who perished. Upon laying the plaques, members of the team said "Es ist sehr bewegend und emotional, sich mit diesen Schicksalen auseinander zu setzen, aber unser Ziel ist es, den ermordeten Schöninger Juden mit der Setzung der Stolpersteine ihren Namen und ihre Würde zurück zu geben." ""It is very moving and emotional dealing with the fates of these people; however, our goal is to give back to the murdered Jews their names and their dignity by laying these commemorative plaques." The video of the laying of the plaques is very emotional for me considering my personal connection and the fact that our house where we lived is actually on the street and can be seen in the video
http://www.mein-schoeningen.de/1695/schoeninger-buerger-opfer-des-holocausts/