Ricardo "Dicky" Schoening: Final Thoughts

(Today, when you think about yourself, if someone asked you where you’re from, how would you respond?)

I’m from El Salvador. Very definitely.

(Would you say that your first identity is being Jewish or being from El Salvador?)

Being from El Salvador.

(OK. That’s interesting.)

For me, Judaism is my religion. It’s my religion, very close to it, very close to me, but my roots, for some odd reason—well, my roots are really in Germany, and I feel very close to Germany. All my business contacts today, my import contacts, are all in Germany. I go to Germany twice a year, and at least once a year Betty comes along. Last year she came along twice. And we both feel that—we’ve been going to Germany since God knows when.

(That’s very interesting. Do you feel any resentment?)

None whatsoever--none, absolutely none. I feel so at home in Germany as I do in El Salvador and as I do in Miami, Florida.

(And your colleagues, do they know that you’re Jewish?)

Oh, very much so. I have never hidden my Judaism. As a matter of fact, our partner in business, who is a German and a Catholic and he’s very much a German and very much a Catholic, they came to Sarah’s wedding. Sarah and Juan Ricardo were married under the chuppah by a rabbi. And they were here, and everybody knows I’m Jewish. I have never hidden it.

(That’s very interesting, that you have that relationship to Germany.)

I feel extremely close to Germany. I speak the language. I read the language. I sit down at a restaurant and I read the menu and I know what exactly what I want to order. One of our favorite cities is Berlin, which is of course filled with all kinds of Jewish things, a beautiful—the remnants of a beautiful synagogue, now the Holocaust Memorial, which I recommend to anybody. The Jewish Museum, which is spectacular. Betty and I spent the day there once. I was just at the Holocaust Memorial in June, and I feel very much at home there.

(What would you say to people who maybe are stuck in this place where they can’t forgive Germany? I find it very interesting that you don’t carry any resentment.)

Well, the thing is this: my grandmother on my father’s side, I’ve always said that she was a very learned woman. My grandmother lived in Hamburg in a gorgeous three-story home with a maid and a butler. They owned a car. They had a chauffeur. They took vacations in the most wonderful resorts in Europe. My grandfather had a seat on the Stock Exchange. Two, three nights a week they were at some party where he had to wear a tuxedo and she had to wear a long dress. I mean, there are photographs of my grandfather wearing a top hat and my grandmother all decked out. I still remember some of the jewelry that my aunt got for her daughter. And I was very close to my grandparents. They came to El Salvador right before I was born. They came with nothing. And my parents were not in any condition to really set up a separate home for his parents, so they lived in a very small house in the Colonia Flor Blanca, which was a very nice area of the city and where I would say a lot of foreigners lived. I would say a lot of foreigners. Betty’s parents lived in the Colonia Flor Blanca, and Boris Gabay’s parents lived in Colonia Flor Blanca. My parents lived in Colonia Flor Blanca in a small house, and there was a room over the garage, and that is where my grandparents lived for the first year or so. My father had just bought into the business, so he had nothing to spare. And so I know that my early childhood, my early years were spent with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa went to work with my father, but Grandma stayed home with my mother.

Then they went to their own little place, but we were of course very close, and every weekend and during the week, as we were growing up, every Saturday, once I was in school every Saturday I had lunch with my grandparents. Every Saturday. My grandfather had a stamp collection. He taught me all about stamps. My grandmother taught me certain very simple philosophies of life which have always stayed with me. One of the things that she taught me is, she said to me, “Never look back except to learn from your mistakes.” And with that, she taught me that you could not resent, you should not resent people for having done what they did. But the thing is this: why would a person of my age who did not lose anybody in Germany resent Germans who were not even born at the time of the Hitler movement? I mean, my partner in Germany is a man who just turned fifty-two…why hold a grudge against him for something that happened before he was born.

I have no idea what his political affiliations are. I don’t talk politics or religion. I know that he’s Catholic, and he knows I’m a Jew. When we were in Germany last year in December, on a Saturday afternoon, they lit the Advent candles in their home, and I think it’s wonderful. It’s their tradition. And if they would be here for a Jewish festivity, we would invite them to our table, as we have done with so many other people. And why should I resent this man who wasn’t even born at that time? He was born in the ‘50s. It was over by then. So how can I have a resentment? And I just—you know, I don’t resent anything or anybody. I have no hard feelings towards anybody.

Transcription by Sandy Adler, Adler Enterprises LLC