NASHUA, NH - A German-born city resident who spoke against cutting the school budget got a response from an alderman suggesting it might be time "to go back to das fatherland." Alderman Fred Teeboom began his e-mail to Ludwig Heil "Heil Ludwig," but says he meant no offense.
"It's not Nazi. It's Roman. It was used by Shakespeare. Hail Caesar," Teeboom said yesterday in published reports. Teeboom also said he often begins notes with a salutation of the person's last name followed by the first name.
Education in prized in Germany, and Heil wondered in an April 5 e-mail to the mayor and aldermen if moving his family to Nashua had been a mistake.
It might have been, said Teeboom, a leader in efforts to cut city spending. "Perhaps you moved to the wrong state, time to go back to das fatherland."
Heil, who works in telecommunications, was flabbergasted.
"You can also say you oppose, but don't be offense," he said. "I have neighbors coming to me to apologize for something like that."
Teeboom defended his remarks as "perfectly legitimate German language."
"I can think of a million ethnic slurs. Show me the ethnic slur," he told the paper.
The exchange earlier this month came during a tense budget debate that includes a possible $5 million cut in school spending.
"A lot of the rallying that has gone on has turned into nasty e-mails," said Alderman David Deane, chairman of a budget review committee. He said one person swore at him during a budget meeting.
Heil's e-mail about school spending suggested the city look for "new revenue streams."
"We do not want new revenue streams in New Hampshire," Teeboom responded. "We want less tax burden, less government waste, less special-interest spending."
Teeboom is Jewish, and he and his family lived in the Netherlands when the Nazis invaded in 1940. He lost many relatives in the Holocaust.
"I have no great love for Germans in general," Teeboom said. "I'm afraid Germans facing Jews will have to face that for a long time."