craig writes:
It is easy to forget that obvious allusions for a boy in Hibbing just
after the second world war may not be so obvious to a 19 year old fan
more than half a century after that war.
German soldiers from both World Wars had the phrase:
Gott mit uns!
written on their belt buckles. It was commonly translated as "With God
on our side!" or "God is on our side".
The common German phrase is: Gott sei mit uns! "May God be with us"
but the belt buckles were too small to fit this version of the phrase
stylishly on their belt buckles.
So it is not an especially Nazi thing, but to Bob Dylan it would be
one of the powerful symbols of Nazi Germany which he would want to
reflect significantly in his work. To be Jewish in a quiet mid-western
town during and just after the war must entail some very eerie and
powerful feelings. Living in a country where Jewish entertainers
routinely Americanize their names. Ethel Merman indeed!
Very very significant things, his name, when he was born, where he was
brought up.
