It was a story that riveted Oak Park and River Forest nearly 30 years ago. The mild-mannered, well-respected head custodian at Oak Park and River Forest High School, Reinhold Kulle, was accused of having been a Nazi SS officer. He and his wife faced deportation. The high school community and the broader villages were confronted with a stark moral dilemma: Should the genial Mr. Kulle be fired? What evidence, if any, of his specific complicity with Nazi atrocities was necessary? What is the capacity for redemption, for remaking a life?
This comes to mind as an eighth-grader at St. Giles rises in a history fair contest for her extensive investigation titled, “Into the Janitor’s Closet: The Secrets of Reinhold Kulle.” We write about Drew Johnson’s well-told tale on page one. A generation removed, it seems she feels less moral ambiguity over Kulle’s actions as a young Nazi and his lies on a U.S. visa application that allowed him to come to this country than did many of his friends and acquaintances from the 1980s.
Her youthful prism of historical reference is a compelling story.