Dossier: Jewish Life in Germany

Enlargement

In 1989–1990, Germany and Europe were transformed. These incisive dates also mark the startling growth of Jewish life in Germany which both gratifies and concerns many Jews worldwide.

Infused with large numbers, primarily immigrants from the former Soviet Union, the Jewish population of Germany which was approximately 25,000 as the Wall fell is now estimated modestly at around 100,000 (with thousands more unaffiliated), and has over ninety congregations and many new synagogues. Faced with dwindling numbers and an aging population, the Jewish Community in Germany is the fastest growing world-wide and third largest in Europe after England and France. Berlin has the largest population (12,000) with Frankfurt and Munich following. Of course, the history of Germany’s relationship to its own and to Europe’s Jews that was played out so tragically in the Nazi genocide of the Continent’s Jewish population makes any discussion of a new Jewish life in Germany uniquely complex.

The shadow of the past still darkens a now hopeful future. Any optimistic vision is also marred by internal struggles, even as the German Jewish community recognizes that this immigration has saved it from extinction. The challenge remains, as it does in Germany as a whole: how to integrate immigrants, in this case Russian Jews who often do not fulfill the traditional requirements for “being Jewish” and more importantly, how to find a place for them in the official Jewish Community. With most communities now largely Russian (and some completely so), a new German Jewish identity emerges as a thorny question that remains to be answered.

Jewish Community in Germany

To understand the Jewish community in Germany, it is necessary to recognize that this Community (Gemeinde) is a centrally organized umbrella organization that represents those Jews who are officially registered with the Community. In short, it is the official voice of Jews in Germany. Primarily Orthodox, with some Liberal constituencies, this religiously-defined Community adheres to Jewish laws of belonging (Halakah) that defines a Jew as having a Jewish mother or being converted by an Orthodox rabbi. Many, if not most of the over 120,000 Jews who have come from the former Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic Republics) are not Halakichly Jewish since in the former Soviet Union, being Jewish was considered a nationality registered in their passports and did not require a Jewish mother.

Consequently, while the German government understandably was unwilling to decide who was a Jew, many immigrants after arrival were confronted with questionable criteria for admission to the Jewish Community. In addition, the immigration put a great burden on the Community whose infrastructure was not prepared to manage such numbers. Immigrants needed language instruction, jobs, housing, and moral support. Social welfare services and finances were strained. To these problems came traditional “ethnic” tensions between indigenous German Jews and Eastern European Jews (Ostjuden). Ironically, the former were the smallest part of the Jewish community whose constituents were primarily Eastern European displaced persons (DPs) who found themselves in Germany at the end of the war .

Jewish Identity

In fact, the issue of identity, both religious and ethnic/cultural, remains central as the constantly evolving Jewish Community is being joined by new Jewish organizations such as the World Union of Progressive Judaism (Reform Judaism), Chabad Lubavitch, and other smaller Jewish religious, cultural and political groups. For example, the Jewish Cultural Organization, originating in the former East Berlin (GDR), which in 1989 had a small community itself (approximately 500) continues to be a haven for non-religious or unaffiliated Jews who seek community with other Jews who are not religiously identified. Germany’s strong “special relationship” to Israel and the Jewish Community’s contact with the Jewish homeland remains vibrant. Equally important is the influence of the prominent American organizations such as the American Jewish Committee which just celebrated the tenth anniversary of its Berlin office and the Ronald Lauder Foundation which has established a Lehrhaus (adult school) in Berlin to educate Jewish men about traditions and rituals.

In the future what have been called “Jews in Germany”since the end of the war when only a rump community made up primarily of DPs may, in fact, be replaced by the terminology of new “German Jews,” marking the redefinition of a once large and vibrant community before the war (500,000) that now defines a new Jewish identity. This one is more hybrid since it is created by the mixture of German, Russian, Israeli, American, Canadian and other Jewish identities.

To this more cosmopolitan situation comes the impact of the broadening of the European Union, especially to Eastern Europe, and Europe-wide Jewish organizations, such as the European Council of Jewish Communities, which encourages collaboration among Jewish communities across the entire continent. European Jewish student and youth movements contribute as well to exchange and dialogue among Jewish Europeans whose religious identity often transcend national affiliations. The goal of some is to make the European Jewish community a “third pillar” next to Israel and the United States.

Diversity of jewish Life in Germany

However, Jewish life in Germany is not only about the number of Jews actually living in Germany and their religious affiliations and identities, but also the way that Jews and Jewish issues exist in the awareness and imagination of the population at large and in the public sphere. While some see the great, (and some would say disproportionate) attention paid to Jewish life past and present as only a legacy of guilt, or just a fashionable trend celebrating those who are different, others welcome the wide-ranging and diverse offerings displaying and recounting Jewish achievements and contributions to German culture.

Seen as an integral part of German history, the Jews, as, for example, presented in Berlin’s well-visited Jewish Museum, are not exotic others, but Germans as well as Jews. German Jewish authors of the so-called “second generation,” such as Maxim Biller, Barbara Honigmann, Rafael Seligmann, Esther Dischereit, and journalist/critics, such as Henryk Broder, Micha Brumlik, Michael Wolffsohn present various aspects and perspectives of Jewish life to the public. Now, new writers such as the Russian Jewish immigrant Wladimir Kaminer or Vladimir Vertlib add another dimension to the diversity of Jewish life in Germany. Jewish cinema and cultural festivals, exhibitions, television programs and films round out the picture of a rich Jewish life in the process of being established in Germany today.

Increasingly, Jewish life in Germany is becoming more diverse and complex, just as Germany’s population also becomes heterogeneous due to immigration and asylum. The long standing guestworker Turkish Muslim population is, of course, the most prominent and the focus of increasing attention as the Muslims of Europe (primarily Arabs) draw attention, sometimes violently, to their precarious status among the Europeans. While Germany’s Jews will always have a special position in German history and memory, they may be overshadowed by attention to more immediate concerns with Muslim integration, especially as the Holocaust fades into the past and Muslim identity becomes more compelling for Europe’s self-identity. Consequently, it will be important to find new ways to strengthen the identities of Germany’s Jews.

While the Community has grown, as I have shown, there must be attention to sustain it for the future of both German and Jewish history.