Michael Brenner (editor)

In the opening chapter Zwischenstation (Intermediary Stage), Jewish life in the four zones of occupation between 1945 and 1949 is presented, illustrated by examples. (…) The first 140 pages of this outstanding chronology are correspondingly informative, clearly showing the difficult situation of the liberal, orthodox and Zionist Jews who were seeking a new home. The New-York based World Jewish Congress had also warned against settling “on Germany’s blood-soaked soil”. (…) The second chapter deals with the more than 20,000 Jews who decided to settle in Germany. Headed Konsolidierung (Consolidation), it covers the period from 1950 to 1967 (…)
It was the political turnaround in 1989/1990, however, that posed the greatest challenge to Jews in the Federal Republic of Germany. This was not because of their encounter with the few East German members of the Jewish community, but on account of the arrival of some 200,000 so-called “quota refugees” from the former Soviet states of the CIS. This Russian-Jewish immigration led to religious controversies and social conflicts. Most of the new arrivals have now settled in, however, and are not in a ‘waiting room’. Thus, what Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said back in 2006 seems to apply to them as well: “The suitcases have now been unpacked, the Jews have arrived in Germany.”

Werner Hornung: “Der Rest der Geretteten”
© Süddeutsche Zeitung, 26 February 2013