The Latest at Goethe

He was the Israeli ambassador in Bonn from 1993 until 1999, but Avi Primor still remains a key figure in the dialogue between Israel and Germany today. We spoke with him about the horrors of the past, the daring questions of the ’68 generation and taking a German course under an assumed name.

Mr Primor, when did you first hear of the Goethe-Institut?

Primor: I remember that there was discussion in Israel in the 1960s about whether a Goethe-Institut in Israel was acceptable. But I didn’t really follow it because back then I was among the extremists who wanted no contacts with Germany whatsoever, neither political nor cultural.

You changed your attitude.

Obviously, otherwise I would not have become ambassador to Germany. I changed my opinion gradually. Not only I did; I speak of my generation. We totally rejected Germany, not only because of the Nazi past. What bothered us the most back then was that we always heard that Germans had concealed, repressed, denied their past. That gradually changed. We were especially impressed by the ’68 generation because they demanded that their parents and teachers finally tell the truth about what they had done in the Nazi era. Then, German-Israeli relations evolved thanks to the Reparations Agreement, which was partly a German initiative. We were also very impressed with Germany’s European policy. We ultimately grasped that Germany was striving for a European Germany and not a German Europe.

And when a Goethe-Institut was opened in Israel then were you able to observe how it was received?

The opinions were divided. The Goethe-Institut and also the German Embassy in Israel went to great efforts to develop the cultural relations. High-ranking people from the German arts could not be rejected, which gradually led to the breakthrough.

You were the first Israeli ambassador in Germany whose native language was not German.

Although German is my mother’s language, it is not my mother tongue. My mother came from Germany, but she didn’t speak German with my siblings and me because she couldn’t speak German with my father. Even so, I heard the sound of language often because my mother set great store in the language and was connected to German-speaking friends. Germany was a blank spot on the map due to her personal history. But she set great store in the language and said, “The language does not belong to the Nazis; it is a culture, it is my culture, my language.”

You were appointed ambassador in 1993. How did that come about?

I began to speak and have contact with German people, to develop contacts, even friendships, when I was ambassador in Brussels. If you have dealings with the European Union, you cannot avoid Germans. This changed my relationship to Germans and Germany. Although intellectually I understood that it is right to collaborate with Germany and become closer to Germans, I was afraid of it.

Before you became ambassador to Germany, you took a language course at the Goethe-Institut in Mannheim.

I couldn’t go to Bonn without being able to speak a minimum of German. There was a place free in Mannheim in a suitable course. The embassy prepared it for me. I practically locked myself in for one month in Mannheim and did almost nothing besides learning German from early in the morning until late at night. The fact that I was the first Israeli ambassador in Bonn who spoke no German, while all of my predecessors were either native-born Germans or Austrians frightened me. To relax a little, I rented a bicycle and rode around Mannheim and the surroundings. Quite freely, with no bodyguards, no protection. Then, on the last day the security guards came to Mannheim to fetch me, and from that moment on the cycling was over.

Did the teachers at the Goethe-Institut know who you were?

No. At first, the embassy told me I would have to have security guards at the Goethe-Institut. I thought it was absurd. How would that look if I took security guards into the classroom with me? It already looked odd because I was by far the oldest student. The others were mostly university students; they could almost have been my grandchildren. Finally, I was able to go without security guards because I had not yet handed over my credentials to the German President and was therefore not yet known. But, I attended the German course under an assumed name: Albert Schmidt.

During your lessons at the Goethe-Institut you were given a text by Mark Twain …

Yes, in this article, Mark Twain explains how difficult the German language is, but in a very humorous way. He writes that very gifted people could learn German within 30 years if they tried very hard. Everything was very funny at the Goethe-Institut back then. We didn’t want to only learn the standard language, but also colloquial language and that really embarrassed my teacher, who was very shy. She wouldn’t explain some words at all and said that we should ask friends instead.

Can you remember what the most difficult thing was for you at the beginning?

The course was not only intensive, it was also very efficient. If you really wanted to learn, it was the very best opportunity to do so. The teachers I had were excellent. You could see and feel that they were into it wholeheartedly. In the afternoons I studied in the Mediathek, not just German, but also a lot about Germany, its culture and history. At first I thought that German was even more difficult than they said, devilishly difficult. But that had something to do with my age. The other languages I had learned, I learned while I was young, and you learn much faster then. German has its difficulties, the grammar for example. But German is a logical language, and once you grasp the logic of a language you learn very quickly.

Your son was the first Israeli ambassador’s child to attend a German school.

The very first. The Israeli diplomats sent their children to the American school. But my wife and I wanted to do the work properly in Germany and also integrate ourselves in society. For us, that also meant sending our child to school with German children. In addition, it was an advantage for our son to learn the German language so early. We knew he’d learn English anyway at some point.

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Goethe Dossier and app: German Traces in Israel

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What is the attitude towards the German language in Israel today? Is it true that there is a German boom?

I can confirm that. It’s not just about the German language, but also the German culture. The Goethe-Institut in Israel is very active. They hold a lot of events – on culture, history, literature and films, also for people who do not speak German. When that impresses someone, then they want to learn the language. Most Israelis no longer have any inhibitions with regard to Germany anymore. When I was a child, you couldn’t speak German on the streets. You might be attacked, not physically, but you had to expect some insults. Today there are no more misgivings. We see Germany as a very normal, genuine, parliamentarian, western democracy. It is also a nation with which we have very close ties. Germany has great appeal. You cannot imagine how many tourists from Israel come to Berlin. I founded a Centre of European Studies at my university, which I operate in cooperation with a Palestinian and a Jordanian university. At the end of their studies, the students fly to Düsseldorf together to continue their studies together for one year. They are all given German lessons beforehand in Israel, in Jordan and in Palestine. I made sure of that. Don’t think that the students learn German reluctantly; they have difficulties, but they want to do it. For them, it is a unique opportunity that is very well received.

If your mother were still alive, would all of this make her happy?

After my arrival in Bonn, she lived one year. And she was more than happy when we decided to send our boy first to a German kindergarten and then to the German school. She could never have imagined having a grandchild who spoke German. But if I had become ambassador to Germany before the first time she returned to Germany in 1980, she probably would have cut off ties with me.

Your mother lost all of her family in the Holocaust …

No one was left of her family or friends; no one survived the Holocaust. My mother came to Tel Aviv in 1932 out of pure coincidence. She was not a Zionist and there was not yet a Nazi regime in Germany. She came from a middle class Frankfurt family and toured the Mediterranean region with a youth group. They also visited Tel Aviv where she met my future father by pure chance. She had just turned 18, fell in love and decided to stay. Her parents were outraged about it, frantic. She then cut off ties with her family for good. None of her family survived the Holocaust. When she learned what happened she had a guilty conscience and never wanted to hear about Germany again. Germany no longer existed for her. In our family, we were forbidden to say the word Germany. She was quite fanatical about it for sheer hurt. And then in 1980 this letter arrived from Frankfurt’s Mayor Wallmann. That was a new tradition of the new German cities to invite formerly persecuted people, refugees and survivors to the city as guests of honour. When my mother received this letter, she threw it away and didn’t want to hear about it. But my father urged her to visit Germany. Finally my mother gave in. She agreed to fly to Frankfurt and spend one day. But she wanted to fly back that same evening, as she did not want to spend one night in Germany. Then, they went there and spent not one day in Germany, but two whole weeks. As soon as my mother had contacts with German people the ice was broken. After that she flew every year only to Germany on holiday. That is why she was very pleased and proud when I was appointed ambassador to Germany in 1993.

What is your favourite German word?

Nah, I can’t say it, it’s not nice. But actually it’s a favourite word that I share with most Germans: “Scheisse.”

The interview was conducted by Maren Niemeyer.


This article is from the magazine of the Goethe-Institut. You can find even more exciting reportages, background information and interviews on the subject in the issue Deutsch! (German!).