jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

This has been different from town to town. For smaller Communities I’ve heard things that don’t apply in
Frankfurt. Here Judaism has a long, strong tradition and is well connected in the city. This tradition is being
continued now; there are also very good personal relationships on the political level. That’s not unimportant.
But that’s not the case everywhere in Germany, I would say. I think that the politicians in general are
prepared to listen, and that the Jewish institutions are not the last to receive funding. If the communication
always works as well as it does in Frankfurt, I’m not sure. I think the smaller the Community, the larger the
distance. Probably the German provinces are different and more difficult.
● What is your general feeling concerning the attitudes from the non-Jewish population?
There’s often a mixture that’s atypical for other countries. There is a constant interest here [in Jewish issues,
O.G.] but you also often see the feelings of guilt and that can also be traumatic to experience. Then many are
somewhat inhibited regarding Judaism. There’s no free discussion. There are no possibilities, there’s no place
to talk about things. The topic remains traumatic. That’s what it’s like in Germany.
● Relating to the Holocaust?
Remembrance, guilt feelings, having Nazis in the family and so on.
● What is your impression about non-Jewish mainstream media reporting on Jewish developments in
Germany on the one hand, and on Israel on the other?
Concerning Jewish developments in Germany, I think it’s mainly emphasized within the framework of this
discourse of success: “Look here! A revival in Jewish life! A new synagogue! A new Community center” and
so on. On the other hand, there’s a strong feeling of missing traditional German Jewish life. If you’re from a
more conservative press then you’ll often see that German Jewish gaps are presented.
● You mean looking for the Einsteins and Bubers?
Sort of. You also see how large this gap is for the editors. They’re looking for it, searching passionately to
find traces of Jewish life. Of course you don’t find it with the immigrants. This is a certain discrepancy.
There are also reports, critical reports, for example in the taz [leftist liberal daily O.G.] where they like
reporting on problems in the Communities, and in the Berlin Community in particular. They often describe
their conflicts. It was often interesting to see that people from the Community also spoke freely in these
conflict-focused reports. On the other hand, you can feel some uncertainty of the media how to handle topics
of Jewish religion and tradition. And here, at this point, I would like to see that some inhibitions would be
shed. But the press isn’t necessarily free in their reporting. These are the questions that they are posing, this
lack of freedom comes from within. No one is forcing them to do so, just, how do I talk about Judaism?
● And the reporting about Israel and the Middle East conflict?
I would say it’s varies widely. Six or seven years ago the media was significantly more anti-Israel than today.
I think that there’s been a lot of progress. This is also due to the political tendencies; it’s related to the
government. However, I think the press is relatively free and can write what they want at the end of the day.
They just have their newspaper politics. I think it’s ok. I’d say during the last conflicts and wars, the last
conflicts in Israel or generally about Israel I experienced the reporting to be much more objective. Not
necessarily Israel-friendly, but more objective. I think there was a time, it was the beginning of my
experience with German TV, and I didn’t see Israel at all – except the effects of terror attacks and then you
also saw the suffering of the Palestinians and then you didn’t really see the country.
● That was in ’97-’98?
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