The document provides an overview of recent political events and issues in Germany: - Election results in France and the German state of Schleswig-Holstein complicate Chancellor Merkel's political situation as the new French president favors more stimulus spending. - A Salafist Muslim group distributing free Korans in Germany is causing controversy due to the group's radical interpretation of Islam and alleged threats against journalists. Politicians are concerned about the group's influence. - Many Israelis and some American Jews are claiming German citizenship through laws granting citizenship to descendants of Jews who fled Nazi Germany. Some see Germany as a safe place for Jews today. - The Pirate Party has become the third largest political force in Germany

1. AN AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION
NEWSLETTER
10 Voorhis Point, South Nyack, NY (845)353-1945
dubowdigest@optonline.net
AMERICAN EDITION
May 8, 2012
Dear Friends:
I waited to put this edition “to bed” until the AJC annual meeting (now called the
Global Forum) finished. It was quite an event with 1300 people signed up to attend
and quite a few more on hand as visitors.
Germany got star billing. Two of its leading government officials, Interior Minister
Hans Peter Friedrich and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle gave important
addresses.
The Westerwelle speech was particularly noteworthy because he clearly laid out
Germany’s position on the Middle East. He said, “It is on the firm foundation of
remembrance and shared ideals that Germany maintains its unique relationship with
the State of Israel.
The roots of our relationship lie in the past: Together with Israel we are committed to
preserving the memory of the Holocaust for future generations and to countering
anti-Semitism across the globe.
Our relationship is forward looking. Germany and Israel are partners and friends.
We are partners and friends because Israel is a vibrant democracy. To this day,
Israel is the only full-fledged democracy in the region. I am proud that today
German-Israeli ties are closer and stronger than ever.
We want to see Israel as a respected neighbor in a Middle East that is finally at
peace.
And yet the Iranian regime continues to threaten Israel with annihilation. I want you
to know that we will continue to stand by Israel's side. We will not remain silent when
Israel is threatened or its legitimacy called into question. We will stand up whenever
1

2. Israel is unfairly singled out in multilateral fora. And we will denounce any incitement
against the State of Israel and its right to exist.
The current Iranian nuclear program represents an enormous danger. We do not
deny or question Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Every claim to
the contrary by the Iranian regime is nothing but propaganda. But we cannot and will
not accept an Iranian nuclear weapon. It would represent not only a threat to Israel
but to the region as a whole. And it would undermine the global non- proliferation
regime, a cornerstone of global security. That is why we are investing tremendous
efforts into resolving this challenge. Our aim is simple: We need substantive and
verifiable guarantees that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapon.
That is about as clear as it gets. I don’t think anyone could ask for more.
Let’s get on with the news…
IN THIS EDITION
THE ELECTIONS – France and Schleswig-Holstein went to the polls. Neither one
came out very well for Chancellor Merkel. Thus far, no one can figure out what
happened in Greece.
THE GREAT KORAN GIVEAWAY – Giving away religious literature is one thing. If it
comes with a political message it’s something else.
GERMAN CITIZENSHIP – FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR DESCENDANTS – It’s a
hot ticket. 67 years ago no one would have believed it.
A PIRATE UPDATE: CAUSE FOR CONCERN? – Even if a few Pirates give up their
cutlasses for neo-Nazi politics that’s a problem.
GRASS FIRE: STILL BURNING – How could a Nobel Prize winner be so stupid? It
took 84 years and more than 60 of them as a hidden Waffen SS member to get
where he got.
MEIN KAMPF: IT’S BACK! – To book stores and schools across Germany.
NEO-NAZIS MOVE WEST – Western Germany catches Nazi bug which was only
known in the East.
ISRAELIS & GERMANS: A NEW RELATIONSHIP? – They love Berlin.
THE ELECTIONS
This past Sunday two elections, one in France, the other in the small German state
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3. of Schleswig-Holstein, had a direct effect on the national German political scene.
By this time you have already read or heard that France will have a new Socialist
president, Francois Hollande. President Hollande and German Chancellor Merkel do
not come out of the same orientation. Merkel is a genuine conservative who has
stressed austerity in order for nations in Europe to save themselves from crushing
debt and the financial disasters that the worldwide recession has brought about.
On the other hand, according to AP, "Hollande inherits an economy that's a driver of
the European Union but is deep in debt. He wants more government stimulus, and
more government spending in general, despite concerns in the markets that France
needs to urgently trim its huge debt.
The two leaders will have to learn to get along with each other in order to prevent an
even worse financial disaster. We'll have to wait and see how it goes.
The Schleswig-Holstein election is more complicated. From what I can see each of
the two largest political parties won a little and lost a little. It appears that the CDU,
the Chancellor's party came out with the largest vote and, indeed, their natural
partner the business oriented FDP got enough of a vote to stay in the state
parliament. However, they did not get enough to continue the coalition they formed
to rule since the last election so that coalition has ended. Kaput!
The SPD, the other large party (socialist) came in second to the CDU but the final
result was very close. They have more of a possibility of forming a coalition with the
Greens who did well but not well enough to nail down enough parliament seats to
make a two party coalition. They might be able to entice a small local party, the
South Schleswig Party to join them and that would be enough for a majority. If that
doesn't work there is the possibility of a "Grand Coalition" between the CDU and the
SPD. However, at the moment there needs to be a lot of horse trading on jobs and
policy so we'll have to wait to see how it all shakes out.
Interestingly, the Pirate Party, about whom I have written much, got enough votes to
be in the parliament. However, I have not read that any of the large parties want
them in a coalition. Maybe they are where I am in trying to understand the Pirates --
a state of confusion -- and do not want to chance getting too close to them.
However, this is the third state parliament in which they have won seats and, as they
say on Broadway, "That ain't chopped liver!".
After all is said and done, the result was not a good one for the CDU and the
Chancellor. She loses more power in the upper house of the parliament, the
Bundesrat which is made up of representatives from the states. However, we're still
16 or 17 months away from the national election so much can happen before then.
As far as Greece is concerned, the situation is so muddled and confused it’s hard to
figure out the implications for Germany, Israel or the Jews other than the fact that a
nationalist party seems to have gained strength. More on it in the next edition.
3

4. THE GREAT KORAN GIVEAWAY
Spiegel On-Line reported, “Salafist Muslims have been handing out free Korans
across Germany in recent weeks. But the group's radicalism has many politicians
concerned -- as does a recent video posted on You Tube that allegedly threatened
journalists who wrote critical reports on the religious offensive.
At first glance, the project appears relatively harmless. A Muslim group in Germany
has set as its goal the distribution of millions of free Korans, so that the holy book of
Islam finds its place in "every household in Germany, Austria and Switzerland," as
the project website (German language only) states.
For months -- though most noticeably during the recent Easter holidays -- followers
of the Salafist imam Ibrahim Abou Nagie have been handing out copies at
information stands in city centers across Germany. The group, which calls itself "The
True Religion," claims that 300,000 copies have already been distributed.
Increasingly, though, skepticism of the project is mounting among leading politicians
in Germany, not least because of Nagie's own radical interpretation of Islam. Indeed,
last autumn Nagie was indicted for public incitement to commit criminal offenses and
for disturbing the religious peace.
…the Ulm-based publishing house Ebner & Spiegel (which is not connected to
SPIEGEL magazine), which is printing the Korans being handed out across the
country, has suspended deliveries and is now examining possibilities for backing out
of the contract.
The move was a reaction to the growing political debate in Germany focused on the
Koran distributions. Although the Salafist info-stands have been making
appearances in pedestrian zones of German towns for months, it is only now that
politicians of all stripes have begun addressing Nagie's mission.
In particular, as many make clear, it is the Salafist movement itself that most find
objectionable. Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV),
the country's domestic intelligence agency, estimates that there are between 3,000
and 5,000 Salafists in Germany. The Berlin office of the BfV warns that the Salafist
ideology is almost identical to that of the al-Qaida terrorist network. More
concerning, the group has a growing number of followers in Germany. Furthermore,
Arid U., the man who was sentenced to life in prison in February for shooting to
death two American servicemen at Frankfurt Airport in 2011, reportedly had ties to
Salafism.
I’m a little bit on the horns of a dilemma about this matter. Of course, my liberal
American point of view is telling me that the distribution of religious books such as
the Koran should be allowable in any democracy. If Orthodox Jews handed out
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5. Jewish bibles would that be treated in the same way?
Of course, if the distribution is accompanied by a message about terrorism or is in
some way connected to al-Qaida that is a very different matter. The article does
make clear what sort of proof the BfV has about such a connection. Being a Salafist
may be one thing, giving out Korans with a political message accompanying them is,
in my opinion, something different.
I am not a Salafi nor when I started writing this, did I really know what one was. I
found out and you can too by clicking here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi
In addition (You learn stuff when you read DD), if Jews handed out a Torah in book
form rather than a scroll, it is called a “Chumash”. My research turned up the fact
that in California there is a Native American tribe called the Chumash People. I
don’t think that they played a role in the writing of the Pentateuch but, if they did,
they did a pretty good job a few thousand years ago.
The New York Times also published a piece on the Koran subject. Click here to read
it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/world/europe/germany-koran-giveaway-worries-
officials.html?_r=2&hp
GERMAN CITIZENSHIP – FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR DESCENDANTS
In an article I wrote last year I mentioned the fact that more American Jews, if they
were related to a Holocaust survivor, could apply for German citizenship. It appears
that American Jews are not the only ones.
Don Snyder writing in World News on MSNBC reported, “Tens of thousands of Jews
are choosing to become German citizens. Unreal? It’s happening. A study at Tel
Aviv’s Bar Ilan University study found 100,000 Israelis have German passports.
During the Nazi era, the 1935 Nuremberg racial laws stripped Jews of German
citizenship. But since May 1949, German law gives Jews who fled Nazi Germany
the right to German citizenship, including all their descendants. “This is the largest
group of German passport holders in the world outside Germany,” said Emmanuel
Nachshon, Deputy Ambassador at the Israeli embassy in Berlin.
There are an estimated 15,000 Israelis in Berlin, drawn there to work, study and
enjoy Berlin’s intellectual life and cheap rents. “It’s the single most interesting and
dynamic city certainly in Europe and perhaps in the world,” said Nachshon.
Maya Nathan agrees. The 33-year-old Israeli student with a German passport said “I
fell in love with Berlin, its freedom, its great space.”
5

6. Nathan is not uncomfortable about living in the country responsible for the
Holocaust. “Our family was never anti-German,” she said, adding that she knows
Israelis who won’t come to Germany.
Nathan, who has been in Germany for two and a half years, is getting a
neuropsychology degree at the University of Magdeburg. She plans to remain in
Germany.
Nadav Gablinger, 39, is a tour guide who has lived in Berlin for 11 years. An Israeli
with German citizenship, he and his Israeli wife have two children in German
schools.
Noting that Holocaust history is everywhere in Berlin, Gablinger says that present-
day Germany is a very safe place for Jews.
“Today I can say as a Jew, Germany is the safest place in the world,” he says,
“Safer than in Israel.”
Nachshon speculated that many Israelis hold second passports in case things go
wrong in Israel.
Increasing numbers of American Jews are also seeking German citizenship.
According to German government figures, 3,663 Americans, mostly Jews, acquired
German citizenship between 2003 and 2010.
German citizenship allows American Jews not only to live and work in Europe, but
also access to a free university education. So it could be that some seek German
citizenship so they can live and work elsewhere in Europe.
“Berlin is becoming one of the most exciting capital cities in Europe, and it exerts a
pull,” said Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee in Berlin.
“Many of the new Jewish citizens say they have some history in Germany and they
want to discover it.”
What more is there to say? Nothing! The facts are the facts. Germany is open to
Jews as is no other country in Europe. Some Jews are put off by the immigration
and citizenship. Their minds probably cannot (or will not) change. On the other hand,
there is a genuine opportunity for the growth of a strong Jewish community in central
Europe and it should not be forgotten that Germany is Israel’s best friend on the
continent.
Let’s see how it develops.
A PIRATE UPDATE: CAUSE FOR CONCERN?
6

7. I must admit that I still cannot figure out what the newly minted Pirate Party stands
for and I’m not the only one. Even those involved in the party are not clear. One
thing is for sure and that is, for reasons hard to understand, its popularity is growing
by leaps and bounds. However, a party with growing popularity but without a real
platform seems to me to be right for the picking if infiltrated by a few hardened
political operatives with a definite point of view. My internal telegraph machine is
tapping out a message telling me, “Start worrying! Further information to follow”.
The Local.de reported, “Germany’s nascent Pirate Party has overtaken the Greens
to become the nation's third strongest political force, according to a survey published
on Tuesday. (Apr. 3)
The new figures put the Pirates at 13 percent of the vote, pulling ahead of the
Greens’ 11 percent.
The survey, conducted by polling firm Forsa for the RTL broadcaster and Stern
magazine suggested the struggling Free Democratic Party (FDP) could pull itself
over the five percent hurdle needed to enter Parliament.
The Pirates unexpectedly got 7.4 percent of the vote in the Saarland state election
on March 25, and are expecting to clear the five percent parliamentary entry hurdle
in the important North Rhine-Westphalia election in May.
“I’m hoping for 6.5 percent,” the vice chairman of the party, Bernd Schlömer, told the
WAZ media group, referring to the May 13 vote.
But he appeared nonchalant about potential failure, adding “it’s not tragic” if the
pirates do not make it into the state parliament in that region – or in Schleswig
Holstein, where voters go to the polls on May 6.
Meanwhile the party is showing signs that it is affected by internal strife just like any
other political group.
A number of party members complained that the party was sexist and racist in an
open letter published on Sunday evening in Die Welt Online.
The letter said a woman was described as being “too pretty” to be taken seriously.
Another noted that in a Twitter discussion participants were told that it is okay to be
“critical of foreigners.”
Aleks Lessmann, a spokesperson, said Monday that every party had a certain
percentage of idiots, but it was important that such opinions were not shared by the
majority.
“In contrast to the established parties we offer every basic member an equal forum.”
Due to this openness, such discriminatory opinions “are more recognizable,” he
7

8. said.
Lessmann said the people who run the national Pirate Party did not want to control
what individual party members said. But he added, “The Pirate Party of Germany is
clearly and unequivocally for equal rights, integration and a cultural getting along.”
O.K. that sounds pretty good. However, there were a couple ugly incidents recently.
Y-Net News reported, “A senior member of Germany's Pirates party caused uproar
when he compared its meteoric rise to that of Adolf Hitler before 1933.
The party ranks third in opinion polls and expected to enter parliament next year.
"The ascent of the Pirate Party is proceeding as swiftly as the NSDAP (National
Socialist German Workers' Party, or Nazis) between 1928 and 1933," Martin Delius
told the weekly news magazine Spiegel.
Delius, 29, a former software designer, later apologized for his remark and withdrew
from an election for the Pirates' executive board, but resisted calls to quit his post in
the Berlin city assembly. The Pirates, whose platform is based on internet freedom
and more direct participation in politics, won seats in the city government of the
capital last September.
The party is suspected by police of having links to a small far-right cell that carried
out a decade-long murder campaign against immigrants. The cell was exposed late
last year.
Moreover, the Pirates party suffered the embarrassment of having two members
exposed as former members of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). The
two members resigned late last year, but the Pirate's federal chairman Sebastian
Nerz said there were "almost certainly a few more Pirates who used to be NPD."
A Pirates party activist recently posted a video on YouTube in which he criticized
Poland because the Poles had ordered a general mobilization.
Apart from its far-right tendencies, the party has also been accused by other parties
of misogyny due to the lack of women members, as well as being devoid of political
content. In response to Delius' remarks, Nertz told the Bild, "Everyone should think
properly about what he says, about the historical analogies he draws and what
effect they may have."
But a commentary published by the Bild said parties without an understanding of
history had no place in parliament.
Other German parties, which viewed the Pirates' ascent with great concern, jumped
at the opportunity to discredit it. Claudia Roth, leader of the Greens, who have
suffered particularly from the Pirates' success, called the remarks an "outrageous
8

9. transgression" that could not be excused by the party's lack of experience.
So there you have it. The Pirates, with the kind of funny name, might turn out to be
not so funny after all. At best, they are some sort of a fringe grouping but an
important one. As to whether they are right or left – or nothing - remains up in the air.
However, there is no question that they are a force and are picking up steam – and
followers as they go along.
If you are interested, Spiegel On-Line published a five part article on the Pirates.
You can link to it by clicking here.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,829451,00.html
No matter what, they bear watching and we will do just that.
GRASS FIRE: STILL BURNING
The flap over Günter Grass’ poem which was so critical of Israel, calling it a threat to
world peace and Iran, has died down somewhat but it certainly has not ended.
According to Haaretz, “Grass, 84, most famous for his 1959 novel "The Tin Drum,"
denies he is anti-Semitic. He has urged his countrymen for decades to come to
terms with their Nazi past, but his moral authority has never fully recovered from his
admission in 2006 that he once served in Adolf Hitler's Waffen SS.
After the outcry over his poem, entitled "What must be said," Grass said that in
retrospect he would have phrased his criticism of Israel differently to make clear he
was "primarily talking about the [Netanyahu] government".
Grass has said the Nazi past is not an excuse for Germans to refrain from criticizing
present Israeli policies - a view endorsed by three quarters of Germans in Sunday's
poll who said Israel should be subject to criticism just as any other nation.
Nearly one in two Germans believe Iran poses a bigger threat to world peace than
Israel, according to a poll on Sunday, disagreeing with renowned German author
Gunter Grass whose criticism of the Jewish state triggered an international outcry.
Grass's words were also denounced by mainstream political parties in Germany,
where any strong condemnation of Israel is taboo because of the Nazi-perpetrated
Holocaust.
The poll, published in Die Welt am Sonntag newspaper along with a lengthy
interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, showed 48 percent of Germans
thought Iran posed the biggest threat to peace while 18 percent said Israel was.
A further 22 percent said Iran and Israel were an equal threat to world peace. The
rest of those taking part in the Infratest/DIMAP survey expressed no opinion.
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10. More than half of all those surveyed said they believed Iran's nuclear program posed
a threat to Israel.
There are many more columns and opinions on the subject but I think you get the
drift. Grass certainly has some (I’ll be kind) un-dealt with problems about Israel and
probably Jews as well. The German people, to a large degree, do not agree with
him.
While people’s opinions do change over the years, Grass’ volunteering for the
Waffen SS and then hiding the fact for more than 60 years indicate some unresolved
questions in his own mind. It is somehow tragic that this cultural icon (and he is a
great writer) winds up his life (He is 84) which such devastating black marks on his
record. Grass like football coach Joe Paterno at Penn State, will always have a
paragraph added to his biography that diminishes and tarnishes all the positive
things that he did in his career. Sad!
MEIN KAMPF: IT’S BACK!
Some months ago a British publisher wanted to bring out a new version of Mein
Kampf (I don’t think I have to tell you what that is.). It ran into legal problems
because the publishing rights belong to the State of Bavaria. Spiegel On-Line now
reports, “The copyright on Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" expires in 2015, after which
anyone will be free to republish the infamous tome. Amid fears that neo-Nazis could
exploit the text's new availability, the Bavarian government, which holds the
copyright, is planning to bring out its own annotated version. An English version and
an audio book are also planned.
Bavaria has announced it will take its own steps to limit the damage the book might
cause. Bavarian science minister Wolfgang Heubisch announced on Monday that
the state would publish an annotated version of the book. By including
commentaries on the text debunking Hitler's arguments, the state government hopes
that readers will not be seduced by the Nazi leader's propaganda.|
The state is also planning a version for schools, with notes that are easy for young
people to understand. "The expiration of the copyright in three years' time could lead
to more young people reading 'Mein Kampf'," Bavarian Finance Minister Markus
Söder said on Tuesday, announcing the decision to publish a school version. Hitler's
book still had something "mystical" attached to it, he said, explaining its attraction to
young people. The notes on the text would outline "the global catastrophe that this
dangerous way of thinking led to," Söder said.
In 1945, the copyright fell into the hands of the Bavaria government when the state
took over the rights of the main Nazi party publishing house Eher-Verlag as part of
the Allies' de-Nazification program. Out of fears that the book could promote neo-
10

11. Nazis, the Bavarian Finance Ministry, which controls the copyright, has not allowed
"Mein Kampf" to be published in Germany since then, although the book is not
officially banned. Several foreign language editions have appeared in the meantime.
There is considerable interest in what will happen when the copyright expires in
2015, some 70 years after Hitler's death. In 2010, historians from the Munich
Institute of Contemporary History announced they were already working on an
annotated version which they hoped to publish when the copyright expired, or even
before.
You might say, “What’s the big fuss? Mein Kampf is available all over the world.”
That’s true. However, when a German edition aimed at students is available, even
though it is annotated, there should be, at least, a little concern. It seems to me that
the Bavarian authorities are doing the right thing by being pro-active. It’s better to
have an annotated edition than one that is not. Of course, as in all school taught
subject matter it is the quality of the teaching that is of the greatest importance. I
imagine that school administrators all over Germany will have to do a lot of teacher
training to make sure that what goes on in the classroom has the proper affect. I
assume we’ll be hearing a lot more on this matter as the Bavarians start their
project. I’ll keep you informed.
NEO-NAZIS MOVE WEST
The neo-Nazis in Germany have mostly been a problem for the German eastern
states which formally made up East Germany (DDR). A disturbing article in
Deutsche Welle indicates that problem has begun to move west into Bavaria and
other states that formally made up West Germany. It is a troubling development.
While the neo-Nazi movement and its outward political face, the NPD Party, still
remain small - well, you know about little acorns. Excerpts from the DW story follow.
Since reunification, the prevailing view has been that right-wing extremism is mainly
restricted to eastern Germany. But now the number of neo-Nazi offenses is soaring
in the west. A new trend? DW takes a look.
Herbert Fuehr, an editor with the "Nürnberger Nachrichten" newspaper, says there
were over 50 attacks on people and property from November 2011 until April 2012.
Fuehr reports critically on right-wing extremist terror which has led to his picture
being published on neo-Nazi websites and him being denounced as a troublemaker.
It's dangerous to be singled out by the neo-Nazi scene, Fuehr says, adding that he
hopes the perpetrators will refrain from publishing his personal address on the
Internet.
These incidents are not just restricted to Bavaria. "It's getting worse, more brutal and
increasingly public," says Michael Helmstedt of the alliance against right-wing
11

12. extremism, adding that similar attacks have taken place in other parts of western
Germany.
Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution puts the number of
right-wing extremist offenses at several hundred in the area of Nuremberg alone.
Many of the perpetrators aren't even trying to keep a low profile. Michael Helmbrecht
and his family were harassed for three days by 250 neo-Nazis who had taken up
position on a lawn they had deliberately rented close to his house. The family
received comprehensive police protection, and friends moved in with them in a show
of solidarity.
Experts say right-wing extremism in western Germany is taking on increasingly
eastern German patterns: Migrants and people actively fighting right-wing extremism
are spied on and targeted. Some families have seen their cars torched several
times, says Günter Pierzig, spokesperson of the north Bavarian federation against
right wing extremism.
The fear of attacks is mounting, for instance in Weißenburg in Bavaria, where a
growing number of neo-Nazis are moving to from larger cities.
The perpetrators are seldom found. Many citizens turn a blind eye to the neo-Nazi
attacks because they are afraid to end up on the target list themselves. Although the
police are trying hard to pinpoint the perpetrators, many victims feel left in the lurch
by the state.
I am sure that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (sort of like our
FBI) is following this development closely. However, with economic problems and
fewer jobs (even in Germany) the situation might get worse. Not a happy thought.
We’ll follow it and keep you advised.
ISRAELIS & GERMANS: A NEW RELATIONSHIP?
We have heard and read a lot over the years about the “formal’ relationship(s)
between Israel and Germany. Reparations, the purchase of submarines, joint
cabinet meetings, etc. The list goes on and on. However, we rarely hear about the
personal kinds of relationships. How do these people with very different histories
deal with each other on a person to person basis? Whatever it has been it seems to
be changing.
De Spiegel recently published an article entitled, “Young Israel’s New Love Affair
with Israel”. It notes, “Something has changed about the way Israelis and Germans
interact, far removed from the endless German debates in which old men wrestle
with their ghosts and politicians struggle to perform the mandatory rituals: the
obligatory visit to Yad Vashem here, the obligatory visit to Dachau there. For quite
12

13. some time now, there's been a new Israeli-German reality beyond the routine of
shock and dismay -- primarily in Israel.
Nearly 70 years after the Holocaust, the last survivors are passing away, and this is
changing how younger Israelis view Germany. Relatively free of historical taboos,
they are redefining what this country means to them. This new generation no longer
finds it odd that a company like Birkenstock promotes its products in Israel with
"Made in Germany," and a short trip to Berlin is the most normal thing in the world.
For them, Germany is not just a country like any other -- it also happens to be one of
their favorites.
It mainly has to do with a feeling, a new Israeli self-assurance vis-à-vis Germany,
one characterized by curiosity and a yearning for discovery. Young Israelis no
longer insist on constant remembrance but, rather, on the right to be allowed to
forget sometimes.
The sheer scale of this transition is perhaps best expressed in figures: Two years
ago, one-quarter of all Israelis were rooting for Germany to win the soccer World
Cup. In a survey conducted in 2009, 80 percent of all respondents qualified Israeli-
German relations as normal, and 55 percent said that anti-Semitism was no worse
in Germany than elsewhere in Europe.
Some 100,000 Israelis now hold German passports, and 15,000 are thought to be
living in Berlin. The number of direct flights between the countries increases every
year, yet the aircraft are nearly always fully booked. In the large cities, it's almost
impossible to find a young Israeli who hasn't been to Germany or doesn't want to go
there. They are especially drawn to Berlin. The city from which the Final Solution
was once managed now lures Israelis with its cheap rents and the promise of life in
an exciting city that never sleeps.
But Berlin is more than just the latest New York. It's a stage on which they can role
play and explore their senses of belonging and identity -- a kind of what-if game:
What if I had been born in Germany? Who would I be? What would my life be like
today?
It goes without saying that this new relationship is not without its problems. Not
everything is rosy, of course, and not all is forgiven and forgotten. There are still 17-
year-olds with German roots who shudder with shame when the Holocaust is
covered in school. There are others who swear they'll never set foot in Germany.
Remembering the Holocaust is the guiding principle of their lives, said 98 percent of
Jewish Israelis in a recent survey. And when the Israel Chamber Orchestra played a
piece by Richard Wagner last year at the festival in Bayreuth devoted to the German
composer, it sparked an uproar back in Israel. But it can actually be seen as a sign
of change -- and not so much a sign of persistence: A symbolic act of resistance
from the older generation, which is ill at ease with the relaxed attitude of today's
youth.
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14. There is much more to the article which can be accessed by clicking here.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,828302-2,00.html There is little doubt
that as the Holocaust passes into the background and Holocaust survivors pass on,
the feelings and thoughts of younger people are just not charged with the same
anger, hostility, and feelings of horror that older people have internalized. In addition,
Israel, unlike the U.S. is almost a European country. Israeli youngsters do not feel as
removed as do young American Jews arriving in Germany.
Time marches on and so do the feelings of the new generations.
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