Friday, September 9, 1977 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Consciousness Raising in West Germany:
Young Jews Seeking to Revive Traditions
MR. AND MRS. JOHN ALLEN
wish all their friends and family
a happy, healthy and prosperous
New Year
iivecta
By JON FEDLER
(Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.)
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8236 W. 9 Mile, Oak Park
Grace and Herman Berlin
1
MR. & MRS. IR VING BERLIN
wish all their family and friends
a year of health and Happiness
ET11-11EIL FINNIK
♦
wishes all her relatives and friends
good health and a happy New Year
... ■■■■■4■■■ ***************t
Best wishes to all for a
happy and healthy New Year
VIR. & MRS. ALEXANDER FRANK
THE GOLDIVIANS
Eddie, Wendy and Debbie
wish their family and friends •
a year of good health and happiness
DAVE & LENORE SHAPIRO
AND FAMILY
wish all their relatives and friends
a happy, healthy New Year
MR. & MRS. SAM TUKEL
wish all their family and
friends a year of good health
and happiness
Wishing Everyone
A Happy, Healthy & Prosperous
NEW YEAR
Nettie & Cookie Spoon
AUBREY & LAURA BENESON
AND FAMILY
wish all their family and friends
a year filled with health, happiness
and peace
JOYCE and HANK BOOKE
JAIME, CABIN & KELLY
wish all our friends and family
a year filled of health, peace and prosperity
Dur warmest and sincere wishes to all our friends and
ehatives and their families for a happy, healthy and
rosperous New Year
b
LUBA & JACK
ERMA & HAROLD
BRODE
BONN—West Germany's
30,000 Jewish citizens look
back on the year 5737 with
mixed feelings. For the
first time since the war's
end, there were encour-
aging signs of a revival in
Jewish consciousness
among the community's
youth. However, old resent-
ments were revived by a
continuation of neo-Nazi ac-
tivities, a tidal wave of
films, books and magazines
claiming to portray Hitler
"objectively," and delays
and light sentences in Nazi
murder trials.
One positive phenomenon
was the publication by the
mass-circulation weekly
magazine, "Stern," of a 22-
series report of "Jews in
Germany," starting in
poman times and ending
with a special report on the
"identity crisis" and social
problems of young Jews in
Germany in 1977.
The series gave a vivid
and detailed description of
the centuries-old Jewish
contribution to German cul-
ture, politics and com-
merce as well as the repeat-
ed discrimination and per-
secution against Jews culmi-
nating in the Holocaust.
Since "Stern" also regu-
larly carries articles with a
strong anti-Israel bias (e.g.,
a scantily-documented re-
port in June alleging tor-
ture in Israeli prisons and
persecution of the Arabs in
the occupied territories),
some observers questioned
its motives for publishing
"Jews in Germany." But
the public and Jewish com-
munity response was gener-
ally positive.
The year's most signifi-
can Jewish event was a
four-day youth seminar on
"The Future of Our Commu-
nities," organized in the pic-
turesque old city of Wuerz-
burg in March by the Cen-
tral Council for Jews in Ger-
many, and attended by 90
participants (35 more ap-
plied but could not be ac-
commodated). To under-
stand the gathering's impor-
tance, one has to bear in
mind the peculiarities of
today's Jewish "commu-
nity," which emerged al-
most by accident from the
ruins of the flourishing pre-
war congregations.
Today's community—if
one. can call it that—is also
characterized by the virtual
absence of a generation in
the 30 to 60 year age group.
As the conference speaker
noted, "It consists mainly
of elderly and young
people. The middle part is
missing." This "real" gen-
eration gap results in a spir-
itual generation gap.
"The older members,
whose religion consists
mainly of tradition and emo-
tion, are unable to find a
common language with the
other generation, which
thinks less emotionally and
traditionally and has very
little conscious Judaism.
Having directly expe-
rienced Auschwitz and
Maidanek, they have a dif-
ferent
perception
of
Judaism from a generation
which has only heard of
these things," he added.
The youth seminar spot-
lighted the existence of this
awakening generation,
which sees its future in Ger-
many despite the past, and,
while anxious to avoid creat-
ing new ghettoes, wishes to
carve out a Jewish cultural
infrastructure appropriate
to its own peculiar circum-
stances.
Participants decided to
limit their decisions, but
there was agreement on
such steps as the creation
of a uniform syllabus and
teaching methods for reli-
gious instruction, the need
to set up more religious.
study- groups, and the desir-
ability of more contact at
regional level between
neighboring communities.
The Central Council for
Jews in Germany is encour-
aged by the fact that there
is once again the basis for
an active Jewish in-
telligentsia. There are now
40 Jewish lecturers and pro-
fessors at German univer-
sities, 1,000 German-Jewish
and Israeli students at
these institutions and sever-
al hundred German-Jewish
students currently studying
in Israel, says Alexander
Ginsburg, secretary general
of the Central Council.
Speeding up this process
will ,be the creation —
planned provisionally for
1978—of the country's first
post-war department of Jew-
ish studies at the renowned
Heidelberg University.
Ironically, the revival of
Jewish consciousness is (at
least partly) attributable to
a resurgence of anti-Semi-
tic activity. Hardly a week
passes without swastika
paintings, distribution of
publications glorifying Naz-
ism, or the holding of neo-
Nazi meetings. Opinions
vary on their significance..
A recent government re-
port claimed neo-Nazis
were a small minority
(about 600 people) with no
public support and con-
stituting "no danger to pub-
lic authority." Similarly,
Ginsburg argues that "the
population has a stable rela-
tionship to democracy and
regards living together with
Jews as something nor-
mal."
However, Heinz Galinski,
chairman of the Berlin Jew-
ish community, argues that
extreme groups typically
compensate for their small
numbers by a "very high
degree of activity," and
that neo-Nazism is actually
spreading.
Jewish leaders are also
concerned about increasing
bombing and assassination
attempts by left-wing ex-
tremists, since (a , these
groups often have links to
Arab terrorists and (b)
their activities could mus-
ter public support for ex-
treme right-wing groups
should existing "law and
order" measures appear in-
effective. In May, the maga-
zine, "Spiegel" disclosed
left-wing terrorists' plans to
kill two German Jewish
leaders.
This past year, Jewish
leaders again condemned
light sentences served on
convicted Nazi murderers
and continuing delays in the
Maidenek trial, where 14 ac-
cused are charged with
complicity in the murders
of 250,000, mainly Jewish,
concentration camp in-
mates. Thanks to an educa-
tion system in which his-
tory is either not taught at
all, or ends before the
Third Reich era, the public
remains largely indifferent.
MR. AND MRS. ALAN NATHAN
AND FAMILY
MRS. SYLVIA NATHAN
Birmingham
wish their many friends
and relatives a peaceful
and happy New Year
-
wishes all her friends and
relatives a happy, healthy
New Year
HELEN & MORRIS GREENBERG
17285 Lee, Southfield
wish all their relatives and friends
a happy and healthy New Year
Best wishes for a happy and healthy New
Year to all our relatives and friends
Mr. and Mrs. David Herczeg
Oak Park
Rabbi and Mrs. Jacob Hoberman
of Bene Brak, Israel
wish their relatives and friends
a most happy, healthful and prosperous New Year
with the fervent hope that World Peace
will prevail in the New Year
THE ISAACS
LOU, ETHEL AND BILL
SOUTHFIELD
extend best wishes for a happy,
healthy New Year to all their
relatives and friends
MR. & MRS. NEWTON LEVIN
Southfield
wish all their friends and
relatives a happy and healthy New Year
41
To All Our Relatives and Friends
A Happy and Healthy New Year
MR. AND MRS. HERBERT MARGOLIS
AND FAMILY
14325 Oak Park, Blvd., Oak Park
Mr. & Mrs. Morris H. Fishman
22564 Sutton Ct., Southfield
wish all their relatives and
friends a happy, healthy
New Year
,
,
BEN and FANNIE KAPETON
AND FAMILY
wish all their family and friends
a year filled with health and
happiness and peace
KATHY & JEFFREY SCHULTZ
W. Bloomfield
wish all their friends and
family
a happy and healthy New
Year
"