Bill Pugliano

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Rabbi Milton Arm and his photographs of Germany.

that they shirked their moral respon-
sibility by settling in "a country that is
soaked in their brothers' blood," Rabbi
Arm said. "They believe that it is very
difficult for someone who hasn't felt
that they couldn't earn a livelihood
elsewhere to understand their choice.
"I think they are very resentful
when they run into that kind of an
attitude, even though most German
Jews do expect the accusation to be
leveled at them at some point in their
lives. Their answer is that where they
choose to live is a private matter."
Breaking through that barrier of
resentment and establishing better
ties between the German and Ameri-
can Jewish communities was the pri-
mary reason the mission was or-
ganized. The tour was put together by
the Cortell Group, a New York travel

agency founded by the late Jules Cor-
tell, a German-Jewish immigrant to
the United States who wanted to re-
build the relationship between Ger-
many and world Jewry following the
atrocities of the Hitler era. Lufthansa
Airlines was a co-sponsor.
In addition to Frankfurt, the
group met with Jewish communal
leaders and residents in Munich and
Bonn, two other German cities where
there is a stable Jewish presence.
Germany's new wave of Jewish
settlers see themselves as a viable
force in their country's political and
cultural spheres, "but they don't try to
rationalize that they are re-building
the country the way it was," Rabbi
Arm said. "They are concerned that
their cities will have a Jewish day
school, a synagogue and community

council. However, they are not trying
to recapture the past."

The West German government,
for its part, has made a valiant effort to
ease the burden of being Jewish and
living in Germany. There are strict
laws forbidding organized activity by
neo-Nazi groups and the public display
of anti-Semitic material. While Jews
are required to serve in the German
army, exceptions are made for those
whose parents went through the
Holocaust.

"The current generation of Ger-
mans doesn't have the sense of guilt
concerning the Holocaust that their
predecessors carried," Rabbi Arm said.
"The German of today says 'I don't
know anything about what happened.'
But they still have a sense of responsi-

Friday, January 18, 1985

41

bility towards the Jewish commu-
nity."
Dealing with the Holocaust and
educating their children about the
horrors perpetrated by Hitler presents
modern German Jews with a unique
dilemma. German textbooks usually
ignore any detailed account of that
chapter in world history, leaving the
educational burden directly with the
parents.
"Those who have small children
often send them out of the country to
study," according to the rabbi. "On the
other hand, you already have a new
generation of German Jewish doctors
and German Jewish lawyers, products
of an exclusively German education,
who probably know very little about
the Holocaust. I don't know how they
will handle the problem, or if they will
at all."
The rabbi added that Holocaust
education is a relatively new occur-
rence in most countries, including the
United States. "I don't know how
many American Jews teach their chil-
dren about the Holocaust."
Despite its limited post-war re-
naissance, the Jewish community in
Germany is not immune to issues that
plague the rest of the Diaspora and
some people, like Munich Rabbi Pin-
chas Biberfeld, feel that it is these
problems that will limit any future
growth.
Rabbi Biberfeld, who according to
Rabbi Arm is looked on as something
of a sage by both the Jewish and non-
Jewish population of Germany, "feels
that the attrition due to mixed mar-
riages and assimilation will doom any
comeback for the once-proud German
Jewish community.
"Based on experience, I would say
that Rabbi Biberfeld may be present-
ing a realistic vision. But I don't think
that there is a great deal of logic to
Jewish existence," Rabbi Arm said.
Illustrating this point, the South-
field rabbi points out that Germany's
40-year-old community of 30,000 Jews
maintains two kosher restaurants,
while Detroit, with twice the popula-
tion and Jewish roots that go far deep-
er, has problems keeping one restau-
rant open. "They are run by the com-
munity at a loss, but they feel that it is
worthwhile to have something which
is such a distinctly Jewish activity."

Rabbi Arm said that he went on
the tour, as did most of his colleages,
"with mixed feelings." The 61-year-old
Detroit communal leader had been to
Germany several times as a child
while on the way to visit his grand-

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