Share
Your
Soul
Editor's Letter
Germany's Checkered Image
Baltimore
y
plays so well in Germany.
Palestinian terror against Israel becomes justified under
this preposterous thinking, which describes Israel's defensive
strikes into the Palestinian territories as aggression. So Jews
— once grudgingly seen as victims of Hitler's fury — now
are perceived by many European factions as inciters.
Lopatin, who teaches international relations theory and
European Union politics on Georgetown's Washington, D.C.,
campus, reminded her audience of Jewish journalists that
Germany's leadership may stress a commitment to Israel and
the Jewish world, but that commitment may be fading. Like
her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, new Chancellor Angela
Merkel has expressed support for Israel and is friendly with
Germany's Jewish community. Still, at the opening of the 2006
World Cup in Munich, she stood next to the vice president of
Iran, a country that wouldn't waste an instant to use nuclear
power against Israel. Her choice of colleagues to appear with
in news clippings is outrageous.
ou're bound to feel the anti-Jewish undercurrents
when you wear a kippah or Star of David in public
in Berlin, where the Nazi killing machine drew
up the Final Solution for European Jewry. Ironically, that's
where the Central Council of Jews in
Germany is based now and where
Moses Mendelssohn built the German
Jewish Enlightenment 240 years ear-
lier. Other parts of Germany aren't so
blatant in their backlash toward Jews,
but German Jewish culture clearly is
only tolerated. German Jews find it
easier to get along if they're secular.
Factor in the anti-Zionism sweeping
much of Europe and it's evident that
German Jews must remain on guard.
German leaders, open to reparations
and eager to distance the country from the German govern-
Limited Growth
ment's direct role in the Holocaust, have tried to make Jews
Germany's immigrant rush, meanwhile, hasn't been the
feel welcome over the past 20 years, even encouraging Soviet
Jewish boon once envisioned. By welcoming Jews, Lopatin
Jews to emigrate. But the success of repopulating Germany's
said, "the German government hoped to improve its image
Jewish community has been mixed. Whereas the
worldwide and show that Germany once
community had dwindled to 15,000 by 1950, today
again is a good place for Jews." But of
it counts 100,000. Yet with a German intermarriage
the 190,000 Soviet Jews who obtained
rate of 60 percent, you must work hard to live as
German citizenship, less than half
a German Jew. Germany no longer can deny your
joined the Jewish community.
Jewish identity, but it can break your Jewish spirit.
Before 2005, immigrants only had to
"The pull of assimilation is that strong:' says
claim Jewish identity instead of proving
Esther Ezra Lopatin, a visiting scholar in the
Jewish ancestry. So the pre-2005 influx
Institute for the Study of International Migration at
raised doubts among native German
Georgetown University. She earned a doctorate in
Jews about the genuineness of their new
political science from the University of Munich.
brethren's ethnic roots. Also, the Jews of
I met Lopatin, a 38-year-old Tel Aviv native, at
Germany pay 8-9 percent of their wages
the American Jewish Press Association's annual
to the Jewish community as part of the
conference held last week near Baltimore's Inner
Kirchensteuer, or state-sanctioned
Harbor. She was on the AJPA panel discussing the
Esther Ez ra Lopatin
church tax. New arrivals didn't have to
state of European Jewry. Coming from the Detroit
pay, however, causing hard feelings and
Jewish community, which German Jews were
spreading resources thin.
instrumental in building in the mid-19th century, I found her
Germany is home to 3 million Muslims, many Turkish in
talk compelling. Setting the stage, she said: "German Jews live
origin; they comprise 3.6 percent of the population. Europe
in a kind of constant dilemma."
has almost 20 million Muslims, whose political clout and
That's why aliyah remains a strong option.
Arab League-inspired beliefs toward Zionism are alarming.
The government of Germany is a U.S. ally and is trying to
Echoes Of Hate
rebuild the Jewish community that Hitler nearly destroyed.
Hate crimes against German Jews peaked in 2002 at 1,515;
But it's clear that the Jews of Germany must be wary on the
they top 1,000 every year. Most don't cause physical injury but streets — where neo-Nazis roam, Zionist rebuke is common,
all spur emotional duress. France, the recognized hotbed for
America still can be considered evil and Jew hating seems
anti-Jewish acts in Europe, recorded 932 Jewish-aimed hate
only minimally frowned upon.
crimes in 2002; the number rose to 970 in 2004, before drop-
ping to 504 in 2005. So Jew-hating echoes in Germany.
Anti-Jewish sentiment gained a toehold in Germany once
Would more diaspora concern for the
Jews lost their status as victims. That resulted from a ground-
dilemma facing German Jews help?
z
swell among younger Germans to forget the past. "The young-
er generation does not want to hear about the Holocaust and
e p r „
Do you know anything about Detroit
they question why they should have the financial burden of
Jewry's important German roots?
paying for the sins of their parents and grandparents in the
form of reparations," Lopatin said.
This mindset change freed Germany from believing it
E-mail: letters@thejewishnews.com
would always bear the weight of the past. And it is why
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial
POI NTS TO
❑
Becalm a
JARC Judaic
volunteer
• Enjoy Shabbat Dinner or
Shabbat Afternoon at a
JARC Home
• Share Your Yiddish
Memories, Slides of Israel
or Jewish Music Talent
• Welcome JARC Friends at
Your Synagogue
ANOTHER SHABBAT SHARING IDEA?
LET US KNOW!
Call Karen Rosenstein
248.538.6610 x353
Email karenrosenstein@jarc.org
jarc
Helping people with disabilities be
fully included in their community —
all through their lives.
30301 Northwestern • Suite 100
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
www.jarc.org
1070660
June 22 • 2006
5