Young Israel's New Love Affair with Germany

[Skybird]

The people, as usual, are ways ahead of the politicians.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...828302,00.html

But the question remains whether a partner from Germany is appropriate for an Israeli. It's an issue debated in many Israeli families these days. Not surprisingly, now that more Israelis are traveling to Germany, they are also meeting more Germans -- and falling in love. Hebrew courses in Tel Aviv are packed with non-Jewish foreigners, including many Germans learning their partner's language. In fact, the courses are so full that extra classes for non-Jewish immigrants have been introduced. At the same time, many Israelis are learning German, and the language courses at the Goethe Institut are more popular than ever.
(...)
The interest is so great that, for nearly three years now, Israeli volunteers have even been working in Germany -- at day care centers, museums and youth centers. They are not only interested in exploring the past, but also in adding a new experience, and a new place of residence, to the present. Many of them simply yearn to experience something different and, after completing their military service, have decided to travel to Berlin rather than Goa.

This is very different from the experiences of German volunteers in Israel. They still go in droves, roughly 1,000 every year, and they're sometimes disappointed when they find themselves alone with their thoughts of atonement. The Israelis are simply not interested in constantly talking about the Holocaust.
(...)
This new, more relaxed way of dealing with Germany is also changing Israel, and it can be felt in many places, such as at one of the popular "Berlin parties" in Tel Aviv. Sometimes all it takes is a private apartment temporarily transformed into a club, with a bonfire on the roof and, one floor down, a steaming-hot dance floor. Here, all the bartenders wear East German army-surplus caps, a DJ from Berlin spins the tracks and there is a signpost bearing such Berlin place names as Zoologischer Garten, Hamburger Bahnhof and X-Berg.

This enthusiasm has almost become a craze of sorts. What else could explain the fact that Hans Fallada's Berlin novel "Every Man Dies Alone" was at the top of the Israeli best-seller list for a number of weeks last year -- 64 years after it was first published? And what could explain that it's no longer unusual for a German tourist buying an ice cream in Tel Aviv to get involved in a lively discussion about the films of German director Fatih Akin?
(...)
An Israeli journalist recently applied for a German passport. It will be his third nationality. Yermi Brenner, 32, is already an Israeli and an American. Soon, he will also be a German, as promised by Article 116, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law, Germany's constitution, which states that people whose citizenship was revoked under the Nazis have a right to a German passport, as do their descendents. In the past, he would have been called a traitor. Those who applied for a German passport did so shamefacedly. Now, they tell their friends and are regarded with envy.
Since the turn of the millennium, there has been a rapid increase in the number of Israelis holding a German passport. For some, it's an insurance policy against war and terror; for others, it's a matter of convenience because it often does away with visa requirements. Still others see it as a belated victory. For Brenner, it's a matter of having options. And one of these options is being able to live in Germany someday, just as he is now planning to first study in New York.

Is it difficult to acquire the nationality of the perpetrators? It's a question that probably only a German could ask. Brenner personally doesn't ask himself this question.

It was only difficult for his father, who had to apply for German citizenship before his son could receive a German passport. His father is a typical representative of the second generation, someone who grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust and with his mother's silence. It wasn't until Yermi's grandmother died that the family found out more about her -- ironically, from a German researcher. She delved into the history of the grandmother, who was in Auschwitz and fled by jumping off a train and making her way to Berlin, where she was hidden by a German.
The German researcher has since become a family friend, and the grandson of the Auschwitz survivor has taken a German course in Bayreuth. He will soon become a German. And actually, he says, it all feels totally normal.

Normality is when no talk is spend anymore on this thing called normality.

[Karle94]

Still seeking atonement, eh? It´s been over 70 years. Why can´t you get over it? Should everything go to hell in Europe, Germany is Europes´ only hope.

[Skybird]

Fits into this thread: one of my favourite publicist's latest book on the German obsession to always look back and getting fixiated and paralysed by that past, as well as the left's desire to find an Endlösung to the Israeli question, and the industry that has emerged around the object of rememberance: "Vergesst Auschwitz!" (Forget about Auschwitz!) For Broder, the museum there is nothing else than a "Disneyland of death".

(German): http://www.randomhouse.de/webarticle/webarticle.jsp?aid=35755

Henryk Broder has Polish roots, butr is German and lives in germany. He is Jewish without caring for that, and refers to himself ironically as a German "Beutejude" (Jew of prey). His black humour knows little respect, his skill to precisely observe and comment is legendary, and his thinking is indepedent and not influenced by politically correct rules of behavior, and this is the reason why he is extremely polarising: people either love him or hate him, no in-between. His recent TV series was unimporessive, the TV is not his domain. He should stay with writing - there he is hard to beat!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Broder

I also recommend his book "Kritik der reinen Toleranz".

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Karle94

Still seeking atonement, eh? It´s been over 70 years. Why can´t you get over it? Should everything go to hell in Europe, Germany is Europes´ only hope.

Better do not rely on that.

But as the article said, the problem is morew with the elder. For younger people from both countries, third generation after the war, it seems to become more normal to not remain fixiated on the Holocaust past. Which is good.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Better do not rely on that.

But as the article said, the problem is morew with the elder. For younger people from both countries, third generation after the war, it seems to become more normal to not remain fixiated on the Holocaust past. Which is good.

Full agreement

[Catfish]

Very good article. Should go and buy Broder's book.
Thanks for posting,
Catfish

[Skybird]

Just found by chance another article form today, from Die Welt, about Israelis immigrating to Berlin first to party, then learning to love the country, and finally deciding to stay and raise their own business.

In German: http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article106216586/Berlin-deutscher-Sehnsuchtsort-fuer-Juden.html

[MH]

I don't get it.....
Is it a news to people that Israeli sort of live their lives?
No... life does not revolve here around talking about Auschwitz and dreaming about Holly temple or voodoo rituals involving Germans.

Still there are some issues that most other countries don't have to deal with....

[Skybird]

Welcome to the twisted German mindset!

What did Broder say in the link I posted above? (Es) "ist längst der deutsche "Sündenstolz" (Hermann Lübbe) an die Stelle der deutschen Scham getreten, wenn es die je gegeben hat. Wir waren die größten Schurken, jetzt sind wir die größten Büßer." - : Shame over past sins has been replaced by pride over being such an outstanding sinner. We've been the biggest villains, no we are the biggest penitents.

There is plenty of truth in that.

And a bit later he said: "Das deutsche Interesse an den Juden ist das eines resozialisierten Kriminellen, der zum Bewährungshelfer mutiert ist und seine ehemaligen Opfer mahnt, nicht in seine Fußstapfen zu treten." - :The German interest in the Jews is that of a resocialised criminal perpetrator who has mutated to a probationer who warns his former victims not to follow his criminal example.

There is plenty of truth in that also.

[Penguin]

The article shows only guys moving to Germany - while on the other hand great looking German jewish girls move to Israel


(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_Sucharewicz)

Damned Israelis, stealing our women!


The only time though I had an argument with an Israeli living here is when she disapproved of my IDF shirt and we argued about Israel's politics, it was a little like reverse world for the listeners. However she was not the younger generation, but in her mid-40s.

Originally Posted by Skybird

His recent TV series was unimporessive, the TV is not his domain. He should stay with writing - there he is hard to beat!

Yep, there were many half-assed moments there, for example the thing about the Caritas. Though the best moments are when he is one on one, like with the guy from the Middle East institute, or when he visited the different religions. The part when he argued with the peace movement wankers was just brilliant!

I can recommend to check out "durch die Nacht with Broder und Diekmann"(the Bild guy), not very deep but quite entertaining. And he mentions that he is still a leftie

Originally Posted by Skybird

And a bit later he said: "Das deutsche Interesse an den Juden ist das eines resozialisierten Kriminellen, der zum Bewährungshelfer mutiert ist und seine ehemaligen Opfer mahnt, nicht in seine Fußstapfen zu treten." - :The German interest in the Jews is that of a resocialised criminal perpetrator who has mutated to a probationer who warns his former victims not to follow his criminal example.

There is plenty of truth in that also.

I disagree with Broder here. Germans have become just like the rest of the world: Paternalizing and preaching from the high horse. Everyone knows better than the Israelis what's in their best interest... Just like you have to explain to a little child what's good for it.
Yet German politicians are the first ones who demand laws that restrict our freedom when terror attacks happen even in neighboring countries. Just take a look at the demands here after Breivik went ape**** last year. The Norwegians basically said: fu, Anders, we won't restrict out freedom, but counter with more democracy; while German politicians demanded the opposite.