Being Jewish in the New Germany

238 Pages·2005·0.6 MB·English

by  Jeffrey M. Peck

B e i n g
Jewish
i n t h e N e w
Germany

J M. P
EFFREY ECK
B e i n g
Jewish
i n t h e N e w
Germany
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, AND LONDON
Publication of this book was supported, in part, by a grant from the German Historical
Institute, Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peck, Jeffrey M., 1950–
Being Jewish in the new Germany / Jeffrey M. Peck.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978–0–8135–3723–8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Jews—Germany—History—1945– 2. Jews—Germany—Identity. 3. Germany—
Emigration and immigration—History—20th century. 4. Germany—Ethnic relations.
I. Title.
DS135.G332P43 2006
305.892’4043’09049—dc22 2005004831
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2006 by Jeffrey M. Peck
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission
from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue,
Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by
U.S. copyright law.
Manufactured in the United States of America
To HCS—mentor, colleague, friend

C o n t e n t s
PREFACE ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii
1
A New Jewish Life in Germany:
From “Why” to “How” 1
2
Shadows of the Holocaust in Germany
and the United States 21
3
Russian Immigration and the Revitalization
of German Jewry 40
4
Representing Jews in Germany Today 60
5
Jews and Turks: Discourses of the “Other” 86
6
Creating a Continental Identity: Jews,
Germans, Europe, and the “New” Anti-Semitism 110
7
The United States and Israel: Super-Powering
German Jewish Identities 133
8
Toward a New German Jewish Diaspora in an
Age of Globalization 154
NOTES 175
BIBLIOGRAPHY 189
INDEX 199
vii

P re fa c e
As a Jewish American scholar who focuses on Germany, I have been re-
peatedly asked, or even reproached, by Americans, especially Jewish
Americans, about my intellectual interests and academic career that has
now lasted for over twenty years. Questions such as Why are you interested
in Germany? or How can you live in that country? have pursued me as I
studied the language, literature, and culture of the country that perpe-
trated crimes against the Jewish people. Once, after giving a public lecture
on Jewish life in contemporary Germany, a particularly angry and aggres-
sive audience member chastised me and later sent a postcard suggesting I
leave the United States for Germany permanently. Such reactions, most of
them less hostile and merely inquisitive, force a scholar and teacher to
think about the relationship between what he studies and who he is: in
short, about identity. I became keenly aware how identity and personal his-
tories shape the stories scholars tell, even those who try to be as objective
as possible. This attention to my personal investment in my work forced
me to think more deeply about what I studied and what it meant. Thus,
studying Jewish life in Germany became both a personal and professional
project, a combination I welcomed for the satisfaction and knowledge it
provided. It also encouraged me to share these perspectives in this book.
However, it was only into the second half of my career that I focused on
this German-Jewish subject. This happened when anthropologist John
Borneman and I researched and published an ethnography, Sojourners:
The Return of German Jews and the Question of Identity(1995) and com-
pleted a video documentary about the Jews of East Germany who had re-
turned from exile after the war. The book I present here continues, at least
chronologically, where this one left off, while still addressing fundamental
ix