Focus 2003.tif 176 Foctl! on German Studies \X'orks Cited Ande~son, Edith, ed. 81irzalls h~ilrel!J HinlHJd RostOck: H instOrff, 1975. GU[5che, Kersrin. hh ahllNngskiur Engd- Lesblnpromkolk. Bcrhn: Reiher. 199 1. Haines, Brigid. ''Bmschaft aus einem seltsamen Land: Helga Korugsdo rf and Her Critics." Geil! lind AlrKht: If'rifm and tbr Stalt in tlx CDR Gmllan Monitor 29. Ed. A. Goodbody and n Tate. Amsterdam: Rodopl, 1992. 140·150. Hein, Christoph. Von aI/tiN A,!/onl, all. Berlin: Aufbau, 1997. Herminghouse, Pall'icia. ''Wunschbild, Vorbild oder Portrat? 2ur Darstcllung der Frau Un Ronun del: DOR." Litlraiur "lid Lilmuurthtorn in dtr DDR Ed. Peter Uwe Hohendahl and Pauida Herminghouse. Frankfurt am l\:fa.in: $uhrkalllp, 1976.281-334. Kachold, Gabriele. ZiigtlloJ. Berlin: Aufbau, 1989. Kolinsky, E. 1170mm ill G:mltmporary Germany: ufo. IWork ad PoliriC,J. Oxford: Berg, 1993, Konigsdorf, Helga. 1989 oder Ein Moment SchiJllbeit: Eine Co/luge all! Bn'ifel', Gedichun, Ttxltn. Berlin: Aufbau, 1990. Ungt/rgener Btfond: Briifr0man Berlin: Aufbau, 1990. Gleich mbtrl Afrika: Erziiblung. Berlin: Rowohlt, 1992. Morgner, lrmtraud. Ltbm ulld Abenfrller der T rohadora Beatriz ntUb Zellgniuen ibrff Splt/frall ulira: &moll in drei:r!bn BJi{btm liNd ;irbtll Illtermezzos. Berlin: Aufbau, 1980. Paul, Georgina. "Ober Verschwiegencs sprechcn." W'omtll orld tbe Wmde. Ed. Elizabeth Boa and Janel Wharton. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994. 226·237. . \'(Iander, r.. laxie. Gillen Alorgm, du S,hiine - Frallen in der DDR: Proto~11e. 1977. Darmstadc Luchrerhand, 1979. Wolf, Christa.. KmsaJldra. Darmstadt: Luchterhand, 1995. Woltcr, C1tistine. Wie ub md'le UIIHhll/d vufor. Berlin: Aufbau, 1976. Beyond Collective I\ifemory? The Reestablishment o f Jewish Life in Post-Holocaust Germany Nadine Blumer rro what extent is colle:ccive memory used as a lens through .1 which people define their present-day reality? To what ex tent does communal remembrance implicare a manifestation of ideology? How do these questions speci fi cally relate to praccices of remembering and memorializacion for German-Jews and non-Jewish Germans curren cly living in Germany? When dealing with memory as a collective enterprise, cl1e objeccivity of hiS[Qrical fact becomes subjec t to the political inrerests of competing groups. It is as well the variety of memoriu within Jewish communities lhat deRect off ont another to create clle present landscape of Jewish life in Germany. It is all of these memories, working alongside and against each other thar reveal the production o f memory practices. A new Jewish Berli n? In the summcr of 2001 1 1 spem six weeks in Berlin where T became familia r wilh the Jewish community and its members, and explored the many Holocaust-related memorial siles and museums that dOl the city. \'(fhen 1 first arrived, my intentions were to interview as many German-Jews as possible. The term German-Jew, however, has become ralher ambiguous and is no longer open to straightfo rwa rd definicion. The destruction of Jewish life in Europe as it was known before rhe Second World War produced that effect. Today there are many diffe rent kinds o f Jews living in Germany and no one is a German-Jew in clle prewar sense of the word. There are of course those Jews born in Ge rmany or those of Gcrman descent, but for the most part, even Lhese individuals, their parents, or grandparents experienced the chasm imposed upon German-Judamll by lilt: 178 Fotu! on German Stlltiiu Holocaust. Some of the people 1 inreracted Wilh in Berlin were pan o f lhe fi rs t wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union in the 19705, while o thers had arrived only since the end o f me Cold War. German-Jew came to mean Jews o f East European lineage w ho unwilungly settled in Germany immedinely follOWIng the war and have been waiting for rhe chance to go somewhere else, al!Ju'hert the since then. Many of them are still waiting [0 leave, and their children, born in Germany, have since inherited this same outlook. 1 met Jews who were born In Germany but then managed (0 leave before the war and spent :l substantial pan of their lives In a foreign COuntry. To be back in Germany, for them, 'Was to be back in their Heimal, to be back where they felt comfortable. Yet they wefe always sure to make distinctions between a German-Jewish identity and a no n­ Jewish German identity. Then there were those Jews who were born in Germany, spent the majority of their uves there and had every Intention of continuing to live their lives in Germany as Jews. These furure-oriented Impressions arne main ly from those individuals affiliated with the liberal and alternative sueams o f Judaism that are egal.i earian, open to gays and accepting of Jews o f patrilineal descent. The newest Jewish presence in Germany is the influx o f immigmnts from the former Soviet Unio n and its satellite countries; they have been arrivmg by the thousands since the end of the Cold \'(/ar. As they anempt to integrate intO German society, their impact both demographically and socially on Ihe Jewish communiues across Ge rmany, as well as mel.( attimdes toward German society and the hislory o f me Holocaust, represent a further reorientation and dynamic in German-Jewish relations_ The role of collective memory in Ihe reestablishment of Jewish communities in Germany is the main focus of trus paper. Present-day Jewish communities in Germany continue [0 define themselves and [0 be defined by others in relation to the Ilolocausl. Even though rhe majonty of Jews Living in Germany coda)' are of the second and third generations following the Ho locauSt, they seem, for the mos t pan, unable to form an Identity o utside o f an event that they never direcuy ~xperienced. Since collecti"e remembering does not requICC a direct experience of d\e object o r evem ~ing remembered, It IS often the case that public discourse and state ideology infringe upon Beyond Collective Memory 179 practices of group memory. What then, if any, is the possibility fo r a normauzeci relacio nship between Jewish and no n-Jewish Germans to develop outside of rhe boundaries o f former victim and former o ppressor? Jewish life in Germany si nce the H o locaust T he comradictions and obstacles that have faced Jewish community and identity formation in the decades following the I lolocaust arise Out of the paradox of an aimosl 6000 year o ld religIon suddenly confronted with a deface ment of its history. Although the: bdicfs and prnctices of the Jewish people were not altogedlcr erased by the Ho locaust, Jewish life in Europe as it was known befOfe the war had been successfully eradicated. If Jewish life tn Gennan)' were to continue, a serious renegotiatio n of bmh past and present would be necessa ry. The initial postwar Jewish communtties that emerged Jfl Germany were composed of twO very differem g roups: Jews of German descent and Jews of East European anceslfy. About 15,000 German-Jews managed to survive the war on German soil, either in hiding o r in mixed marriages. At the conclusion of the war about 8000 of these Jews chose to Slay in Germany. There were also an additional 2000 - 3000 German-Jews who returned to Germany after havmg either been transponed [ 0 EaSt European concenwuion camps, or who had managed to cm.igrate from Germany prio r to the drafting of the Final Solution in 1942. These Jews who willingly chose to remain in o r rerurn to Germany after 1945 attempted to reclaim the cultural and economic prospenty o f thei r prewar lives. Instead, they encountered a land that had been devasta ted by wa r and ideologically ravaged by a (malitarian regime. In the p lc-Ilo locaust era of the Weunar Republic, German-Jews represellled the ability of a minority group to successfully Integrate 10[0 a m:tlomy society. Although anti-Semitism persb ted throughom thiS lime as well, never in the hislory o f Jewish life in Germany had there been a time o f such widespread social, economic and st[Uccural success for Jewish communities as occurred during the interwar period. From a religious point of view, howeve r, this time period was also one of substantia l aSSllllliation. 180 ForliS 0'1 German 5tudiu The second and larger component of posrwar Jewish communities was made up of 200,000 East EUlopean Holocaust survivors who were: brought to Germany at the end of the wa r against their will. These individuals were referred {Q as Displaced Persons (DPs) and [heir presence in Germany was marked by theu temporality In [dugee camps. In comrast [0 their German-Jewish counterparts, these Jews were primarily orthodox with a strong tr.ldilionaJ connection to Judaism. The first Jewish communities to emerge in posrwar Germany developed from the ones established by East European survivors within the DP camps. However, many of these DP communities dissolved as soon as Jews began emigl1lung toward Israel and North America at dle end o f the 19405. From the approximatdy 200,000 DPs lbar resided in Gemlan refugee camps in the years immediately following the war, o nly about 15,000 of them stayed in Ge rman y at the time of their closure (Rabinsbach and Zipes 28). Their motivauon to remain in Germany had mo rt. [Q do wuh psycho logical and physical inabiliry to immigrale to a new counny or to face the hardships of an underde\'e1oped Israeli stale £han with a direct imereSI in Germany ilse1f. These 15,000 East European Jews were to join the 8000 German Jews who had chosen 10 remain in Germany as weU. Togemer, these twO groups formed the firsl Jewish communicies, OIS well as repre.semed a new dimension of JeWish life in Germany, following the war and OP camp era. Since the bulk of postwar Jewish communities was composed of East European Jews, it was assumep that these communities would quickly dissolve. TI was rather clea r that, for the malorny of Jews remaining in Ge rmany, it would ani}' be a maner of time before they would receive their compensation for persecution from the German gove rnment and then move on to another caumey. Por many East European su rvivors, a Sttong identificalion with the newly established state of Israel in 19..(8 also redirected lhe focus away from potential establishment in Germany. There existed only a minodty group of returnlllg leftist Jews o r German nationalist Jews who had intentions of permanently sellling in Germany (Brum lik 4). Othe[\\~se there seemed to be a complete lack of belief that a Jewish community would ever arise in Germany again. In the Elm few rears following the war, the social eXistence of the Je\\'1sh communities was mainly welfare dependent. Many of the East Beyond Collective t>. lemory 181 European Jews who had remained in Germany had done so because Lhey were roo weak or sick [Q emigrate. Nonetheless most of lh~se Jews, although almost fully dependenr on social welf:lre agencies for shelter, clothing and food, inSisted upon aid from JeWish-run o rganizallons only. German social aid, as well as normal lmegrauon IOta til(: German economy, was resisted because, to some degree, it represented permanency (Brenner, lvbllildin,g 71). h \vas for th.is reason that the establishment of the Cemral CounCil of Jews 10 Germany in 1950 as the first sign of instiLUlional permanency of Jewish life in Germany was particularly significant (Brenner 77). In the decade following the war and after the closure of the DP camps, the Jewish commumries hardly grew in number. There were, however seve ral small-scale waves of immigra lion in the 1960s and 1970s fr~m Po land, Russia and other Eastern Bloc cou nrries. In the 1980s, the years leading up [ 0 the decline of the Soviet Empire, Jewish life in Germany continued to be of an ambiguous nature. The instirutional capacity o f big-dry communities was relatively rich; the large communities (Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich bems the largest) had Jewish elementary and high schools., old age homes, newspaper and magazine publications, bookshops, and kosher stores and restaurants. However, most Jews conunued 10 be rather detached from rehgious commurmy Iafe, and active participation was low. In 1989, with the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold \",(far, lhe strucrure and appearance of Jewish life In Germany was radically transformed. The in flux o f ex-Soviet Jewr)' LillO Germany starting at the end o f the 19805 and conulluing at a rapid pac~ .up to today has had huge demographic effects on Jewish com L~1ll111tJes. NationWIde, Jewish communities in Germany have expe rienced a tremendous popu lation increase. The offictal Jewish po pula.tion in 1997 was 67,47 1 (Slolisliscbu jo/;/"bllch fiir dit URO). Tilt:: population size may actually be quilt: a bit higher when raking into :Iccount t.he number o f Jews lIVing in Germa ny but not offiCIally registered WIth Ihe community;l some estimales indicate as many as 80,000 Jews III Germany. Poor to the collapse of the Soviet Union m 1988, Ihe official Jewish population in \X'est Germany, mcludmg West Berlin, was 27,552 (Ibid.). The principle charactenstics of the IlCW Soviet JC\1>ish Immigrants indicate ,hat the majori£Y 15 young, educated and secular. 182 FwlJ' 0" ClrN/aII Studies For the most part, they have se uJed in larger German cities, with a consider.tble majority in Berlin. In the larger Jewish communities, rdJgiolis councils are still governed by [he original members of the communiry (members from before the influx of immigration). The smaller communities have alte3dy been engulfed by the new immigrants from the EaSt as they progn:ssive:ly achieve majority status (Sandford). Jewish immigrams from the former Soviet Union are managed by an agreemem passed in 1991 between the federal and the va.rious state governmcms of Germany and rhe Central Council of Jews in Germany. According to this agreement, new immigrants are guaranteed "generous welfare benefits and integration programs" (Sandford 327). However, lhe jewish communities provide me main source of financial and social support to incoming Soviet imrrugn.nts. In his essay «A Reemergence of German Jewry?" MIchael 60demann considers me role of secular Soviet Jews as they enter alread}' ethnically fragmented communities of Jews !Il Germany. The Holocaust, in physically and mentally uprooting German~Jews from their prewar history, has been cen ual to a remodeUng of Jewish identity in Germany following the war; up [0 1989 it has I:lrgely prevented Jewish culture and identity (of a mainly non-relJgious chuacter) from flourishing as it did prior to the war. Jews of both East European and German descent impede rhis possibility by their continued use of Holocaust memory as a marker of current jewish Identity. With the fall of the Soviet empire, however, and the sudden influx of jewish immigrants into Germany, the basis fo r idemiry construction has changed. The new Jewish immigrants are bringing with them a different experience of 20U' century history, a different sense of collective memory, and thus a rufferent perception of current German society: What most (Russian Jews in Germany lOdayJ have in common is that in contraSt to present­ day German j ewry, the Sralinis[ purges - not Ausch\\.-itz - are their primary trauma, and they are developing the patriotism of the immigrant, a phenomenon known all tOO well from Nonh Beyond Collective Memory America: they are grateful for being able to St:lrt a new lifc in Germany. (Bademann 14) 183 Bodemann suggests lhat Soviet Jewish immigrants, :lfu:r half a cenmry of living under communist rule, are more bkcly to espouse lhe secular relationship (0 Jewish tife (han even lhe German·Jcws of rhe WeImar Republic once did. Soviet Jews greauy value theu newly gamed freedoms once in Germany; present-day German society is a positive leap economically, poliucally and culturally, as compared to previolLs conditions in (he Soviet Union. Along wilh the fact that the majoriry of Soviet imnugran ts are yOllng and ready to assimilate il1[o their new sociery, Bodemann advances the probabIlity for a German-Jewish community predominantly influenced by the culture and tradition of Gtrman, as opposed to Je\\.-ish, society (0 arise. Accordmg to this, the focus is no longer on lhe emergent posslLulI), of new jtwish life tn Germany or of German-Jewish prrU'fJT Identity. Rather we are conside ring Ihe likelihood of the unprecedented emergence o f a Cerma,,-Jewry. What shou ld be emphasized from this line of reasoning is lhal Ihe influx of SovietJcws since 1989 not only affects (he demographics of jewish communities, but also provides a new source of Jewish coUective memory in Germany. As a result, the relationship between the twO groups can potentially move beyond the one col1ccuve memory of the Holocaust that is grounded in blame and guilt. Bodemann focuses on the secular cbaracter of the incoming Soviet Jews and how this might lend iudf to suonger idenuncations with German 1I1stcad of Jewish culrure, thus threaten ing to erode already religiously weak pOSlWar Jewish communl1ies. I l0wevCf, it should be pointed Out that when Soviet Jews enter Germany, they do so primarily With the suppon of the Jewish communuy. Their entry into the country is officiaUy sanctioned by the German government but It is "tbe Central Council of Jews 111 German)' and ItS social servtce organization (ZWS1) [who) have spa red no effon to integrate these Jews 1I110 lhe communities, hdplllg them with jobs, aparunenls, and Immigration" (Bodemann 54). The capaciry of Soviet Jews' nest exposure 10 these benefits of German soclal­ democratic life IS directly through the financial and social suppOrt of the Jewish communities, whIch is gCllcrnlly rep resented by the 184 ForoJ on German Studies synagogue. As such, it is fair [Q assume that integration into Jewish life ,.vill be furthered. Brenner even suggesrs dlat. "instead of Nrtting outward with shrill [ones, there now appears a need to make rhe even 'less Jewish' fnew Sovietl immigrantS into 'real Jews: and in [he process, [the al.ceady established Jews of Germany] of len encounter [their] own Judaism" (Brenner, Communi!! 156). Although newly arrived Soviet Jews offer yet another element of heterogeneity inro Jewish communities, their influence also has the potencial [Q bridge the gap between Jewish and non-Jewish German relations, as well as ro imbue the already-existing Jewish communities with a newfound sense of Judaism. As Jewish life in Germany begins yet anQ(her phase of resuucruring, the role dlat history and memory will continue [Q play is now more fragmented and diverse timn ever before. M emo ry as Id eology In his book 0" Colltdillt Memory, Maurice Halbwachs suesses mac it is through the lens of the p resent that groups imerpret and reinterpret the past. The extent to which this norian applies to present day Jewish identil:}' formarion in Germany needs to be examined under the theoretical lens of collective memory and the ideology involved in the very construction of memory itself. Much research on the copic of memory functioning at the group level makes use of the term collective memory. Theoretical inquiry of collective memory is largely based on the work of Halbwachs. who speaks of memory as a social construction that is propelled by gcoup dynamic and different social frameworks. Individuals are the cenual remembering agents, bUl It is only in the context of others that the process of remembering is possible: "Ir is in society that people normally acquire their memories. 1t is also in society that they recall, recognize and localize their memories" (38). Aldlough more than one social framework may be at play, it is the presence of the social world which acts as a trigger of memory. This reserve of memory is itself a product of a prc::vious or currenr social framework or frameworks dlar va ry according to social factors such as ethnicity, class, age and race. II lis (hus necessary 1O consider the nature of the collectivit), and dlC fact that often dlere Beyond CoUective ~'lemory 185 is more than one collectivity enacring a particular memory. Other scholars have criticized Halbwachs' seemingly simplistic account of collective memory. 1n his essay "Collective Memory: The '\\\,o Cultures," Jeffr<:y Olick has countered collecove memory with the term collected memory. which docs nOt assume Dlle homogenous collectivity enacting only one memory. Curren t Jewish commUOIues in Germany arc certainly collectivities of diverse composirion (i.e. OJ> camp refugees from Eastern Europc, Jews of Germ:tn descent. Soviet Jews from past and current waves of migration). Nonethelt:ss, Olick Sl!pponS collective memory in dle sense that It centralizes bOll! the role of the group in the conStruction of its own memory and the extem to which "the past is remade in the present for pre~ent purposes" (341). There is still use in speaking of collectjve memmies in order to assert that collectivities themselves have memories. JUSt as they have identities. Glick suppons this viewpoillt b)' staung dla l ideas and institutions, although capable of meaning on an mdlvidual level, witi not accrue as much significance or meaOlng unol they are imerp reled o r experienced on a collective level. "Groups, for instance, tend to at[ mme extremely than individuals. Additionally, there ace clearly demonstrable long-term SUUC{llrcs TO what societies remember or commemorate tbat arc stubbornly impe rvious to the effom of individuals to escape them" (342). T bis paper continues to rder to collective memory whilc taking imo account the heterogeneous composition of the colieClivitics engaged In p ractices of remembering. T he act of remembering at the g roup level is a means for collective mobilization and identity formation. To ask 1I"tJ groups reml:!mber is 10 also question u--ho is in the best posiuon 10 assert his or her version of hisrocy. Memory at the collective levd thus becomes a political enterprise, often subject to Ideology. \'(/hen considering Jewish communities in Germany today, WI:! must also consider the many factors and influences emanating from rheir social environment. Jewish communities arc not collectivities of memory in and of themselves. ]e\\tisb remembering III Germany must also take into consideration German remembering. o r lack of remcmbering. Politically, Jc\vish commUIlLUCS function under the greatcr authoriry o f the government of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as functioning unde r the rehglous orgallization 186 FoCJU 011 Gtrmall Silldin of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. As such, (he potential Ideology confronting Jewish communities is multi-faceted, and most cenainly affected by a variery of imeresrs and ends that are nor al\\-ays compatible wirh one another. Just as there is no single J ewish collecrjvlt)' In Germany, there is ccuainl)' no single German eoUecovi!)'_ The most ohvious o f divisions centers on Germany's political separation following the war and up uoo11989. The GDR was, to an extent, able to disregard active engagement wirh Holocaust memory in public discourse, as it instead focused on the consuucoon of a new socialist, anti­ fascist Slale. By embracing Socialism, rhe ideological opposite to Hitler's fascist stlte, the CDR denied responslbitiry of Holocaust memory and of having 10 come to terms wuh the past. Therefore. any mention of Germany's memory of the I iolocaust poor 10 1989 implicates Western Germany alone.2 In the west. it was nOl un til the 1968 srudent revolts when me It(()lId generation. [he chIldren of [he \\'2[ generation, ad\'ocated the need for confJ:Onting its hislory in public discourse. Most relevant, however, is the enactment of memory in the 1980s. considered the "Decade of Memorialization" and orchestrated by Kohl's Christian-Democratic government, as Germans began dealing with their past through a deluge of commemoration caemonies, consuucnon of Holocaust museums, memorial stames, and plaques throughout the counuy. Within this context, collective memory as an ideological process involves n O[ only the will to exercise power, but also the ways in which memory are deliberately used as a tool for or againSt a consciousness of guilt Memo rializat io n p ractices Halbwachs speaks of actS of commemorauon as a bondmg and unifying reaffirmation of a group's cohesion. He refers to these acts of remembrance as histoncal memory (23) . Individuals, he maintains, do not dircclly remember events. Rather, the memory of fI parucular event will be stimulated indireclly mrough ceremonies, wriuen texts, and in the "[comingJ together to remember ... the deeds and accomplishments of long-dep3ucd members of (he group. In this Cllse, the paSt is stored and interpreted by social Beyond Collective Memory 187 insci tUlions" (24). t .... iemorialization. although imponant in len ns of maintaining an awa reness of the past, is p roblt!mauc for this very same reason. Acts of memorialization are concrete symbols of rhe past that Hartman refers to as "ann-memory' III order to suggest tbat Ihrough memorblization, memory is C()[~l~)ac ted Irno a neat package that in no way represents lIle true atIOCllleS of events such as lhe Holocaust (\Xliedmer 4). It might be said that non -Je\\~sh German society engages ill these acts of commemoration to relieve feelings of gUilt associated with the past; once the memurial object has been fixcd into place, once the commemorati\·c event has passed, aU feelings of guilt have been transferred over, in a ruher phYSical sense onto the concrete memorial object or commemorauve event. An illusion of redempuon IS thereby created 10 whid, Ihe cvcms of the history appear to have been dealt with and lhe history thus rumI to be closed. Should every object of memocializa llon thus be looked at as representauve of German society'S transference of guilt to the pOint that it now feels that redcmpt.ion of the past has been achieved? It might be helpful to conceive of memorlahzauon practices as dialectic in character. On [he one hand, mcmOrlalization is immediately and direc1iy associated with rell1emberi ng. On rhe other hand, the concrete and fixed object of IllOSt acts of memonalization negates lhe vcry history thar the memor}' purpoCls to sustain. This IS pa rticularly lhe case in Germany where tlu::n: is very lit tle awareness of actual present-day Jewish li fe. Although ~ht Jcwish population has been steadily growing in recent years, JeWIsh communities are still by no means a large and viSible component of mainsueam German society. In addition, Jewish communities tend to develop in larger ciues. wlule the German population setdes primarily in smaller surround ing tOWllS. As such, the tnajonty of German society has very little, if any, contact with actual hving jews. Rather the most prevalent representation of jc\\-ish people occurs In lhe German landscape's abundance of pla(IUeS, statues and museums commemorating the dead Jews o f the Il olocaust. The pOSSibility for a normalized relationship between the twO groups is thus undenmnc:d; as Krondorfer suggestS, memorializlnon pracuces embody ritual and rcpemion {hat ground the relationship between the commemorating group and the group bemg commemorated 111 a state of fixauon (38). 188 Focus on Ctmtan Sludza ls lhe marginalizing effect juSt as strong when commemoration of vicamhood stems from lhe group represented by the commemoration? Collective actS of memorializatio n by Jewish communities in Germany also lend to exacerbate Lhc situation. Although the general conception is that it is o f supreme importance to "never forget," one must also consider dIe repercussions of ~emembering tOO fre'luently. Primo Levi writes that memory that IS evoked [00 oftcn might become fixed in a stereotype, and the morc accurate o bject of the memory becomes lost in the newly created stereotype (Fulbrook 142). As Rapaport suggests, Jews in Germany currently use the Holocaus t in o rder to moralJy distinguish themselves from Germans according 10 an identity that is based in the status of in nocent victim (3 1). JeWish communities are hound two· fold by their collective memory of this one speci fi c historical event. Communal remembering oflen prevents Jews 10 Germany from perceivmg non·Jewish German society Outside of the lens of the Ho locaust. At the same orne, they tend to be perceived of by German society as objects (i.e. vicoms) of this parucular historical event. This results in further altenaung Jews frOm their German surroundings and perpetuating nOI only their own discomfort of li~~g there, but also German society'S perception of the Jew as vlcwn. .Rapapo rt discusses the centIal role that collective memory has had In the identity formation o f J ews in post-Ho locaust Germany and suggests that for Jews living in Germany it is "memory and Inlerplay of rhe Holocaust {that) have become a political weapon around which Jews more openly mobilize" (38). Rapaport makes reference to Ihe benefi ts that Jewish communities have accrued in the decades fallowing rhe Holocaust as a direct result of framing identity in rdation to a victim status. In lhc last twenty years, Jewish museum s, research institutions and Jewish studies programs ha\'e emerged throughout German),. These fo rms of culturnl capita l have certainly strengthened the instirucional structure of many Jewish conunu~cies. Howe\'er, as mentioned, there are certain dangers for JeWish communities (0 have their entire idencity centered on the Holocaust. When all imeractions beN'een Jews and no n-Jewish Germans cannot seem to function oUlside of this contexi both groups end up with distorted perceptions o f one another. Alon'g with Beyond Collective Memory 189 disto rrion come exaggeration, excessive sensirivities, overreactions and misunderstandings (Markovits 568). The simp hfied concep tion of Jewish identity represent ed by memorializa tion may provide the German population with the illusion thai ilm fact understands what Jewish identity entails. Wi thin this framework, however, all that can reaUy be recognized is an extended image o f the Jew as victim and as outsider. Rapaport purpo!'{s that the effect of basing self.identiry o n this one past event is a feeting o f being " marginalized, alienated, afraid, unintegrated, reviled, uncomfonable, yet also admired and appreciated bur most certainly different from its German surroundings" (r'. [arkovits 568) . In considering Rapapo rt's above-mentioned statemenf, there is a need 10 question the homogenous charaCler imposed upon fIN Jewish collectivity in Germany. Rapaport groups together aU Jews living III Germany under bb.nket terms.. She negates the poSSibili ty that some varia tion may exist within the communloes themsel\'es in terms o f national backgro und, religious o rientation and generaoo nal divicle. As mentioned, reestablished Jewish communities are lughly fragmented, primarily due 10 differences In historical and cultural background. Olick maintains that it is al times more accurate to refe r fO collect(d memory since it does not as readily presuppose the inAlience o f only one memory and o ne collectiVity, bUI allows for the collective memories o f possibly more than one group (339). fo. loving be}'ond collective memory is Imponam because It Icgtumlzes the disunctions o f currentJeWlsh Identity iu Germany, and thus IOcreases lhe possibility of movmg toward more normaltzed relauonships be[ween the various enactors of Holocaust remembe ring. T he H olocaust le ns Berlin is an institutionally rich environment in which all the necessary elements fo r a strong Jewish community are in place. All that is nussing, a senument echoed by mOSt of those individuals thar I imervie",'ed, is active parucipation and a genuine imcrt:s t in the religion outside the scope o f Ihe HolocausL Gesa, a Jewish woman in her late 30s, maintains, to be Jewish outs ide of G ermany, especially in a city 190 Forn! on German StuditJ like New York, is a lot more namral. In Germany, Jewish identities ace defined by the Holocaust. Many Jews say. '1 am Jewish because my parentS lived through the Holocaust.' Whereas in New York, or in other places [hal I have been ro, Jews are Jewish because they hold it [Q be important, chrilling, inceresting, or simply because they belong to the communiry. (Markus, Personal Inte rview) Regardless of direct o r indirect experience in Nazi-era Germany, the Holocaust as a point of reference in identity for mation reverberates continuously in [he Jewish consciousness. Rabbi Ehrenberg of the Orthodox congregation in Berlin is in his late fifties, has Israeli citizenship hut has been living outside of Israel, and for the last seven years has been leading congregations first in Austria and now in Germany. He main tains that Germany, due to its history, engenders a particular kind of Jew unlike anywhere else in the world. Here, no one is a German-Jew: He is a Jew. And the Jews in Europe and in Germany in particular are very strongly tied to Israel as their homeland. We must also undersrand that because of the past, the survivors of the Holocaust, the people who lost family, remained here but not a~. Germans. In twO, three generations it may no longer be like this. Bur momentarily, it is my impression dm many young people are leaving Germany in order to go to israel or to England. r-,'Iaybe in a couple of generations, Jews witl choose to remain here, and more Jews will have the feeling (hat mcy are accepted here. [ ... 1 But for now, the injuries o f the Holocaust, emotionally 5peaking, are sun there. (Ehrenberg, Personal IorcIview) Beyond Collective Memorv 191 A consciousness of guih Gesa relates her \vornes concerning the framing of Jewish identity in rdation to the Ilolocau5(. The Holocaust is amazingly present and acma!. in the weekly newspaper Dit Ztit, lhe rapic appears in every issue. And the current chscussion of the memorial here in Berlin is constantly being discussed; there is always something being debared about. Tn academic and intellectual circles, it is discussed at a very personal and conscious level. When there are problcms confronting thc Jewish communities, chings are dealt with very well. \X'iLil arguments, in the public discourse, things are rea!ly good. But sometimes things are toO oversensilive and this can be very embar rassing. There are even certain standard words or phrases used when speaking about Jews. "Our fellow Jewish citizens" for example. h 's almost like "my smalllirtie puppy." it's meant well, buc doesn't always come out sounding that way. (Markus, Personallmerview) There are many instances of stagnant representations of Jewish li fe in relation to the Holocaust. Gesa, in reAecring on rhe way in which the Holocaust was taught in her high school in southern Germany, expresses a rather common sentiment about the inevitable association in Germany bc£w\'::cnJews and the Holocaust. What's interesring is lhat [I he Holocaustl was mught from a his tory textbook, in a chal)[er en titled 'ancient IsraeL' So reall y something dlat deals with antiquity. 1n this book, the chapter on hrael was inu oduced with photos of the llolocaust. I criticized that very strongly. It is a symbol of a very big problem that Judaism today in Israel is often looked at as stemming OUt of the Holocausr, thal the Jew is only looked at as a victim. It's nOt that the 192 FOGU on Ctrman Slum" HolocauSf is nOt [alight enough; it's that Judaism as a topic separat~ from the Holocaust is never, DC hardly ever, considered. ~farkus. Personal Interview) Multi·face ted representations of memory The je\\ri.sh communities of Germany today arc "schizophrenic," as Barak. an Isncli-bom German-Jew pointed our, because of the heterogeneiry of culrurcs and backgrounds, and because of lhe consram renegotiation b(':rween paSt and present that is visible 10 almost every component of Jewish life in Germany. h was mentioned by several of the people I interviewed that Berlin and its Jewish commuOity. the largest in Germany today, is ';llypica\ of me whole of Germany. This has much to do with the central role m:u Berlin, a city physically, pohcicaUy and culturaUy dlVlded for 28 yeats, has had In bringing together, since 1989, its western and eastern comrnuniues IntO one. IlistoricaUy, Berlm is also where che Liberal sueam o f Judaism has ][s roots. Today the more alternative branches of Judaism, (hose who recognize gay Jews and Jews of patrilineal descem, continue to have the proper breecLng ground 10 Berlin. Along with the element of trans formation offered to Jewish life in Germany by (he growing number of Jewish immigrants from rhe formcr Soviel Union, a strong sense of renewal is also artributable ro the younger gefleration of German-born Jews who accept Germany, not only as cheir arbitrary binhplace, but also as a fertile environment for a progressively restrucrured Judaism. These rwo coUecu\·iues offer the most important model of restrucruring Je\\rish life III Germa ny because their basis of iden ti ty is nor grounded in one collective l11emory dominated by the I-Iolocaust. Also, both groups are im'olved in reimerpreung Judaism ahogether. For me time being, the Soviet Jews may not be very active within Jewish life, bur their participation at whatever level is cenain ly making a mark on the communltles they arc entering. ~ Iartin, a young father living in the Bavarian town of Regensburg, expressed enthusiasm at me growing presence of Soviet Jews in his congregation. Beyond Collective Memory I am happy that so man y Soviet Jews are entering our community. 1\ lost are older individuals bu t there are yOUllg families as weU and this is cenainly strengthening (he congregation. Were it nOi foc them, Saturday morning and ho ltday servIces would be empty. (Kurz, Personal l nterview) 193 For the mOSt pan, posf-J-I olocaustJewish communities around Germany have been slow to reestablish themselves outside of the spC::Clrum of politicized memory as diffcring Jewish and lion-Jewish German iOlerests deflect off one another. The Soviet pulse and the alrernative scene, however, counterbalance (hese barriers by shifting the focus and looking ahead. Jews from the former Sovier Union bring with (hem memories and perceptions o f German sooery mal are separate from the o therwise ubiquitous Holocaust lens. As such, clu:y are capable of establishing themselves in Germ:an society wlth a fu[Ure-oricmcd gaze. TIlis affecls change III the already established communities as weU. Arcady, a Jew from the former Soviet Union 111nlself, came to Germany in the first wave of Soviet immigration in the 1 970s. His impression concerning the current influx reveals its impact on Jewish life. Since coming to Germany in 1976 there have been tWO dramatic developments tbat are \\'orlb mentioning. The first has [Q do \\.;,11 the unification of Germany and the second with the reunil1cauon of BeIlin and the twO Jewish communities. A fte r the reunification, we encountered a huge wave of Jewish migration from the fanner SOVICI Union. The population of the community rose considerably in number. And there were cerwmly new pulses that came into the community wit h lhe new immigrants. Now the community is no lo nger monolingual, but bllmgual: German and Russian. (Fried, Personal Interview) Dinah, a young woman In her 20s, also considers the changes 194 Fonts on Clrll/(l/1 SllIdiu 10 me Jewish community brought on by me currem wave of immigracion. When I W2.S in OewishJ demenrary school, the kids there were all kids of survivors: people wbo came to Germany after the war. After the fall of the Berlin Will, many people came from !he East The community has already changed a lot because of that. (Gelehrter, Personal Interview) Mass migration into already fragmented Jewish commlllUties creates problems as well. Although heterogeneity within a community may prove to have many positive results, the threat 10 communal cohesiOn in the face of mlrutal, historic and differing religious o rientation inevitably arises. Frau Wolff, a German born Jew, speaks of her experience Uricll Soviet Jews in the Jewish seniors' resideoce where she currently lives. Immigration is a big topic these days. There are many Russian Jews coming into Germany now and they want nOlhing to do with us. TIley have a different menrali[}'. I am not judging this. I was also an immigrant at one pOint. Bur you have to adapt to the people in your new land as well. (Wolff, Personal I ncerview) Although It is Imponant [Q consider lhe effects that this new presence of Soviet Jews are having on rhe inner suucture and cohesion of rhe Jewish communities, it is also necessary [Q consider the extent to which Jews from .he former Soviet Union, drawing on a different sel of historical and culrural backgrounds, may influence and change current Jewish tife. Their influence on Je\.\':ish life is potenuaUy problematic because, coming from secular socialist states, this group is generally lacking in religious identification. This, howevcr, may quicldy change since they receive such a high Icvel of integra non IOto JeWIsh communities upon arrival in Germany. For most Jewish immigrants from the East, lhe fim exposure [0 German sociery is through the financial and social suPPOrt of Beyond Collective Memory 195 the Jewish communities. As such, it is raliler probable that their affiliation with Judaism will grow at leasl 10 some exrent. This new Jewish component in Germany redirects Ihe focus, if only partially, away from a Holocaust memory that is oflcn Imbedded In ideology and a consciousness of gUilt. For the most part, those people Interviewed who expressed tlle most optimistic accounts of the current slruanan of Jews in Germany were individuals directly involved with leadership positions in the community, those of German, as opposed to East- European Jewish background, and those who havc ties 10 more liberal leanings within Judaism. For Jews living in Germany today it seems as if acceptance of a permanent Jewish life in Germany functions primanly with a renegotiation of Judaism altogether. Tah, a woman III her early 205 of German-Jewish ancestry has spent her enurt life living in Germany and is an active member of the Egalitarian Jewish movement currently growing in Berlin. She is the first female C::UHor in tile country and is very 5upporuve of the progressive and alternative sueams of Judaism. ''Judaism here in Berlin is imcrc::song because it is so pluralistic," she says. "\,(/e have the Orthodox stream and the Conservative-Liberal, the Progressive, and even the EgalJ[arian synagogue that welcomes female cantors and rabbis. This is progress." \'(/hen asked wheliler or not she considered Germany to be her home, she enthusiastically agreed Ihat, reb', 2001. Ehrenberg, Yiahak. Personal Interview. August 23"', 2001. Eli. Pel:5ollai Interview. August 9010, 2001. Engclopedia Judaica. 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