The Future of the German-Jewish Past : Memory and the Question of Antisemitism

• TeilnehmendeR: Franklin, Diana.; Reuveni, Gideon.
• Place / Publishing House: West Lafayette, IN : : Purdue University Press,, 2020.; ©2020.
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (1 online resource 299 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

"Germany's acceptance of its direct responsibility for the Holocaust has strengthened its relationship with Israel and has led to a deep commitment to combat antisemitism and rebuild Jewish life in Germany. As we draw close to a time when there will be no more firsthand experience of the horrors of the Holocaust, there is great concern about what will happen when German responsibility turns into history. Will the present taboo against open antisemitism be lifted as collective memory fades? There are alarming signs of the rise of the far right, which includes blatantly antisemitic elements, already visible in public discourse. But it is mainly the radicalization of the otherwise moderate Muslim population of Germany and the entry of almost a million refugees since 2015 from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan that appears to make German society less tolerant and somewhat less inhibited about articulating xenophobic attitudes. The evidence is unmistakable-overt antisemitism is dramatically increasing once more. The Future of the German-Jewish Past deals with the formidable challenges created by these developments. It is conceptualized to offer a variety of perspectives and views on the question of the future of the German-Jewish past. The volume addresses topics such as antisemitism, Holocaust memory, historiography, and political issues relating to the future relationship between Jews, Israel, and Germany. While the central focus of this volume is Germany, the implications go beyond the German-Jewish experience and relate to some of the broader challenges facing modern societies today"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

THE PERSONAL, THE HISTORICAL, AND THE MAKING OF GERMAN-JEWISH MEMORY -- "No More Mr. Nice Guy" : Questioning the Ideal of Assimilation -- Generation in Flux : Diasporic Reflections on the Future of German-Jewishness -- Home on the Balcony : New Initiatives for the Preservation of Documents and Material Objects Relating to German-Jewish History -- From Object to Subject : Representing Jews and Jewishness at the Jewish Museum Berlin

Past Imperfect, Future Tense : A Mother's Letter about Loss, Storytelling, and the Profound Ambivalence of the German-Jewish Legacy -- LOOKING BACK TO FUTURE VISIONS OF THE GERMAN-JEWISH PAST -- The Ever-Dying Jewry? Prophets of Doom and the Survival of European Jewry -- The Thin Crust of Civilization : Lessons from the German-Jewish Past -- The Dialectics of Tradition : German-Jewish Studies and the Future -- "Noch ist unsere Hoffnung nicht dahin!" Fritz Pinkuss's View on Germans, Jews, and the Universal Value of the German-Jewish Past -- GERMAN-JEWISHNESS AND DIFFERENCE

On the Possibilities and Impossibilities of Being Jewish in Postwar Germany -- Jewish Studies without the "Other" -- Rethinking Jews, Antisemitism, and Jewish Difference in Postwar Germany -- Newspaper Feuilletons : Reflections on the Possibilities of German-Jewish Authorship and Literature -- THE GERMAN-ISRAELI COMPLEX -- Navigating Mythical Time : Israeli Jewish Migrants and the Identity Play of Mirrors -- "The Sun Does Not Shine, It Radiates" : On National(ist) Mergings in German Philosemitic Imagery of Tel Aviv -- Does the German-Jewish Past Have a Future in Israel?

NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR GERMAN-JEWISH STUDIES -- The Psychology of Antisemitism Revisited -- Jewish and German : The Leo Baeck Institute Archives and Library -- Toward a Transnational Jewish Historiography : Reflections on a Possible Future Path for the German-Jewish Past -- Digital German-Jewish Futures : Experiential Learning, Activism, and Entertainment.