#Jewish life in Germany

[jewsingermany]

For Stefanie Szczupak, Who is Intent on Rebuilding a Synagogue in Hamburg, a World Has Collapsed

Stefanie Szczupak, a passionate advocate for the restoration of the Bornplatz Synagogue in Hamburg, finds herself grappling with a harsh new reality. For years, she has been dedicated to preserving Jewish heritage, ensuring that history is remembered, and fostering dialogue to combat anti-Semitism. But since October 7, the world she knew has shattered in ways she never anticipated.

Szczupak is not only a key figure on the board of trustees for the Bornplatz Synagogue but also has deep personal ties to the Jewish community, having previously run the Jewish school in Hamburg. Her commitment to rebuilding the synagogue is driven by her belief that it represents a powerful "statement against anti-Semitism" and a reaffirmation of Jewish life. The construction site, however, now serves as a symbol of the painful history that it once held — a history marked by destruction, trauma, and loss.

Archaeologists working at the site have uncovered remnants of the horrors that befell the Bornplatz Synagogue during the November 1938 pogrom, known as Kristallnacht. As they dig, they discover broken windowpanes, charred objects, and other traces of the fire that destroyed the original structure. The excavation is closely guarded by armed security, with the nearby school also under protection. "Unfortunately, there is no other way," Szczupak says, emphasizing the need for security in these uncertain times.

While the reconstruction project remains a beacon of hope for the Jewish community, Szczupak's emotional world has been rocked by recent events. The wave of terror unleashed by Hamas on October 7 and the subsequent global outcry have forced her to confront difficult truths. Her once unwavering belief in Israel as a sanctuary for Jews has crumbled. "If worse comes to worst, there is a country where there are a lot of other Jews and where my family and I can live in safety," she reflects. But following the recent violence, Szczupak feels as though that safety net is no longer reliable.

The sense of security she once found in the solidarity of her fellow Germans has also evaporated. As the anniversary of the 1938 pogrom approaches, the mantra of "Never Again" — a phrase that for decades has been a reminder of the atrocities of the Holocaust — now seems to ring hollow. Instead of unity and condemnation of violence, Szczupak has heard troubling voices echoing support for the Hamas attacks or remaining silent altogether. "Now, though, instead of 'Never Again,' voices are saying 'Yes, But,'" she laments.

This betrayal has caused Szczupak to question the impact of her previous efforts to build understanding between communities. She recalls her past belief that engaging in dialogue would help others recognize Jews as "people too." But now, she wonders whether these initiatives have done anything to change perceptions. The horrifying celebration of violence and the casual justifications of murder that have surfaced in some corners of society have shaken her to her core.

Szczupak's upbringing as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor profoundly shaped her view of the world. Her father survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz, but the memories of those years are something Szczupak has carried with her throughout her life. She still has the pants her father wore when he managed to escape from a death march. Growing up, she listened to the stories of Holocaust survivors in her home — tales that painted a picture of unimaginable cruelty, yet left her struggling to fully comprehend the depths of suffering.

Now, after witnessing the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, Szczupak feels she has gained a deeper understanding of what happened during the Holocaust. The images of violence, combined with the celebratory reactions and justifications of murder in some places, have forced her to confront the reality of how hatred can spread unchecked. "You don’t just see the deeds themselves, but also those who celebrate or justify them," she says. This experience, she notes, allows her to glimpse the feeling of helplessness and isolation her father must have felt when the world turned a blind eye to the suffering of the Jewish people.

For Szczupak, this profound sense of betrayal and disillusionment has made her more determined than ever to continue her work. As the Bornplatz Synagogue slowly rises from the ashes of history, it will stand as both a testament to the resilience of the Jewish community and a reminder that the fight against hatred is far from over. Despite the pain she feels, Szczupak remains committed to ensuring that Jewish life, culture, and history are not erased but honored — now more than ever.

[lifeisnowx]

A few stickers I saw standing up against antisemitism and for the hostages in Germany.

Don't lose hope! 🇮🇱♥️🇩🇪

[koshercosplay]

got this amazing find at a secondhand jewish bookstore yesterday for only $2!!

[astriiformes]

Actually with the new more precise maps they released in the most recent update, I have been thinking more about the exact geography of Tassing and realizing that as someone who has done the drive from Munich to Innsbruck (via the Bundesautobahn 95 on the way to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, no less) I have probably driven through almost exactly the point on the map it's supposed to occupy, which is pretty neat. I love that a fictional town can still be so rooted in geographic and regional place, and it shows once more how much thought they put into the game.

[garbagequeer]

the thing about it (my german former professor not letting up on his zionism to this day + posting to say the reason spanish civil society stands with palestine while german civil society is more zionist is because spain has an antisemitism problem germany has reckoned with) is that i think you have to be at best completely fucking stupid to not include islamophobia in your analysis of the situation since the groups that are pushing antisemitism today are ensuring a wider social support by leading first with islamophobia + they usually stand with israel. so it is really really easy to see how actually most antisemites only accept jewish people through israel and for as long as israel continues to enact violence against arabs to ensure european interests and supremacy (they dont care about jewish people but through domination and colonialism israel is a european state). all while still either committing hate crimes agains jewish people in europe (as these people do not serve the purpose of israelis and therefore do not deserve european respect as they dont belong in a white supremacist european society) or trying to make antisemitism a thing in places with no significant jewish population (which makes it clear antisemitism is not just about jewish people but also about a white european identity). like i think it's at best idiocy and at worst and most likely extreme racism to not see the fates of jewish people and arab people as intertwined at least when it comes to european politics and society. you just want to pat yourself on the back for being a civilized white european instead of looking at the violence that is at the core of this identity at the expense of other people you have excluded from it + whose pain you deny is even happening in order to maintain it

[liamhoare]

On Jewish life in Berlin after October 7, 2023, for Ha'aretz (October 10, 2024)

[mrmichael55]

Might True Religion be Religionless?

FILE – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a TV screen as he appears in a video link provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service from the colony in Melekhovo, Vladimir region, during a hearing at the Russian Supreme Court in Moscow, Russia, on June 22, 2023. The Kremlin on Tuesday Dec. 12, 2023 bristled at the U.S. voicing concern about Navalny who has vanished from his…

[ayin-me-yesh]

I am so sick of the phrasing that Germany is persecuting supporters of Palestine because the German government feels "guilty" for the Holocaust.

Germany uses its support for Israel to offset its atrocities on to Palestinians. It uses its support for Israel to muddy the waters on what is and isn't antisemitism and to arrest anti-Zionist Jews. It uses its support for Israel to persecute, police, and deport Palestinian and Muslim migrants and then offset its obvious racism and Islamophobia on to Jews.

Germany has never fully reckoned with the white German gentile supremacy that caused the Holocaust. It has never reconciled with Jews. It never fully acknowledges the colonial violence that preceded the Holocaust or the Romani victims of the Porajmos.

Germany is a white supremacist state. Germany is a police state. Germany is a deeply Islamophobic and antisemitic state. The German government is an antagonist to Palestinians, Muslims, and Jews alike. The German state can shove its crocodile tears for the destruction of European and North African Jewish life up its filthy asshole.

[amalasdraws]

Germany is losing it Photography exhibition by photographer Raphael Malik, about Muslim life in Berlin was taken from an exhibit by the organizers “to avoid conflict” because they “did not want to take a political position”

For fuck's sake So just being Muslim, just existing, is now political and can't be shown on its own?!? They even acknowledge in their text that they know it has "nothing to do with the current conflict and shows Muslim life in Berlin" and yet here they are. Further they say they don't wanna show Muslim life on its own if there isn't a "Gegenpol" that shows Jewish life. In what mind is Muslim life the opposite of Jewish life??? In what mind does Muslim life have to show a counterpart and can't exist on it's own to not be offensive?? In what mind is Muslim life monolithic that isn't already diverse in itself?? Who is set in this intolerant and racist mindset, seeing that Muslim life can only exist in conflict and as a counterpart to jewish life?!? All of this is so fucked.

[the-library-alcove]

I'm an American national married to a German citizen and living in southwestern Germany. I am also a Jew who is the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors. I work for a local school as a teacher and afterschool helper.

In both the town I live in and the town I work in, there are remnants of Jewish life from before the Holocaust, but it is highly likely that I am the only Jew to set foot in either town in the present day.

Tomorrow is October 7th, 2024.

So what am I doing?

Tomorrow, I am bringing a few hundred honeycake muffins to work. They were made using my grandmother's recipe. I will be sharing them with my students and the rest of the school, for a sweet new year for them.

A recipe that the Nazis did their best to wipe out...

being shared by a Jewish teacher in a German school...

on the anniversary of the largest single massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Because we Are Still Here, and we will dance again. We shall share food, and kindness, and traditions, again.

Am Yisrael Chai

[odinsblog]

“I had a Zionist grandmother who grew up, she grew up in Poland, she was supposed to go to Israel to study. Her father had paid for her for the first year of tuition. And then in 1939, when she was in her last year of high school, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland.

She ended up for a couple of years in the Soviet-occupied part of Poland, which was how she ended up in Moscow. And by the time Germany occupied all of Poland. So then she spent the rest of her life living in Moscow.

And 45 years after the end of the war, dreaming of being able to go to Israel, but not being able to because she was now stuck in the Soviet Union. And so I think I was very infected by, infected in a non-derogatory sense, by my grandmother's dream of Israel. And I had my own dream of Israel growing up as a, as a Jewish kid who was bullied and beaten up and teased.

I just wanted to live in a country that, that was majority Jewish. I could not understand why my parents would want to go to the United States and live in another country where Jews are in the minority. My parents on the other hand just didn't want to be Jewish.

Like their only experience of being Jewish was being systematically discriminated against. They were both born during the Second World War, so they were second generation, utterly non-religious and separated from any Jewish tradition, except the tradition of being a targeted minority. So they just, they just wanted to go somewhere where they wouldn't be Jewish.

And so when I was 15, a year after we moved to the United States, I actually went to Israel planning to stay there and didn't. For a variety of reasons, but one of them was being confronted with, with what I found at the age of 15, a shockingly racist society.

So the first time I went to Israel was when I was 15, it was 1982. And then there was like an 18, 17 or 18 year gap.

And I started traveling to Israel regularly from 1999, 2000. And the first time I went back was to actually complete the research on the book about my grandmother's. So it's been a good 25 years that I've been coming back.

And I think Israel has undergone a lot of changes in that time. But no, I don't think that like the kind of Ashkenazi Sephardic racism that shocked me in 1982 has found subtler expressions. But politics of settlement have only been exacerbated.

And I still find them extremely painful to observe, especially because some of my beloved relatives are settlers.

I did visit them this last time I was in Israel, because I really wanted to see what it looked like for them.

I was compelled to go visit them because of a Facebook post that my cousin made. And just to give you an idea, I really hold these people very, very dear. But for years, I would go to Israel, Palestine and not tell them that I was there, because I kind of couldn't face them.

So it's been a number of years since I last saw them, a number of years since I went to that settlement. But my cousin had posted something on Facebook. It was a picture of her son playing the violin.

And she wrote, in one of the houses where they stayed in Gaza, there was a violin. He played for his soldiers and then put the violin back. And I found that post-heart-rending and eye-opening, the picture of him playing the violin was not from Gaza.

It was from earlier, but he had apparently told her about playing the violin in Gaza. And obviously she was worried about her son serving in Gaza and so she's posting about it. And she wants to assert that he is a good boy.

But also, entirely missing from that post and from her world view is that somebody lived in that house in Gaza. That violin belonged to somebody. Like, it was such an extraordinary example of the blindness that we were talking about a little bit earlier that I wanted to go visit them and kind of engage with that blindness more.

And I got a really good dose of blindness to the point where, and we had this incredible moment when we went walking around the settlement after Shabbat lunch. And we sort of got to this hilltop where there's a swing and there's a little free library.

And we're looking out on a Palestinian village. And I said, what are we looking at, to my cousin? And she was trying to get her bearings.

And she said, where are we looking? And she named another settlement, which was kind of, which was not on our line of sight. It was like this literal example of looking at an actual Palestinian village that she drives past every day.

And before the village was sealed off after October 7th, she used to get gas there. And she knows it exists. But somehow she, also it also doesn't enter her geography.

It is nameless.”

—Masha Gessen, the descendant of Holocaust survivors, discusses the dehumanization of Palestinians (part 2 of 3)

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Hedy Lamarr (Samson and Delilah, Ziegfeld Girl)—Look. I'm sure someone has already submitted Hedy Lamarr because she was spectacularly beautiful, and a very strong lady too: she fled both an abusive marriage AND nazi persecution at a very young age and rebuilt a life for herself pursuing her love for acting all on her own!! Her career as an actress was stellar; while she began acting outside of Hollywood (her very first movie, Ecstasy, won a prize at the Venice Film Festival), she conquered American hearts very quickly with her first movie in the US, Algiers, and then just kept getting better and better. If all this isn't enough, she was also an inventor: her invention of the frequency-hopping spread spectrum radio transmission technique forms the base of bluetooth and has a lot of applications in all kinds of communication technologies. I think that deserves a prize, don't you?

Marilyn Monroe (How to Marry a Millionaire, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot)— Ngl I thought you all were lying about sexual attraction until I saw Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

This is round 6 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Hedy Lamarr:

The only person you can find both on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in the Inventor's Hall of Fame--her radio-frequency-hopping technology forms the basis for cordless phones, wi-fi, and a dozen other aspects of modern life. She was also passionate in her efforts to aid the Allies in WWII (unsurprising for a Jewish-Austrian Emigree to America), and her name served as the backbone for one of the best running jokes in what is possibly Mel Brooks' best movie. Look, Louis B. Mayer apparently believed he could plausibly promote her as "The world's most beautiful woman". Is an entire website full of people going to be less audacious than one Louis B. Mayer? I didn't think so!

Described as "Hedy has the most incredible personal sophistication. She knows the peculiarly European art of being womanly; she knows what men want in a beautiful woman, what attracts them, and she forces herself to be these things. She has magnetism with warmth, something that neither Dietrich nor Garbo has managed to achieve" by Howard Sharpe, she managed to escape her controlling husband (and Nazi Germany) by a) Disguising as her maid and fleeing to Paris or b) Convincing the husband to let her wear all of her jewelry to a dinner, only to disappear afterwards. Also she was particularly clever and helped develop Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum (I can't really explain it but anyway...)

Her depiction of Delilah and Samson and Delilah just lives rent free in my head. The woman was gorgeous.

One of the most beautiful women ever in film, spoken by many critics and fans. Beautiful shapely figure, deeper seductive voice, and often played femme fatale roles. She was also brilliant and an inventor. Mainly self-taught, she invested her spare time, including on set between takes, in designing and drafting inventions, which included an improved traffic stoplight and a tablet that would dissolve in water to create a flavored carbonated drink, and much more.

Gorgeous and brilliant pioneer of modern technology and the middle part.

Marilyn Monroe:

She's amazing!!! A classic bombshell, as well as a strong women who overcame so many obstacles. She also advocated for others, like Ella Fitzgerald.

That fucking saxophone that cuts in whenever she appears on screen in Some Like it Hot

I mean, it's Marilyn Monroe. She's adorable. She's gorgeous. She funny. She's the total package

She's the original American sex symbol, an iconic beautiful woman with eyes you could get lost in, legs for days, gorgeous hair, and a cute tummy. Her voice! Just listen to her voice!!!!!

She is considered one of THE sex symbols of the 1960s and one of the greatest actresses of all time! She HAS to be on this list!

no vintage movie woman is more iconically hot

People are most familiar with pictures of her in the white dress or the Happy Birthday Mr President one, but imo she is at her most beautiful and looks most comfortable when she is photographed by women like Eve Arnold

It’s Marilyn Monroe. If Aphrodite was an actual person, she’d be Marilyn. Do I really need to say more?

What can I say that hasn't been said? Marilyn's legacy is so much bigger than she was in life. She's a defining symbol of 50s and 60s Hollywood sex and it's obvious why. She was absolutely stunning and the camera loved her.

[matan4il]

Thinking about the three Jewish female fencing Olympic medalists who won gold, bronze and silver at the 1936 "Nazi" Olympics in Berlin. Thinking about how they proved Jews, including Jewish women, can defy all prejudiced expectations, and kick ass.

Left to right: gold to bronze medals at fencing at the 1936 Olympics

Thinking about how Helene Mayer, the silver medalist, was used by the Nazis to dismiss accusations of antisemitism, using her as a token Jew, by threatening the life of her family. Thinking about how dangerous, vile and antisemitic it is to tokenize Jews, a lesson that 2020's Tumblr has yet to learn.

Thinking about how Ellen Müller-Preis, the bronze medalist, wanted to compete in the 1932 Olympics for her birth country, Germany, a year before the Nazis came to power, but she wasn't allowed to for being Jewish. She won gold at those Olympic games while representing Austria, angering the same German Olympic committee that had rejected her. Thinking about how antisemitism means Jews are damned if they do, dammed if they don't, and damned into don't.

Thinking about how Ilona Elek-Schacherer, the gold medalist, won more international fencing titles than any woman in history to this day. Thinking about how the Nazis' "master race" couldn't outdo the "subhuman" Jew, but they did genocide us. Thinking about Nazis and Hamasniks, about what it says regarding them, that they feel they have to exterminate us and no other option will do.

[undaughtered]

do you have any favourite historical overviews or introductions to christian mysticism that you could please recommend? ilysm habibti

works marked with * are what i would recommend for absolute beginners on the topic.

introductory works:

thomas merton, a course in christian mysticism: thirteen sessions ith the famous trappist monk*

william a. richards, sacred knowledge: psychadelics and religious experiences (on the practical applications of entheogenic, or drug-induced, mysticism)

william james, the varieties of religious experience, especially lectures 16 and 17*

bernard mcginn, the essentials of christian mysticism (arguably the best starter anthology of christian mystical writing)*

mircea eliade, the sacred and the profane

robert s. ellwood, mysticism and religion*

ed. amy hollywood, the cambridge companion to christian mysticism*

steven t. katz (ed.), mysticism and sacred scripture, especially the first chapter, "mysticism and the interpretation of sacred scripture," and the second chapter, "mysticism and scriptural justification"

primary works:

anon, the cloud of unknowing and other works (a.c. sperings translation for penguin is probably the most accessible)

teresa of avila, the life of saint tereesa of avila by herself

simone weil, waiting for god*

julian of norwich, revelations of divine love*

john of the cross, spiritual canticle (i recommend this to newcomers to christian mysticism over dark night of the soul, which is extremely dense and often devastating)

meister eckhart's sermons- though the book i'm linking is essentially a primer to german mystics

hildegard of bingen's scivias; but this selected works is a good place to start

margery kempe, the book of margery kempe by herself*

bernard of clairvaux’s sermons on song of songs*

marguerite porete, the mirror of simple souls

rebecca jackson, gifts of power*

catherine of siena, dialog

secondary works:

evelyn underhill, mysticism: a study in the nature and development of spiritual consciousness

evelyn underhill, practical mysticism*

caroline walker bynum, jesus as mother: studies in the spirituality of the high middle ages

caroline walker bynum, wonderful blood: theology and practice in late medieval northern germany and beyond

caroline walker bynum, holy feast and holy fast: the religious significance of food to medieval women*

grace m. jantzen, "eros and the abyss: reading medieval mystics in postmodernity"

grace m. jantzen, becoming divine: towards a feminist philosophy of religion

denys turner, the darkness of god: negativity in christian mysticism

jeffrey kripal, roads of excess palaces of wisdom: eroticism and reflexivity in the study of mysticism (+a lecture by him)

marsha aileen hewitt, freud on religion*

sarah clairmont, "she'll eat him up she loves him so" (one of my all time favourite papers)

also, the bible: which is probably the most vital of works on christian mysticism, as nothing you read about mysticism will not be influenced by it. i personally have recently been reading a combination of the JPS tanakh and the jewish annotated new testament, but the new revised standard edition (+apocrypha) is generally standard. if you are reading the bible academically for learning about mysticism, or have absolutely no background with reading the bible, i recommend the following books specifically:

the torah (genesis*, exodus*, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy*)

the major prophets isaiah* and ezekiel*

the minor prophets (all of which constitute my favourite part of the bible) joel*, jonah*, micah*, malachai*

psalms*, job*, the song of songs*

the gospels, especially mark* and john (mark is the oldest and most "jewish," john is the most recent and most "gentile"; matthew and luke are probably more familiar than both)

the epistles: james*, jude*, 1-3 john, 1-2 peter, hebrews

the revelation to john

everything i've recommended here you can find online (internet archive or annasarchive); i've also tried to keep it extremely general and limited to work that i've personally read and vetted. if there's specific aspects or topics you're interested in (ie women's mysticism, medieval mysticism, mysticism and eating, freud and mysticism, commentaries on specific mystics etc) just drop me an ask! very honoured you've asked me beloved <3

[romanceyourdemons]

these days film is such an established cultural fixture that virtually every artistic and political leaning interfaces with film in some way, but in the 1910s-30s film was new and niche enough that it was generally associated with a single group in each film industry, and it’s interesting to see how that plays into the skeletons in the closet of the film world.

in europe, the birthplace of the moving picture, film was an intensely innovative artistic technology, and as such it was largely associated with avant-garde artistic groups. in italy that artistic movement was futurism, which, innovation- and masculinity-obsessed as they were, infamously threw their lot in with the fascists as a movement, and italian film made the smooth transition to being almost exclusively fascist propaganda, with cabiria (1914) standing as the unfortunate but indisputable gem of early italian filmmaking. by contrast, in germany the primary avant-garde artistic movement was german expressionism, which attracted many jewish, queer, and mentally ill artists, as well as many who sympathized or were artistically interested in them. as such, early german film experienced a hard reset in the mid-30s, with the traditions of early greats like metropolis (1927) transplanting wholesale to america as a new, more italian-style tradition of greats like the triumph of the will (1935) muscled into the void.

on another hand, in america, birthplace of the movie, film arrived on the west coast not as a new technology but as an entertainment technology, and as such it interfaced smoothly with the existing entertainment infrastructure, both on the artists’ and the audience’s side. vaudeville-trained audiences looked for newer and bigger visual spectacles, which could only be provided by a corporatized film industry with lots of capital and a willingness to cater to the lowest common denominator of audience interest and belief. as a result, the hugely innovative cornerstone films of the early american film world were largely either deeply conservative and bigoted (the birth of a nation (1917)) or fundamentally rooted in vaudeville and minstrelsy (the jazz singer (1927)).

on a third hand, china received film technology fully developed from europe and america the same way europe received printing from china in the 15th century. as a result, film was intrinsically western, smacking slightly of colonialism, and the only people who had both knowledge of and interest in filmmaking were paris-educated to some degree—in a similar way and to a greater extent than running a newspaper, making film was a behavior of anti-traditionalist leftists. i have not seen a single pre-1966 chinese film that is not consciously leftist, progressivist, feminist, and anti-traditionalist, and i’ve seen the names of some of china’s most significant revolutionary thinkers and actors in the credits. and so, put bluntly, this means that most of the pillars of early chinese film were hunted like dogs by three governments in a row before being posthumously rehabilitated in the mid 1970s. by that time most of the pillars of early european film were dead, blacklisted as fascists and collaborators, or retired in america, and most of the pillars of early american film were getting bit parts in the worst slop movies you’ve ever seen in your life. interesting stuff!