Israelis flock ‘back’ to Germany
BERLIN — “My grandmother was three when she had to escape Nazi Germany with her family,” says Shiri Rosen, one of thousands of Israelis to have moved “back” to Germany in recent years. “My great-grandfather was a lawyer, his office was right near here,” the 24-year-old told AFP in a cafe in central Berlin, pointing over her shoulder to a parallel street. “When I was a kid, in Israel, she (her grandmother) bounced me on her knee, singing a song in German ... They were the only words in German I ever heard from her.” Before Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, Berlin had a thriving Jewish population numbering around 170,000, many of them professionals such as doctors and lawyers, or intellectuals and artists. But this vibrant community was decimated in the 12 years of terror that followed as the Nazis murdered six million men, women and children across Europe in their attempt to destroy the Jewish race. Unsurprisingly, once World War II was over and the new state of Israel came into being in 1948, the few Jews who had miraculously survived were loath to stay in Germany, in the “Land der Taeter” (“country of the perpetrators”). But today, decades later, with an ever-dwindling number of Holocaust survivors still around, the scars are slowly healing and Germany is becoming an attractive place to live for many Israelis. A steady trickle has been returning to make use of a law allowing descendants to claim German citizenship. “Germany today is a haven of peace for the descendants of those who, one day, fled the country because they were in danger,” says Ilan Weiss, who moved from Israel 20 years ago. “The fact that Jews are coming here again constitutes for Germany a certificate that it is acceptable again.” In 2008, the last year for which figures are available, almost 2,000 Israelis became naturalized German citizens. Two years earlier, more than 4,300 did so..... MORE Source: The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100622com3.html |
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