Sojourners: The Return of German Jews and the Question of Identity (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780803212558)

"A firsthand confrontation with the inner fears and the outer realities of [German Jews] as they themselves reflect post-Shoah history and experience. This is not merely lived 'history, ' it is 'history' with a living face."--Sander L. Gilman This absorbing book of interviews takes one to the heart of modern German Jewish history. Of the eleven German Jews interviewed, four are from West Berlin, and seven are from East Berlin. The interviews provide an exceptionally varied and intimate portrait of Jewish experience in twentieth-century Germany. There are first-hand accounts of the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era, the Holocaust, and the divided Germany of the Cold War era. There are also vivid descriptions of the new united Germany, with its alarming resurgence of xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Some of the men and women interviewed affirm their dual German and Jewish identities with vigor. There is the West Berliner, for instance, who proclaims, "I am a German Jew. I want to live here." Others describe the impossibility of being both German and Jewish: "I don't have anything in common with the whole German people." Many confess to profound ambivalence, such as the East Berliner who feels that he is neither a native nor a foreigner in Germany: "If someone asks me, 'Who are you?' then I can only say, 'I am a fish out of water.'" Uncertain, angry, resolute, anguished--the diverse testimonies of these people provide startling evidence that "the history of German Jews is not over."

Author: John Borneman,Jeffrey M. Peck
ISBN-10: 0803212550
ISBN-13: 9780803212558
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Language: English
Published: 10/01/1995
Pages: 309
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.47lbs
Size: 9.20h x 7.16w x 1.57d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 10/01/1995 pg. 1392
Booklist 11/15/1995 pg. 533