Resurgence of Jewish Life in Germany

Subjects:

• Multicultural Studies » Jewish Studies
• Political Science » International Relations
• Multicultural Studies » European Studies

Reviews:

• [Resurgence offers a fascinating window on the perceptions and relationships between middle-class, educated and urban Gentiles and Jews in Germany today. Kahn's optimistic findings are part of a debate that will undoubtedly continue for a long time to come.
  —German Studies Review May 2006
• This book makes for interesting reading and is certainly a welcome addition to the literature on Jewish life in Germany today. It should appeal to sociologists or other individuals studying contemporary German Jewry. It should also interest lay readers looking to learn more about Jewish life in today's Germany.
  —H-German June 2005
• [A] thoughtful volume on an interesting subject....Psychoanalytically informed sociologists, historians, interdisciplinary doctoral students, and other scholars will find Kahn's book to be an especially good resource for further idea generation.
  —The Psychoanalytic Review October 2005

• Endorsement From Werner Schmidt
  Consul
  German Consulate General, New York: 60 years after the Holocaust, Germany now has the fastest-growing Jewish community worldwide. Charlotte Kahn was born in Germany at a time when the German-Jewish symbiosis that had flourished since the Enlightenment was being destroyed by the Nazis. Taking a critical yet sympathetic view, she asks why Jews are again making their home in Germany and ponders whether 'Jews in Germany' can ever again become 'Jewish Germans'.
• Endorsement From Dr. Susannah Heschel
  Eli Black Associate Professor of Jewish Studies
  Dartmouth College: Few issues are more deeply troubling to Jews today than the nature of their relationship with contemporary Germans. Herself a refugee from Hitler's Germany, Dr. Charlotte Kahn presents an exquisitely sensitive portrait of the struggles faced by Jews and Germans as they forge a relationship rooted in their rememberance of the horrors of the Holocaust. This book offers hope and inspiration, even as it carefully delineates all the complexities of the post-war relationship between victims and perpetrators, their children and their grandchildren.
• Endorsement From Peter Sartorius
  Journalist: It is an excellent, captivating piece- seen from a literary angle as well as from a scientific point of view. Every line documents that the book is written by somebody who is used to analyzing facts and feelings. I am sure that American readers will share this opinion.
• Endorsement From Judith Shulevitz: Rarely in history do we see a case of mutual unrequited longing as poignant as that of some Jews to be accepted once again by Germany and that of some Germans to be forgiven by Jews. Charlotte Kahn, through dogged interviewing of Jews living in Germany and their German neighbors, has uncovered a phenomenon that defies the cold logic of ethnic self-interest. Even though the Jews who want to be integrated into German society and the Germans who want to make them feel welcome have yet to dismantle the social, linguistic, and historical barriers that stand in their way, their passion and idealism give us hope for the future.

Table of Contents:

• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction
• The Lay of the Land
• Who's Who?
• Boundaries and Bridges
• Prejudice and Penitence
• Youth
• Churches and Synagogues
• Mourning and Fear, or Renaissance
• The Interview Partners
• Glossary
• Selected Bibliography
• Index