1 00:00:02,280 --> 00:00:06,809 Well, good afternoon. My name is Jacobi. 2 00:00:06,810 --> 00:00:11,640 I go for those of you who do not know me and I'm delighted to present a speaker today, 3 00:00:12,060 --> 00:00:20,370 Professor Larissa Rummenigge, who is the head of the Sociology and Topology Department in Berlin. 4 00:00:20,370 --> 00:00:29,399 Diversity. She's also obviously a professor at the department. Professor Remnick's research focuses on immigration and migrant integration, 5 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:35,310 cross-cultural relations, family, gender and health challenges that immigration entails. 6 00:00:35,850 --> 00:00:45,930 She has published five books and a century of articles and book chapters, specifically on the issues of Russian Jewish migrants and global diaspora. 7 00:00:46,350 --> 00:00:49,800 And the title of her talk today is the Israeli Diaspora in Berlin. 8 00:00:50,310 --> 00:00:57,280 Back to being Jewish. That was the thing with the question mark, which I think I love. 9 00:00:57,420 --> 00:01:00,950 So I have to be tied to this. Somebody would share with you. 10 00:01:01,310 --> 00:01:06,180 Okay. I'm actually more comfortable standing. 11 00:01:06,180 --> 00:01:09,800 May I? Yeah. I'm not. Not tall enough to be sitting. 12 00:01:09,810 --> 00:01:12,930 You won't see me. And so. Good afternoon. 13 00:01:12,930 --> 00:01:13,830 I'm happy to be here. 14 00:01:14,610 --> 00:01:21,209 My visit was on the question until the very last moment, because of the travel disruptions and, you know, cancellations and delays. 15 00:01:21,210 --> 00:01:24,840 But I'm here, thank God. And in one piece, too, which is important. 16 00:01:25,590 --> 00:01:29,040 So I'm going to talk about the issues. 17 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:40,290 That was a subject of my research on my last sabbatical five years ago when I went to Berlin to study 18 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:49,830 what's going on with the then new Israeli Hebrew speaking community that emerged there over those years. 19 00:01:51,000 --> 00:02:01,110 And back then, it was a very big shock both to the Israeli establishment and the policymakers and the wide public. 20 00:02:01,740 --> 00:02:06,930 What the [INAUDIBLE] were those young Israelis doing in the former capital of the Third Reich? 21 00:02:08,100 --> 00:02:12,660 And it was a big shock on the sound, the receiving side in the capital of the Third Reich. 22 00:02:12,690 --> 00:02:20,030 They were very surprised to see so many Hebrew speaking Israelis in the streets of Berlin over a very short period of time. 23 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,340 The influx happened pretty much after 2010. 24 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:32,249 So as a sociologist and social anthropologist, I was curious to see what attracts them to to that place. 25 00:02:32,250 --> 00:02:37,920 How do they feel there, how they encounter between them and the German society happens, if at all. 26 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:41,650 And this is what I'm going to talk about today. 27 00:02:41,670 --> 00:02:46,079 I think that I have like 45 minutes, something like that for the presentation. 28 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:52,770 And you are welcome to ask questions of clarification as we go. 29 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,460 And then we'll leave the discussion to the end. 30 00:02:56,730 --> 00:02:59,850 The only thing I would need is a glass of water. Can you arrange for that? 31 00:03:00,300 --> 00:03:10,170 Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So you see a couple of pictures, too, to set the tone of this discussion. 32 00:03:10,830 --> 00:03:19,409 It's one represents a typical street graffiti in Berlin, which is about boycotting Israel. 33 00:03:19,410 --> 00:03:34,080 And my visit happened to happen right after the big Gaza wars 2014, right when the anti-Israeli campaigning and street events were on their peak. 34 00:03:34,890 --> 00:03:41,790 And the other is the pro-Israeli, the one of the holidays, probably the Independence Day. 35 00:03:42,270 --> 00:03:47,490 The local Jewish community established the light performance, 36 00:03:50,670 --> 00:03:57,630 putting the main symbol of the Israeli state on the Brandenburg Gate, which is, of course, a very symbolic place in Berlin. 37 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:00,950 So it's all very controversial, as you can guess from that. 38 00:04:01,930 --> 00:04:09,090 This is one of the a snapshot of a publication in Haaretz, our progressive left wing daily, 39 00:04:10,410 --> 00:04:17,370 that is asking all those questions about Israeli immigration slowing down despite fears of Berlin. 40 00:04:17,370 --> 00:04:23,549 And the so called aliya is, of course, immigration to Israel. So it's an ironic kind of Berlin aliyah. 41 00:04:23,550 --> 00:04:33,480 They can't be such a thing. And the questions that the journalists are asking, why they slowing down, what's happening to those who are there? 42 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:39,510 Will they return? So it's just a the issue is very much in the spotlight in those days. 43 00:04:42,250 --> 00:04:51,120 And let's start from from a brief background on what are Israelis doing in Berlin? 44 00:04:51,130 --> 00:04:53,290 How did they get there? Thank you very much. 45 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:04,360 Actually, the history of relations between the Jewish people and the German nation and the German capital, of course, 46 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:11,320 is very, very complex and twisted and burdened with a tragedy of the Holocaust that happened just one generation ago. 47 00:05:12,340 --> 00:05:25,149 So basically, for the initial post-war decades, there were no Jews in Berlin and a very, very small remnants of the Jewish communities, 48 00:05:25,150 --> 00:05:29,830 some of the displaced persons who remained in Germany or returned to Germany after the war, 49 00:05:30,670 --> 00:05:38,170 and some immigrants to Palestine, Israel, who left on the eve of the Second World War, 50 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:44,409 the refugees from the Nazi regime in the thirties who wanted to go back for some reasons. 51 00:05:44,410 --> 00:05:44,510 Why? 52 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:53,020 Because the German Jews were so-called victim, we call them here came because there were jackets and nobody else but the German Jews we objected to. 53 00:05:53,350 --> 00:06:02,709 So they came. Some of them wanted to go back to, you know, to the heart of the European culture as they see it, to be to live in Germany again. 54 00:06:02,710 --> 00:06:10,570 But we're speaking about a couple of thousand of people. So it was very small presence of former Israelis in Berlin. 55 00:06:11,350 --> 00:06:20,200 And then the second wave appears in Berlin with the disruption of the nineties when the Berlin Wall falls down and the two German is stark, 56 00:06:20,500 --> 00:06:29,050 the merger that took a few years. And this was a period of huge opportunity, particularly economic opportunity and adventure. 57 00:06:29,170 --> 00:06:36,840 The country was tenuous and changing, and there were many opportunities for business, particularly with real estate, that was very cheap. 58 00:06:36,850 --> 00:06:43,600 So many Israelis found themselves there. Not many were speaking about a couple of dozen maybe, but there was some presence, you know. 59 00:06:45,370 --> 00:06:50,529 And so the way we are talking about this major influx, again, in relative terms, again, 60 00:06:50,530 --> 00:07:00,130 we're not speaking about any mass event, but a more visible presence of Israelis in Berlin starts around 2010, 61 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:12,160 which reflects the third generation of the Holocaust survivors, many of them getting, by that time, German passports or other European passports. 62 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:21,940 There is an event that we are still trying to explain in Israel this session of passion. 63 00:07:21,940 --> 00:07:26,049 I don't know of young Israelis to try and get European citizenship right. 64 00:07:26,050 --> 00:07:33,250 Of their grandparents, because many European nations have citizen citizenship laws by ancestry. 65 00:07:33,250 --> 00:07:38,229 And so the when they grandparents were forcibly evacuated from Europe during the war, 66 00:07:38,230 --> 00:07:43,690 they agreed that children and grandchildren can get back, particularly German, Polish and Romanian passports. 67 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:46,749 And all of them are members of the European Union. 68 00:07:46,750 --> 00:07:56,410 So once you have any European passport, you can travel and study and have social rights in Europe regardless of what's your passport. 69 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:05,290 So it is estimated that about 150,000 Israelis have got European Union passports recently. 70 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:13,510 And there's very interesting sociological research by Scott Kirkpatrick, who is trying to understand, 71 00:08:13,510 --> 00:08:20,200 you know, to figure out why they do that and what does it mean for them. For most, it's just the insurance policy. 72 00:08:20,830 --> 00:08:22,840 They don't use it, really, but some of them do. 73 00:08:22,930 --> 00:08:30,850 And so some of those who went to Germany after 2010 have European passports, which makes it much easier for them, of course. 74 00:08:32,110 --> 00:08:47,980 And but the push factor that was probably very central in starting this immigration wave was the failed social protests of 2011. 75 00:08:48,790 --> 00:08:56,739 Those of you who are plugged in to some extent what's going on in Israel may have heard that nine years ago. 76 00:08:56,740 --> 00:09:04,240 By now we had this big wave of national mainly located in in greater Tel Aviv, but also in other cities, 77 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:13,959 protests by young Israelis pretty much against the high living costs and social injustices that is known by the name, by the Hebrew name. 78 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:23,800 PRASHAD The milky milky is a meal, is a dairy dessert that is like ten times cheaper in Germany than than in Israel. 79 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:30,670 And so it symbolises huge gap in the costs of living in Israel vis a vis any European country, 80 00:09:30,670 --> 00:09:34,160 particularly East German cities, because Berlin is an eastern city. 81 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:43,030 So it's it's a symbolic name for those protests that did not achieve a lot of change socially. 82 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:47,080 So there was a lot of frustration after this campaign. 83 00:09:48,340 --> 00:09:58,390 And many Israelis decided that they have to look for, you know, for their professional and personal prospects elsewhere. 84 00:09:59,170 --> 00:10:02,920 And in those years, Berlin seemed like a very attractive option. 85 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:20,049 So an estimated 15,000 of Israelis found themselves in Berlin, probably about 10,000 in other major German cities. 86 00:10:20,050 --> 00:10:26,920 But Berlin is a major attraction, which is a number, you know, that is in flux. 87 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:33,880 And it's an estimate. We don't know actually how many Israelis are in Berlin, first of all, because they come and go. 88 00:10:34,090 --> 00:10:41,650 It's for many, it's a sojourn. It's an adventure. They come and stay for some months or years and then they go elsewhere or go back to Israel. 89 00:10:42,250 --> 00:10:49,420 And then because we don't know the exact numbers, because the German authorities are very reluctant to reveal them, they have them suddenly, 90 00:10:49,810 --> 00:10:58,150 because everyone who lives in Germany for more than two weeks, I think, has to register with their address and get the piece of paper. 91 00:10:58,150 --> 00:11:02,799 Otherwise they can't get anything, you know, and so they know the numbers, but they would not reveal them. 92 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:08,140 I tried to get them in the Berlin summit and failed because the German authorities 93 00:11:08,140 --> 00:11:13,210 are very unwilling to publish any official statistics about the Jews of any kind. 94 00:11:13,420 --> 00:11:24,819 You know, the numbers and Israelis are perceived as probably Jews over those years, particularly in 2014, 95 00:11:24,820 --> 00:11:34,660 15, 16, there was a lot of interest in this emigre group, both in German and Israeli mass media television. 96 00:11:35,230 --> 00:11:48,910 There were several documentaries, endless reports and interviews with those who chose to move to Germany because, of course, the this event, 97 00:11:48,910 --> 00:11:59,020 this new migration seemed very counterintuitive on both sides, both for the Israeli establishment, 98 00:12:00,550 --> 00:12:04,900 immigration authorities, government, you know, policy people, media people. 99 00:12:05,500 --> 00:12:13,239 Why, of all places, Berlin, because historically it was a taboo for several generations of Israelis, 100 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:17,440 particularly all the Israelis who are closer to the war and the Holocaust, 101 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:24,400 even to set their foot on the German land, even to buy German products, to speak German. 102 00:12:24,550 --> 00:12:31,600 It was a no no thing. You know, there was a huge disconnect between everything Israeli, Jewish and everything German. 103 00:12:31,900 --> 00:12:37,510 And then the bridge being built suddenly the human bridge, those young people streaming into Berlin. 104 00:12:37,930 --> 00:12:42,040 And then the German hosts were also very surprised about, you know, why are they coming? 105 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:45,609 What are we looking for here? At the same time, 106 00:12:45,610 --> 00:12:50,680 the German government said the conditions of relative ease for the Israeli 107 00:12:51,220 --> 00:12:55,970 holders of the Israeli passport to set foot in Germany for up to six months. 108 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:04,360 They could get a visa for looking for a job or learning German and then maybe continuing to study in German universities because of course, 109 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:08,540 the university. Jews in Germany are free of charge and everyone can study. 110 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:13,219 The only condition is your academic credentials and the command of German. 111 00:13:13,220 --> 00:13:20,060 You have to learn German first because 95% of academic studies in Germany are in the German language. 112 00:13:21,260 --> 00:13:27,499 So it is quite easy for those who are interested. It was quite easy, I assume that it now it's a little bit different. 113 00:13:27,500 --> 00:13:33,140 They have changed because they have got too many Israelis by now. But back then it was quite easy to come there. 114 00:13:34,850 --> 00:13:37,879 So there was a lot of media spotlight on this event. 115 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:44,780 And then there was a quite popular Hebrew book by a sociologist from the Hebrew University by the name of Gharbiya Ear, 116 00:13:45,620 --> 00:13:50,960 who published an interesting book in Hebrew called Vasan in Practice. 117 00:13:50,970 --> 00:14:03,980 And this is the law was not practical in practical, and that explores one particular aspect of the Israeli influx into German society, 118 00:14:04,370 --> 00:14:12,799 the intimate relationships between Israelis and their German partners, a book that caused a lot of controversy on both sides. 119 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:18,410 But I cannot go into that right now. Um, my own research. 120 00:14:18,410 --> 00:14:21,770 What did I do then? What? What were my research questions? 121 00:14:21,770 --> 00:14:29,780 What I was looking for. So I was trying to understand, like I said, the mechanism of this Israeli migration. 122 00:14:30,110 --> 00:14:41,239 Who is moving there, why, when, for how long, etc., driven by the concept of migration networks and then situation, 123 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,899 point and return, because there are waves of course in migration movements. 124 00:14:44,900 --> 00:14:46,250 The in brief, 125 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:54,740 those of you who are familiar with migration research a little bit know that migration network theory is very popular in today's migration studies, 126 00:14:55,130 --> 00:15:00,560 and it's very intuitive and very simple to understand. It means that people bring each other. 127 00:15:01,010 --> 00:15:06,379 There are chain migrations, right? People who are pioneers, they start the resettlement process. 128 00:15:06,380 --> 00:15:10,580 They are they have it the most difficult because they are the first ones. 129 00:15:10,580 --> 00:15:15,610 And then those who continue in their path find that it's much easier, 130 00:15:15,650 --> 00:15:25,729 easier to integrate and to learn the language and to find deployment because they and somebody else have set the food and build the community. 131 00:15:25,730 --> 00:15:32,240 Community, and there are people who speak your language, etc. So people bring each other the friends and neighbours and colleagues. 132 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:41,870 And then it's at a certain point there are too many of the people of the same origin that are driven by the same motives, 133 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,110 and the ground is saturated or oversaturated. 134 00:15:45,110 --> 00:15:54,079 There are no more cheap places to enter and there are no more job opportunities because still Berlin is a big city, 135 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:59,690 but still it's a limited setting for I'll keep talking about who those Israelis are, 136 00:15:59,690 --> 00:16:06,739 so their missions of employment and making a living are quite defined and limited and they get situated 137 00:16:06,740 --> 00:16:13,310 all the time and then people have to look for other places to continue their journey or to go back home. 138 00:16:13,730 --> 00:16:16,820 So those are also the issues that I tried to figure out. 139 00:16:18,170 --> 00:16:24,620 Then, of course, the relations between the host and German society and the chances for integration and real tenure in the country. 140 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:34,640 Is it a sojourn, an adventure for most, or are we going to stay that transnational lifestyle and continuing connections to Israel? 141 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:39,379 That's quite natural. And my it was a residential ethnography. 142 00:16:39,380 --> 00:16:46,610 I just lived there, stayed there. I participated in activities that Israelis are part of, like learning German. 143 00:16:46,610 --> 00:16:52,030 I signed up for the German language class and I went to the community events and you know, 144 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:58,010 the typical hangouts and the synagogues and and all kinds of places where 145 00:16:58,010 --> 00:17:02,330 young Israelis come together in order to find answers to all those questions. 146 00:17:05,710 --> 00:17:11,470 So what did I find in this investigation? 147 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:18,180 Oh, it's a very scattered scene. 148 00:17:18,510 --> 00:17:26,489 When I asked one of my key informants some questions about the Israeli community in Berlin, she said, There's no community. 149 00:17:26,490 --> 00:17:34,170 There's no such a thing as an Israeli community. There is speaking, said Zira, who of, you know, some Hebrew. 150 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:40,620 Okay, some of you do. Okay. So there's a there's a difference between Keila and Zira. 151 00:17:41,010 --> 00:17:42,470 Okay. So it's zero. 152 00:17:42,490 --> 00:17:53,480 So I believe and I certainly believe that because there are very few formal organisations or institutions, there are some that are in the beginning, 153 00:17:53,490 --> 00:18:00,660 but mainly people know each other by hearsay, by personal contacts, by the events they come together through, etc. 154 00:18:03,540 --> 00:18:09,839 And of course, the common ground is the Israeli citizenship and the connection to this country and 155 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:14,420 Hebrew as well as the primary language of communication that they give speaking, 156 00:18:14,430 --> 00:18:15,840 because this is where we are. 157 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:31,110 Now of course the organisational efforts are being made to build some kind of institutions for the members of this community, 158 00:18:31,110 --> 00:18:42,179 and the internet era makes it much easier because of course there are endless Facebook groups and in 2013, 159 00:18:42,180 --> 00:18:50,489 I think just before I came, they started Spitz magazine, which was first printed on paper, and now it exists only in the online edition, 160 00:18:50,490 --> 00:18:57,240 which is a Hebrew magazine of the Israeli community in Berlin, in Germany, basically, but mostly in Berlin. 161 00:18:58,110 --> 00:19:02,520 There is the Hebrew library because Amir, who opened it in her own home, 162 00:19:03,210 --> 00:19:08,910 and there are activities for the children because some of them also have children, 163 00:19:08,910 --> 00:19:13,889 which will lead to see that the majority are single, but some have families. 164 00:19:13,890 --> 00:19:20,340 And so there are groups for for for the kids to learn some Hebrew bambini, they're called. 165 00:19:21,270 --> 00:19:30,240 Another organisation is called Closets, which are kind of Israeli words going to translate cause I've no translation for that. 166 00:19:32,690 --> 00:19:39,479 And there are some art galleries owned by Israeli artists, 167 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:46,350 and they stage all kinds of events and activities and poetry evenings and readings and whatnot. 168 00:19:46,950 --> 00:19:52,529 There are cases that were opened by the Israelis with Israeli and Middle Eastern food, 169 00:19:52,530 --> 00:19:57,030 quite many in Berlin and certainly in the neighbourhoods where Israelis live, 170 00:19:57,900 --> 00:20:05,220 like Prenzlauer Berg, who if you have ever been to Berlin and know the names of those community Prenzlauer bag, of course, is very popular. 171 00:20:05,940 --> 00:20:16,110 Kreuzberg has many cafes, so there are hangouts where Israelis can come together and speak Hebrew easily and you know, it's a familiar food, etc. 172 00:20:18,910 --> 00:20:25,360 And lately they also started discussion groups on German Jewish relations that are more academic. 173 00:20:26,050 --> 00:20:37,780 They are arranged around the Humboldt University and Free University in Berlin, and they staged debates mostly in Hebrew, but also in German. 174 00:20:37,780 --> 00:20:41,950 As time passes by, their command of German becomes better and better. 175 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:52,240 So some events are bilingual or in German. And the ones that I observed were, for example, dedicated to the debate on the circumcision. 176 00:20:52,420 --> 00:20:57,670 There was a big controversy in those years, like 14, 13, 14, 15. 177 00:20:58,060 --> 00:21:01,930 There was a controversy in the European Union generally because the European 178 00:21:01,930 --> 00:21:09,219 Parliament passed several laws that severely limit ritual Jewish circumcision, 179 00:21:09,220 --> 00:21:13,150 Jewish and Muslim circumcision, any circumcision. That's not for medical purposes. 180 00:21:13,180 --> 00:21:24,430 The ritual ones. Okay. And before that, there was a big controversy about the ritual slaughter Kalala and Césaire, which are actually quite similar. 181 00:21:24,530 --> 00:21:28,750 And Jews and Muslims like this, it's a similar kind of slaughter. 182 00:21:30,100 --> 00:21:39,069 So it entailed a lot of turmoil and unease. 183 00:21:39,070 --> 00:21:45,130 And, of course, the religious authorities on both sides, both Muslims and Jews, were involved in those discussions. 184 00:21:45,550 --> 00:21:47,710 These are the European governments. 185 00:21:48,820 --> 00:22:00,010 And this is one particular ground where Jews and Muslims living in Europe had this international common interest and dialogue, 186 00:22:00,910 --> 00:22:09,550 because of course it's those ritual procedures are quite similar because Muslims are Muslim boys also get circumcised at later age. 187 00:22:09,910 --> 00:22:13,630 But the circumcision is also an issue for all the Muslims. 188 00:22:16,690 --> 00:22:20,530 And yeah. So why are they in? 189 00:22:21,070 --> 00:22:28,719 What do we know about their basic motivations? For me, it's just an adventure and change of life that they seek. 190 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:37,930 So they come after the army service, young boys and girls who completed their compulsory army service of two or three years. 191 00:22:38,650 --> 00:22:40,660 And they seek change of life. You know, 192 00:22:40,660 --> 00:22:53,830 some of them go for air and big deal although how they would say that and now the big tours in India or in Chile or in Peru and all those long, 193 00:22:53,830 --> 00:22:59,799 you know, exotic lands, it's a very traditional thing to do when you complete the Army service to take a big 194 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:06,100 backpack and to go to the far east of the Latin America for a period after a year, 195 00:23:06,100 --> 00:23:13,240 sometimes a very long trip, usually hiking and, you know, usually in the places that are cheap in terms of living costs. 196 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:24,940 So that's a very Israeli thing to do. And some prefer to go to Berlin, to Germany, or to stop in Berlin while touring Europe generally. 197 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,870 Okay. Many came. 198 00:23:28,870 --> 00:23:33,040 The majority, I would say, came from education or professional advancement. 199 00:23:34,540 --> 00:23:44,949 Students of different phases, mostly graduate students, doctoral students, postdoctoral students, young scholars who got fellowships in, 200 00:23:44,950 --> 00:23:55,420 for example, in the Max Planck Society, there's a network of research research institutes in Germany that grant very generous fellowships. 201 00:23:58,660 --> 00:24:05,950 Some came for investment. There is not a small fraction of people who are in real estate because, like I said, 202 00:24:05,950 --> 00:24:11,859 particularly in the nineties and early 2000s, Berlin was full of investment opportunities. 203 00:24:11,860 --> 00:24:20,830 It's gone by now. It's too late. But back then, people who were smart enough, you know, to catch the moment, they they made a lot of money on that. 204 00:24:23,770 --> 00:24:36,760 The other direction is, of course, thriving and avant garde arts scene, very cosmopolitan, urban New York vibe and relatively cheap living costs. 205 00:24:37,030 --> 00:24:46,150 Like I said, Israel is very expensive. Some of my informants were telling that they could not afford continuing their education in Israel 206 00:24:46,570 --> 00:24:53,620 because they couldn't pay the tuition fees and living costs living in the centre of Israel like so. 207 00:24:53,860 --> 00:24:57,850 And they knew that in Berlin they could study for free given the learned language. 208 00:24:58,060 --> 00:25:08,810 So that was one of the motivations for them. Some of them have German spouses or partners, right. 209 00:25:09,530 --> 00:25:17,769 And among those who were driven to Germany, Berlin, by a personal relationship, 210 00:25:17,770 --> 00:25:23,800 there's a very big fraction in my small sample of like 25, 30 interviews that I had. 211 00:25:24,100 --> 00:25:33,700 About half were gay couples. So actually, many gay Israelis find that life is much easier in in Germany. 212 00:25:33,970 --> 00:25:39,760 They can get married if one of them has a German passport or any European passport. 213 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:45,400 Then by marriage the other spouse gets the same set of rights, which is very important. 214 00:25:45,910 --> 00:25:51,700 So it's the gay life. And of course, the gay scene is very rich in in Germany and in Berlin particular. 215 00:25:54,190 --> 00:25:58,090 And like I said, because there's already a critical mass of Israelis that are there. 216 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:07,660 So as we say in Hebrew, movie covers, again, people just come driven by their personal networks and they stay for some time. 217 00:26:07,930 --> 00:26:12,430 And if they like it, they try to stay for longer and to drive learn German. 218 00:26:12,430 --> 00:26:15,930 So that's how it happens. And. 219 00:26:16,700 --> 00:26:24,390 At least it's very much a protest, immigration just four weeks before the national referendum in Iraq. 220 00:26:25,250 --> 00:26:29,270 Is the good news is Ken Livingstone back to. 221 00:26:33,700 --> 00:26:37,750 So what we have here is the crowd that is young, 222 00:26:38,260 --> 00:26:45,790 mostly single and mostly left wing and frustrated with the current Israeli political 223 00:26:45,790 --> 00:26:53,529 scene that's dominated with their right wing ideology and practice for many, 224 00:26:53,530 --> 00:26:55,089 many years has been like for ten years, 225 00:26:55,090 --> 00:27:02,500 Netanyahu government has been in place and in a couple of weeks I'm afraid we'll have him again for another couple of years. 226 00:27:02,510 --> 00:27:06,100 So there's no way of exiting this point. 227 00:27:07,990 --> 00:27:14,770 So they they cannot take it anymore. And they are looking for, you know, for better life in a Western democracy. 228 00:27:18,010 --> 00:27:25,749 And, of course, the leading course and labour market, like I said, because many of them are I'm not sure if this slide or not. 229 00:27:25,750 --> 00:27:31,990 Yeah. Okay. So many of them are in in occupations that are very difficult for making a living generally. 230 00:27:33,730 --> 00:27:37,110 So the typical categories of Israeli expats who live in Berlin, 231 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:46,509 they are students in in the language and wishing to get accepted to the universities, mostly at graduate level. 232 00:27:46,510 --> 00:27:53,979 Like I said, post-docs and doctoral students and a lot of other young creative professionals. 233 00:27:53,980 --> 00:28:02,260 I would say it's maybe half or more people who are in all kinds of soft, creative occupations like musicians, cinema, 234 00:28:02,260 --> 00:28:10,570 people, artists, journalists, translators, all kinds of humanities people, you know, fashion people, designers, whatnot. 235 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:19,420 And of course, it's very hard to make a living and succeed in those lines of work in Israel because it's a very, 236 00:28:19,420 --> 00:28:22,600 very small market, very small country, get situated very quickly. 237 00:28:23,110 --> 00:28:30,040 So they look for larger pastries and larger scenes of implementing. 238 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:41,740 That is what makes success is always, you know, like like I said, the Israeli scene in Berlin became saturated. 239 00:28:42,010 --> 00:28:53,080 So like in in 2010 11, there were enough, as they say, gigs for musicians and, you know, Stand-Up ists and, you know, comedians and who not. 240 00:28:53,530 --> 00:28:57,159 But by now there are so many of them that every gig has been taken. 241 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:06,309 So it's not easy to to progress in what you are doing even in Berlin, which is a huge city, of course, but also something that I have to mention. 242 00:29:06,310 --> 00:29:15,370 It's this particular moment is the Berlin is is hugely popular with lots of Europeans, young Europeans. 243 00:29:15,370 --> 00:29:17,110 It's not only Israelis that came there. 244 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:25,359 It's a constellation of circumstances that brings there lots of Italians and Spanish and Portuguese and Greeks and, 245 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:27,120 you know, all all over from, you know, 246 00:29:27,340 --> 00:29:36,370 the Southern Europe and the Mediterranean Europe, the area that is quite in trouble economically with very high unemployment rates among young people. 247 00:29:36,850 --> 00:29:42,490 So a lot of young Europeans from southern Europe seek their fortunes in Germany and in Berlin in particular. 248 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:48,520 So there's a lot of competition also, you know, for gigs and for places to live and for cheap rentals, etc., etc. 249 00:29:51,490 --> 00:29:59,860 Yeah. Gay singles and couples. Like I said, it's it's very common interpreted as real estate clubs, catering, whatever you want. 250 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:11,110 The mean age is around 30 plus minus two thirds are single or with partner, but one third are families with children approximately. 251 00:30:12,980 --> 00:30:18,260 And I would say that by and large, it's quite similar to the Israeli diaspora in New York City or in London. 252 00:30:18,530 --> 00:30:24,890 It's pretty much the same categories of young, mobile, creative class professions. 253 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:37,190 Okay. This is a very loaded question, of course, and very central question for the staff is the relations with the German mainstream 254 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:42,170 because they can't spend all their lives just within the Israeli bubble, 255 00:30:42,170 --> 00:30:49,280 they have to get out, you know, and to face the German society, the German bureaucracy, which is very, 256 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:57,590 very difficult to to tackle and to deal with the German neighbours in the building when they when they leave, etc., etc. 257 00:30:58,730 --> 00:31:09,170 So I tried to ask them the questions about how they perceive themselves on the German soil, in the German society, 258 00:31:09,170 --> 00:31:15,140 given all the legacies and all the memories and all the family stories that many of them have. 259 00:31:15,410 --> 00:31:23,470 Not all of them are of Ashkenazi origin, but I would say that 70 to 80% of Ashkenazi Jews, right? 260 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:29,750 So they have the stories of the persecution and the war and the Holocaust in their families. 261 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:37,520 But most of them said that they it's not an issue for them. 262 00:31:37,670 --> 00:31:42,440 They try to disconnect between all those legacies and their current life in Germany. 263 00:31:42,830 --> 00:31:46,190 They keep saying that it's not the same country, it's not the same generation. 264 00:31:47,570 --> 00:31:59,510 The grandchildren of the perpetrators, the Nazi, you know, their Markt is one story and their grandchildren is a different story. 265 00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:08,570 And then, of course, Germany has learned the lesson and took the responsibility. 266 00:32:08,570 --> 00:32:14,389 If one nation ever took a full responsibility for what's happened during the war, 267 00:32:14,390 --> 00:32:18,920 it's a German nation because like, you know, like never happened, for example, in Russia, in the Soviet Union. 268 00:32:19,370 --> 00:32:24,720 They never could take any full responsibility for the crimes during Stalin's period. 269 00:32:24,730 --> 00:32:27,080 Right. But Germany did this very hard, 270 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:36,740 historic work of processing their responsibility and their guilt and paying multiple tributes and reparations to every other country. 271 00:32:37,430 --> 00:32:40,909 So it's all behind us. It's all in the past. 272 00:32:40,910 --> 00:32:43,970 It's no longer relevant. It's Germany's part of Europe. 273 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:47,870 This is another very common theme, is that we're living in Europe. 274 00:32:48,290 --> 00:32:50,000 It's not important that this is Germany. 275 00:32:50,330 --> 00:32:59,200 And actually Europe is very much associated with Germany today because the German state is one of the core main states of the European Union. 276 00:32:59,210 --> 00:33:08,900 It's the largest and the most economically, you know, stable stronghold of the European unity, pretty much. 277 00:33:08,900 --> 00:33:17,090 So they they see themselves as as coming to Europe, not so much to specific the specific German context. 278 00:33:19,570 --> 00:33:29,090 Um, yeah. So I would say that probably with the exception of a small minority of well 279 00:33:29,090 --> 00:33:32,290 we're not speaking in statistical terms because that's a qualitative research. 280 00:33:32,300 --> 00:33:39,740 Of course, like I said, I had about 30 interviews and many more informal conversations with Israelis who live in Germany. 281 00:33:40,430 --> 00:33:49,460 Maybe one quarter of those whom I spoke about said that history is very important for them and that they are very much into 282 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:58,520 the Holocaust legacies that they go to all those museums and sites and memorials and look to the stepping stone and you know, 283 00:33:58,520 --> 00:33:59,030 what is that? 284 00:33:59,030 --> 00:34:10,099 Those stones that in stoppage time that they put in there in the streets near the buildings where people were taken from during the war and, 285 00:34:10,100 --> 00:34:13,230 you know, look for Holocaust movies or books. 286 00:34:13,340 --> 00:34:16,340 Those who are very much into it is a small minority. 287 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:21,229 But they say that we're here also because of that, because it's important for us to know more about it, 288 00:34:21,230 --> 00:34:28,760 to feel as part of that history, to understand what our grandparents came through, and to see how this is changing. 289 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:37,220 So even the fact that they are very much aware of those legacies does not have a negative meaning for them. 290 00:34:37,580 --> 00:34:42,440 They find some, you know, positive connection with this storyline. 291 00:34:44,270 --> 00:34:50,659 Many tried to befriend and date native Germans and to be out of the Israeli circuit because of course, 292 00:34:50,660 --> 00:34:59,140 for anyone who is Hebrew speaking, the most natural connection would be with others in the Israeli setting as I sleep. 293 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:07,190 But many make it in a conscious effort to step out of that bubble and to try to, 294 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:10,730 you know, to meet and befriend real Germans and start speaking German as well. 295 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:17,210 Of course, it's many, many times dependent on how successful other in learning German because it's not easy. 296 00:35:17,300 --> 00:35:20,480 I was like struggling with that myself for like five months. 297 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:27,230 Came to the course with all the Israelis excited on the other end with very little German and many of my. 298 00:35:28,100 --> 00:35:31,429 Meets young Israelis also did not learn much. 299 00:35:31,430 --> 00:35:35,870 So because, of course, they continue speaking Hebrew most of the time, because they, you know, 300 00:35:35,870 --> 00:35:39,769 they live in the big homes that are populated by all the Israelis and they are 301 00:35:39,770 --> 00:35:45,049 brought to certain workplaces and entertainment venues with other Israelis. 302 00:35:45,050 --> 00:35:48,530 And so they keep speaking Hebrew all the time. So they do not progress in their jobs. 303 00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:58,580 But those who do, they really accrue some German friends and colleagues and feel much better in Germany, 304 00:35:58,580 --> 00:36:04,490 of course, and then in some other workplaces like research institutes, for example, the Max Planck system. 305 00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:08,990 The working language is English, so they don't even need to learn that good German. 306 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:16,280 But those who do not learn good German very often feel that their stay in Germany is temporary. 307 00:36:16,430 --> 00:36:22,760 They're not really there to put the roots in the soil and. 308 00:36:25,940 --> 00:36:33,910 Yeah. Some more about the traumatic past. Yeah. 309 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:44,420 Here, I want to introduce some variance into the notion of Israelis in Berlin, because there are different stripes of Israelis in Berlin. 310 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:57,170 And we have quite many of those who came to Berlin after spending some years in Israel as Russian Soviet immigrants. 311 00:36:57,890 --> 00:37:03,890 Okay. So there are Israelis who are Sabra who were born in Israel and then they went to Germany. 312 00:37:04,190 --> 00:37:10,309 And then there are many, I would say a third to a half of those whom I met were Russian origin, 313 00:37:10,310 --> 00:37:15,470 Russian speaking Jews who resettled for the second time in a different country. 314 00:37:16,310 --> 00:37:23,690 And they come with a very different legacy of what the Second World War and the Jewish tragedy means for them, 315 00:37:24,650 --> 00:37:30,320 because the narrative of the war and the Holocaust is very different in the Soviet Union visit to Israel. 316 00:37:33,450 --> 00:37:41,460 The Soviet Jews have built a narrative of resistance and heroism because, of course, 317 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:47,070 so many Jewish soldiers served in the Red Army and generally armies of the allies. 318 00:37:47,070 --> 00:37:51,480 There were up to 700,000 Jewish soldiers. You know, people are not aware of that. 319 00:37:53,700 --> 00:38:05,990 So and there are about 100 Jews who got the highest distinction of Bona as the heroes of the Soviet Union for their hero dates student during the war. 320 00:38:06,060 --> 00:38:14,670 Right. So this is the kind of narrative of the war and suffering, the Jewish suffering that this in the Soviet Union was one of them. 321 00:38:14,670 --> 00:38:23,430 Because, of course, I'm Russian myself, I'm Russian Jewish myself. We grew up in understanding the war as a story of Jewish heroism. 322 00:38:23,430 --> 00:38:35,909 And of course, there is no family in the former Soviet Union, citizens of Jewish origin, who did not lose their relatives and families during the war, 323 00:38:35,910 --> 00:38:42,090 because, of course, fully one half of the 6 million of the Holocaust victims perished in the Soviet territories. 324 00:38:42,660 --> 00:38:45,540 This is also something that that is not common knowledge. 325 00:38:45,540 --> 00:38:54,510 I would say close to 3 million of Jews were extinguished by the Nazis when they occupied the Soviet Union, 326 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:02,670 including the territories that were access to the Soviet Union just before the war, 327 00:39:02,740 --> 00:39:07,440 the Baltic republics and and parts of Poland and parts of Pennsylvania. 328 00:39:09,210 --> 00:39:19,350 So there was both the extermination of the Jews and mass campaigns of killing and the heroism of the Jewish soldiers who came, 329 00:39:20,190 --> 00:39:26,880 you know, to the empty homes to see what was done to their relatives and their families and who were full of the wish to avenge. 330 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:34,280 And they did. So those two narratives and of course, the Israeli narrative is the one of victimhood. 331 00:39:35,030 --> 00:39:39,560 There is much less. There is, you know, when you have the almost Soviet era. 332 00:39:39,630 --> 00:39:43,280 Okay. We have this day of the catastrophic heroism. 333 00:39:43,700 --> 00:39:49,160 But the way in the narrative, the story of victimisation is much stronger than the one of heroism. 334 00:39:49,430 --> 00:39:59,630 And when they speak about heroic deeds, it's the Warsaw Ghetto Marathon Merit Ghetto Russia, the the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. 335 00:39:59,690 --> 00:40:07,229 Exactly. And there is very little talk about the the the military efforts that the Jews were doing in this resistance. 336 00:40:07,230 --> 00:40:08,390 So there are two narratives. 337 00:40:08,930 --> 00:40:21,530 And the young Israelis of Russian origin, they have a very different take on Germany and the war and the relations between the armies, 338 00:40:21,530 --> 00:40:24,830 the Red Army and they and the fascist army than the Israelis do. 339 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:29,660 So they are taken on the places and then the memorial size is quite different. 340 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:44,660 And. But like I say in the last sentence for all three segments of the and the third segment is those who are not Ashkenazi Jews at all. 341 00:40:45,050 --> 00:40:48,840 So for them, it's not a part of their family narrative, right? 342 00:40:48,860 --> 00:40:52,790 There's just something they learned in school and the textbooks. 343 00:40:55,010 --> 00:41:02,690 But it's a remote history, and it's not something that has a direct effect on their life in Germany. 344 00:41:02,810 --> 00:41:05,810 Here are some quotes from the interviews. 345 00:41:07,190 --> 00:41:12,890 I came to Germany without any prejudice. Despite all the Holocaust education we got in school. 346 00:41:13,550 --> 00:41:20,510 It was never because of my it was never really emotional for me, perhaps because of my Sephardic Sabra background. 347 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:26,270 It wasn't part of our family narrative and I never met with any prejudice as an Israeli Jew. 348 00:41:26,870 --> 00:41:31,370 On the contrary, most Germans I met as colleagues and bosses were very friendly. 349 00:41:32,420 --> 00:41:35,030 I used to have a German girlfriend and we got along very well. 350 00:41:35,990 --> 00:41:42,950 I think when you come here without a chip on your shoulder, so to speak, you don't encounter any prejudice. 351 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:47,120 Of course, there are mental and cultural differences to overcome. 352 00:41:47,780 --> 00:41:50,420 But then this is always true of immigrants, especially in Europe. 353 00:41:51,610 --> 00:41:58,880 And this is the guy who is a professional opera singer and cantor in synagogues and an opera house. 354 00:42:01,780 --> 00:42:10,120 Now, another motive that I pursued in this research is the question of whether those 355 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:14,890 immigrants become more Jewish when they step out of the Israeli context, 356 00:42:15,910 --> 00:42:23,469 because, of course, the average Israeli Jew has this complex interplay between their Israeli identity and their Jewish identity, 357 00:42:23,470 --> 00:42:30,640 and they're not the same. So when they exit Israel and come to Europe as a minority and when they become immigrants, 358 00:42:33,220 --> 00:42:36,549 this is actually something else that I'm fascinated with as an immigrant who came 359 00:42:36,550 --> 00:42:41,920 to Israel in the middle of my life and had it very high as an immigrant in Israel. 360 00:42:43,330 --> 00:42:54,040 It's it's kind of a bittersweet feeling when you see Israelis themselves as immigrants who struggle with language, who do not understand social codes. 361 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:58,080 You know, so now they know how it is to be on Exodus, but train. 362 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:09,460 So does this change their self construction, their self identity as more Jewish rather than Israeli? 363 00:43:09,910 --> 00:43:14,500 Are they getting closer to religion? Because of course, I didn't say that. 364 00:43:14,500 --> 00:43:18,000 But 95, 98% are secular people. 365 00:43:18,010 --> 00:43:24,520 They're not really religious Jews. You know, they never set foot in in the Knesset in a synagogue at Israel. 366 00:43:25,570 --> 00:43:28,960 So what happens when they come to Berlin and become a minority of overnight? 367 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:33,910 Yes, they do become more interested in the Jewish stuff. 368 00:43:34,730 --> 00:43:40,510 And I would say that mostly it's not because they are becoming more religious, 369 00:43:40,510 --> 00:43:50,920 but because they look for social cohesion in the places that are connected to Judaism and to Jewish faith and lifestyle and rituals, 370 00:43:51,190 --> 00:44:01,270 which happens to be synagogues and Jewish schools and Jewish community centres like all the venues of Jewish life. 371 00:44:01,630 --> 00:44:04,420 Those are the places where you come and meet people like yourself. 372 00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:10,240 So pretty much I would say that the reasons for those Jewish interests are more social than religious. 373 00:44:10,690 --> 00:44:14,889 But nevertheless, they do populate the synagogues of Berlin. 374 00:44:14,890 --> 00:44:26,110 They do go there. And it's very interesting that the hubs that the more popular with Israelis are those guys were, say, in Hebrew, 375 00:44:26,110 --> 00:44:30,310 and there is no good translation of this word into English, counterintuitively, 376 00:44:30,850 --> 00:44:35,980 those that are orthodox, that those that are related to kabab to the hubbub movement. 377 00:44:36,010 --> 00:44:40,270 Okay. There are two Hadad centres in Berlin, one in the West, one in the east. 378 00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:45,580 They're both very popular with Israelis, particularly the one in East and Alexanderplatz, 379 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:56,190 because the atmosphere there is much more open and friendly because they have that mix are known for their outreach attitude. 380 00:44:56,470 --> 00:45:00,980 They're trying to get the Jews back in the fold, by all means possible. 381 00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:04,060 Their doors are open to everyone. They do not ask any questions. 382 00:45:04,870 --> 00:45:10,179 While the reform and conservative communities that are also, of course, 383 00:45:10,180 --> 00:45:15,880 existent in Germany, this is the motherland of Reform Judaism of all places, right? 384 00:45:15,930 --> 00:45:21,999 Of course they exist. They are much more closed and inside oriented. 385 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:26,440 And they do not open their gates to the outsiders who speak other languages. 386 00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:30,280 So there are very German oriented communities. 387 00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:34,060 They speak the German language and people do not feel welcome there. 388 00:45:34,330 --> 00:45:43,360 So they come to the Shabab meetings in the east and west because there are about five or six languages spoken and anything between Russian, 389 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:46,900 French, English, nothing. German is not spoken. 390 00:45:47,500 --> 00:45:51,430 That's the only language. You do not hear that. Pretty much a lot of Hebrew, of course. 391 00:45:55,540 --> 00:46:01,540 Synagogues also become centres for social meeting of parents, particularly families with children. 392 00:46:02,050 --> 00:46:10,510 They seek Jewish activities for their kids. They want their kids to be somehow plugged into the Hebrew speaking milieu, 393 00:46:10,540 --> 00:46:15,879 picking up the language, picking up some, you know, ideas about the holidays and, you know, 394 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:21,459 the Israeli conventions and foods and songs and music to keep them in the fall, 395 00:46:21,460 --> 00:46:26,260 to some extent, at least, this is the effort of the parents, which is not easy. 396 00:46:26,260 --> 00:46:34,810 Like, you know, with any immigration, the parental task of keeping the heritage culture for the children is a very difficult task. 397 00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:43,310 It's like swimming against the stream because the kids want always to be local and not to be different from from the local people. 398 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:49,479 Right. They go to the German speaking schools and they tried to switch into German at home. 399 00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:55,090 And so the parents must have a big effort to somehow keep them in the Israeli community. 400 00:46:55,330 --> 00:47:00,460 And synagogues are one of the places where this happens. And, of course, the other is the. 401 00:47:01,930 --> 00:47:02,650 The Jewish schools. 402 00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:16,029 There are several Jewish schools in Berlin and several for the elementary and middle school and one high school in in the central Berlin, 403 00:47:16,030 --> 00:47:20,860 which many Israeli families send their kids to for many reasons. 404 00:47:21,010 --> 00:47:28,450 Probably they are not the best academically, but they are considered to be more friendly and more soft and more international and cosmopolitan. 405 00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:36,160 So they're even willing to compromise on the academic standards to somehow keep their children in a more friendly environment. 406 00:47:42,250 --> 00:47:48,070 The relations between the local Jewish community. The initial demand there in Berlin are very complicated. 407 00:47:48,250 --> 00:47:52,000 Israelis are not part of that. They are very much outside of this game. 408 00:47:52,690 --> 00:47:58,930 But then the Berlin I hear the shoes commander is a very controversial organisation. 409 00:47:59,240 --> 00:48:11,950 No, it's been involved in many a lot of negative media coverage of all kinds of financial transactions, 410 00:48:11,950 --> 00:48:18,309 land speculations, real estate events and of course, 411 00:48:18,310 --> 00:48:28,090 a lot of conflicts around leadership because the like most Jewish communities in eastern Germany, 412 00:48:28,540 --> 00:48:32,200 they are dominated demographically by the Russian speaking Jews. 413 00:48:32,590 --> 00:48:34,450 And this is something that I had to mention. 414 00:48:34,450 --> 00:48:40,300 It's a topic of another lecture that they give about Russian Jews in Germany, Russian Jewish immigration to Germany. 415 00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:47,950 But as a result of about 15 years of the program that the German government has established 416 00:48:47,950 --> 00:48:56,830 had established to open the gates for the Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, 417 00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:02,800 they received close to a quarter of a million of Russian speaking Jews in Germany. 418 00:49:03,220 --> 00:49:07,930 Many Soviet Jews were willing to go to Germany instead of Israel. 419 00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:15,190 And of course, there was a very loud discussion of that as well ever since to 2000, 2002. 420 00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:21,010 Every year, more Soviet Jews emigrated to Germany than to medallia to Israel. 421 00:49:21,340 --> 00:49:33,180 Right. And since they came to Germany on the Jewish ticket, they were supposed to become part of the Jewish community and the Jewish life. 422 00:49:33,190 --> 00:49:43,150 And it's a big problem because, of course, 90, 95% of ex-Soviet Jews are secular and have very little connection with religion. 423 00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:54,970 So but anyway, the reminder, the the formal communities are dominated demographically by the Jews of ex-Soviet origin, Russian speaking Jews. 424 00:49:55,480 --> 00:50:02,800 They have fights about having community meetings in German or in Russian, and they prefer the Russian, of course, in Germany. 425 00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:08,799 And Israeli Jews are completely outside of all those competitions and wars. 426 00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:10,810 And, you know, they were not invited. 427 00:50:11,350 --> 00:50:19,970 They are not accepted when they even ask for some kind of a small place to build their library or community centre. 428 00:50:20,020 --> 00:50:23,950 They were not given any any help from the community. 429 00:50:23,950 --> 00:50:27,670 And so all the connection was stopped back then. 430 00:50:28,150 --> 00:50:34,860 So instead they tried to build their own networks and their own small groups in communities like the Spitz drawing, for example, 431 00:50:34,990 --> 00:50:43,780 magazine that initially was supported by the Shabab, of course, and now it's independent and they raised money by themselves. 432 00:50:43,780 --> 00:50:53,380 So the Israeli Jewish life is an autonomous, independent network that has very little to do with established, established. 433 00:50:53,740 --> 00:51:03,100 You might have some pictures about, you know, they have Iran slowly belittling the Israelis, setting Berlin upper left corner. 434 00:51:03,220 --> 00:51:06,880 This is a Hebrew library. And because of use home, 435 00:51:07,240 --> 00:51:14,430 that that was just a private initiative of one person who had the very big living room and she established the big Hebrew libraries. 436 00:51:14,500 --> 00:51:17,830 So people started donating books and bringing books from Israel. 437 00:51:18,460 --> 00:51:21,580 And there's a big library now that anyone can come and borrow books. 438 00:51:24,220 --> 00:51:37,480 The upper corner is the Suburban Cafe in Prenzlauer Berg, very popular neighbourhood of former East Berlin, the first Israeli food cafe. 439 00:51:37,480 --> 00:51:49,390 You see the sign suburban, the the green light on the upper part of the door with homeless and what else is there? 440 00:51:50,490 --> 00:51:55,440 So, of course, you know you know what shakshuka is, you know, with horses. 441 00:51:57,430 --> 00:52:06,250 Shakshuka is a lot of fried tomatoes, bell peppers, vegetables with many, many eggs with them and spices. 442 00:52:06,640 --> 00:52:15,070 It's a certain kind of omelette found Middle Eastern omelette in the middle of a gay couple, 443 00:52:15,190 --> 00:52:21,840 just one of the many, many gay couples who live there in the this corner. 444 00:52:21,850 --> 00:52:28,120 This is a nightlife, one of the modern day LA nightclub where young Israelis come to have a good time. 445 00:52:28,540 --> 00:52:32,680 And, of course, Berlin is very famous for its huge nightlife scene. 446 00:52:33,010 --> 00:52:38,469 And people who come from Tel Aviv in particular are very hungry for a great nightlife scene. 447 00:52:38,470 --> 00:52:44,040 And they have it in Berlin and. This one is, of course, the other kind of happening. 448 00:52:44,060 --> 00:52:55,270 It's the anti-Israeli demonstration probably connected to the events of the Gaza war, when some Israelis who are very much on the left. 449 00:52:55,450 --> 00:53:01,900 This is a minority that exists protest together with Palestinians and other Arabs who live 450 00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:08,710 in Berlin in all kinds of events that have to do with the U.S. actions or against the war. 451 00:53:11,450 --> 00:53:15,520 Okay. It wasn't like. 5 minutes. 452 00:53:15,540 --> 00:53:19,650 Okay, let's see how many. Yeah, I think I'll make it in 5 minutes. 453 00:53:20,250 --> 00:53:26,040 So what factors shape the lifestyle? We're always interested in stratification and comparisons. 454 00:53:26,670 --> 00:53:31,080 Basic demographics, of course. I mean, age, sex preference, gender. 455 00:53:31,110 --> 00:53:38,820 They all put them into certain issues of life, family status, whether they are single or partnered with kids or without kids. 456 00:53:39,500 --> 00:53:46,820 A line of work and level and type of income, whether you have every now and then a musical gig and that's all you have. 457 00:53:46,830 --> 00:53:52,980 Then you have to live in the cheapest possible place with roommates probably, or you have a fabulous job in there. 458 00:53:53,220 --> 00:54:00,360 Max Planck Institute in your well set, you know, citizenship, if you have any European passport, 459 00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:05,579 this makes a huge difference in when you live in Germany because you are you're entitled to 460 00:54:05,580 --> 00:54:10,680 many more social rights and health care and education and unemployment benefits and everything. 461 00:54:11,010 --> 00:54:19,319 And most Israelis do not have European citizenship, so they struggle the proficiency in the language and length of residence. 462 00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:24,000 They are related to each other and of course, who you are in terms of your Israeli background, 463 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:29,700 Ashkenazi or Mizrahi, Sabra or an immigrant who came from Soviet Union. 464 00:54:30,980 --> 00:54:34,000 Um, all of them have very strong ties to Israel. 465 00:54:34,980 --> 00:54:37,440 With rare exceptions, their families are still there. 466 00:54:37,620 --> 00:54:45,150 So they travel to Israel at every possible occasion to vote in the elections, to the holy days, to family events. 467 00:54:45,750 --> 00:54:53,820 And of course, it it's it makes it much easier to have this transnational lifestyle when it's just 3 hours of flight 468 00:54:54,510 --> 00:54:59,729 between the countries and when there are so many cheap flights now with easyJet and Ryanair and, 469 00:54:59,730 --> 00:55:03,690 you know, all those companies. So you can travel all the time back and forth. 470 00:55:04,650 --> 00:55:08,820 Um, most formal the events and keep very much plugged in. 471 00:55:08,820 --> 00:55:18,390 The Israeli scene being very critical of the government rejecting occupation and supporting Palestinian causes mostly, 472 00:55:19,200 --> 00:55:25,860 but they still cannot completely vacate the Israeli topics and preoccupations from their life. 473 00:55:25,980 --> 00:55:31,050 Like one of my interviews said, You can live Israel, but Israel never leaves you. 474 00:55:34,660 --> 00:55:42,070 Do you feel at home in Berlin? Another cold? Not really. My home is clear where I grew up and where my family lives. 475 00:55:42,160 --> 00:55:47,540 But in Berlin, I feel well into my own and actually better than anyone here. 476 00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:50,950 I'm free of any predefined identity labels. 477 00:55:51,310 --> 00:55:57,100 Ashkenazi. Mizrahi. Left. Right. I can rediscover and reshape myself the way I wish. 478 00:55:58,180 --> 00:56:01,390 Israel climate is too tense and politicised. 479 00:56:01,780 --> 00:56:07,390 When I go back home, I get tired and edgy rather soon and want to return to Kreuzberg. 480 00:56:13,950 --> 00:56:22,439 On raising children here and there that's almost lost on you has an image of child centred society, 481 00:56:22,440 --> 00:56:25,650 but actually services for children are much better in Germany. 482 00:56:26,700 --> 00:56:29,400 Kindergartens are less crowded and have more staff. 483 00:56:29,820 --> 00:56:35,730 There are many free educational programs and summer camps, let alone child monies, that are much higher. 484 00:56:36,450 --> 00:56:39,780 And of course, it is much safer here for adults and kids alike. 485 00:56:40,170 --> 00:56:47,100 We visited parents this summer during Gaza War, and our kids were scared by the rocket alarms and the need to rush to a shelter. 486 00:56:47,820 --> 00:56:52,200 You don't want to explain to a four year old what Qassam on the cloth means. 487 00:56:53,460 --> 00:56:59,900 Qassam is a rocket and McLeod is a shoot. Some questions for the future study. 488 00:56:59,900 --> 00:57:06,290 How will the complex nexus between Jewishness and Israelis evolve over time in Germany? 489 00:57:06,470 --> 00:57:14,720 What identity will prevail? What choices will these new German Jews make in their social and intimate lives? 490 00:57:16,220 --> 00:57:19,820 In their relations within the group? Outside the group? 491 00:57:19,850 --> 00:57:25,180 How permanent is their stay in Germany? If they live, to which destinations do they get back home? 492 00:57:25,190 --> 00:57:28,610 Or do they look for other places in Europe or elsewhere? 493 00:57:30,170 --> 00:57:35,780 How the relations with homelands evolve over time if its former Soviet Union or Israel. 494 00:57:36,260 --> 00:57:40,130 And which cultures, languages and ideas they will instil in their old children? 495 00:57:40,730 --> 00:57:48,650 Because there is a second generation who. Here is my final picture of an Israeli guy who is from the States magazine, from their cover, 496 00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:54,650 who is trying to read the paper, the Berliner Zeitung, with great difficulty, of course. 497 00:57:55,340 --> 00:57:59,030 And there is a plague of homeless that stands before him that is out of the frame. 498 00:57:59,050 --> 00:58:08,960 It's just not getting into the picture. And this child is looking at this newspaper and asking those questions, what is going to be with him? 499 00:58:11,210 --> 00:58:13,240 Yeah, some dumb things going.