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Out of the ashes: A new German Jewry?

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The tour is supposed to take me by bus to Jerusalem and stop at four or five main attractions before heading back to Tel Aviv. The first stop is Yad Vashem. The bus driver gives us an hour. At the end of the hour, I don’t even consider rejoining the tour. The exhibits are so extensive and so powerful, I want to do nothing but spend the rest of the day there. They are so personal, I am glad to be alone. But of course, I am not truly alone, and at one point I find myself within earshot of an English-language tour. The guide is talking, and, for a moment, I stop to listen.

“Living in America,” he tells the group of U.S. students, “you don’t think that this sort of thing could ever happen there…that’s what the German Jews thought in the 1930s…they thought they were Germans…they thought they were safe…but a Jew is only really safe in Israel, because only Israel has a Jewish majority.” I wonder if the tour guide is right. I don’t want him to be. I make a compelling argument (to myself) to that effect, and I’m convinced he’s not. Completely convinced… but when I find myself in Germany eight years later, I remember his words. Of all the places to go, I think, why here? Why this place? Given the history, can a Jew really feel a connection to Germany? Can a Jew ever again really feel German?

Despite the opposition and Germany’s lack of experience with immigration, the Contingency Refugee Act of 1991 was remarkably well conceived. Indeed, it seemed to have all the necessary ingredients for success: it provided a variety of social benefits, including subsidized housing, access to medical care, and, for the elderly, eligibility for a German pension. It even spread the costs equitably among the German states, mandating that each state accept a number of immigrants in proportion to its population. Moreover, since the purpose was to rebuild the Jewish communities, the legislation gave the funds, along with the responsibility of tracking the immigrants and allocating the necessary resources, directly to the Jewish religious communities.

In the context of the former Soviet Union’s economic uncertainty and its own history of anti-Semitism, the German legislation turned out to be an attractive proposition for Russian Jews: more than 200,000 have immigrated to Germany since the Refugee Act’s inception. Considering that this group now comprises about 90 percent of Germany’s total Jewish population, it would seem that the legislation is an unmeasured success and that this immigrant group now constitutes, for all practical purposes, the new German Jewry. Our research interviews and survey data, however, suggest otherwise. In many ways, they present an immigrant group alienated from its new homeland.

The reasons for the alienation are not altogether obvious, as Russian Jews had some real incentives to come to Germany. In addition to the promise of considerable social benefits, Germany’s European culture, political stability, geographic proximity to the former Soviet Union, and advanced (and socialized) health services were all attractive to Russian Jews.Perhaps the alienation is the result of the harsh economic reality that greeted the new immigrants.At the time of our data collection (in 2004), unemployment was high, even among the college educated, and almost 85 percent of the immigrant sample reported that their gross household income was “much lower” or “lower” than the nation’s average. Moreover, over 60 percent reported that their standard of living was “much lower” or “lower” than it was prior to migration. Or perhaps, the alienation can be best attributed to the fact that after 1991, Russian Jews might have felt they simply had no other place to go. While the vast majority of Russian-Jews migrated to either Israel or the United States in previous decades, those destinations became less viable after 1991. The United States had granted Russian Jews refugee status to facilitate the immigration process as part of the Cold War maneuvering, but that status was lifted almost immediately after the USSR collapsed in 1989. Israel continued to be a popular destination for many Russian Jews, but by 1991, the First Intifada was in full swing, and the violence was a disincentive for many potential migrants.

Whatever the reason, once Russian Jews arrived in Germany they have felt little connection to either the host country or its people. According to our data, without exception, they value their Jewish and Russian identities over being German. More telling, 60 percent feel “not at all” and another 30 percent only “a little” part of the German people, and even that, for most respondents, meant nothing more than the place they were currently living.

Other ways of measuring identity all point to similar alienation. For example, about 70 percent of Russian Jews in Germany reported that they were either “not at all” or only “a little” offended when people blamed or insulted Germans. Moreover, most Russian Jews in Germany were committed to maintaining a distance from German people and culture, with just 6 percent indicating a desire to assimilate. By way of comparison, only about 5 percent of Russian Jews in Israel and the United States felt “not at all” a part of the people in their host country, and most (70 percent of Israelis and 80 percent of Americans) were offended when members of their host country were insulted.

Group differences this strong are rarely seen in the social sciences. Russian Jews in Israel and the United States have not always felt welcomed or valued. They have not always felt like they fit in, and they have not always wantedto fit in, preferring their own ways some of the time. At times, many have reported feeling alienated and discouraged. However, in Germany, alienation from the host society seems to be the norm – the psychological state of most immigrants, most of the time.

It should be noted that the immigration to Germany is much more recent. It is not unreasonable to think that these attitudes might change over time. They usually do, at least with other immigrant groups in other countries. But the early survey and interview data from Germany are not promising. They suggest that Russian Jewish attitudes toward their host country do not seem to change much over time in Germany, especially when compared to Russian Jewish immigrants in Israel and the United States (see chart). This is not to say that they will never change, but the data do suggest that for Russian Jews in Germany, developing a sense of “Germanness” promises to be a much slower process. Rather than years, it may take a generation, maybe even several.

That said, the Refugee Act of 1991 may yet prove successful. As mentioned, over 200,000 Russian-speaking Jews have migrated to Germany since 1991, enough that Germany has recently revised its immigration policy. Since 2006, immigration of Russian Jews has been restricted to those who are under age forty-five and have a minimum level of German fluency.

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Mikhail Lyubansky, Ph.D., is a teaching associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he teaches Psychology of Race and Ethnicity and courses on restorative justice.

Since 2009, Mikhail has been studying and working with conflict, particularly via Restorative Circles (a restorative practice developed in Brazil by Dominic Barter and associates) and other restorative responses to conflict. Together with Elaine Shpungin, he now supports schools, organizations, and workplaces in developing restorative strategies for engaging conflict, building conflict facilitation skills and evaluating the outcomes associated with restorative responses via Conflict 180.

In addition to conflict and restorative (more...)
 

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