Sunday, November 16, 2014, 2:00 PM | Panel Discussion, Jews and the Berlin Wall
Leo Back Institute
15 W. 16th St.
New York, NY 10011
(212) 744-6400
Border controls in East Berlin, shortly before East German authorities sealed the border in August 1961, Bundesarchiv
Twenty-five years ago, in November 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, paving the way for the re-unification of Germany. Just as the fall of the Wall marked a transformation of the political order, it was a turning point for Jewish life in Europe.
After WWII, Jewish survivors in Germany faced stark choices. Was Jewish life possible again in Germany? If so, which Germany-the fledgling liberal democracy under the protection of the Allies, or the “anti-Fascist workers’ and farmers’ state” established in the Soviet Occupation Zone? Was emigration to Israel, Canada, or the US preferable to a life among the perpetrators?
For those who remained, Jewish life was divided along with the rest of Europe. In the East, Jews fled or faced East Germany’s anti-religion, anti-Zionist polices. In the West, Jews sought normalcy but lived “with packed suitcases.”
Please join us on November 16, when a panel discussion featuring leading scholars and eyewitnesses will examine the impact of the Berlin Wall on Jewish communities on both sides, as well as the enormous growth in Germany’s Jewish Community after the fall of the Iron Curtain due to migration from the former Soviet Union.
With Moderator Jeffrey Peck (Baruch College), Michael Brenner (University of Munich, American University), Andreas Nachama (Topography of Terror Foundation, Berlin), and Liliane Weissberg (University of Pennsylvania).
Co-presented with the German Consulate General, New York
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This event is free, but we request you register in advance online