Jews in Contemporary East Germany

This book is the result of a series of interviews of Robin Ostow with Jews in the German Democratic Republic. For the first time since the founding of the East German state in 1949 Jews have been allowed to speak openly. Jewish men and women of different ages were interviewed.

Inhalt
Introduction: survival and metamorphosis - the history of the Jewish Community of East Berlin. Part 1 The Jewish community seen from within: the Jewish community of East Berlin, Peter Kirchner; social services and the Jewish community, Sonja Berne; Jewish culture and the Jewish community, Hermann Simon; a newcomer to the Jewish community, Irene Runge; the youth group of the Jewish community, Gerrit Kirchner. Part 2 The Jews in the party - the quality of their Jewishness and their view of the Jewish community: a Yiddish folksinger in the bosom of the party, Jalda Rebling; a Jewish existentialist at the Academy of Sciences, Vincent von Wroblewsky; returning to Berlin from the Soviet Union, Clara Berliner; Jews, German and psychotherapy in the German Democratic Republic, Alfred Katzenstein; from Germany to the GDR via Palestine, France and the USA, Ursula Katzenstein. Part 3 Two interviews conducted in West Berlin: the view from West Berlin, Thomas Eckert; the unorthodox view of Jewish history in the German Democratic Republic. Afterword: the German Democratic Republic and its Jewish community.