I lived on kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek as a child with my two brothers in the mid 1970s. Every year on Yom Hashoah we were brought to the local Holocaust memorial, asked to stand in silence and hear about the persecution and death experienced by our people at the hands of the Nazis, and be thankful we were now living in the Land of Milk and Honey. I grew up with fear about Germany and the German people. Between 2009 and 2013 I confronted my fear and preconceptions and photographed Berlin with an eye towards places where Jews were hidden or deported. I decided to make a book which combine these pictures with images of today’s Berlin. The project shows the city’s dark past and brightness of today – a city of ghosts in continual renewal. It is a story of personal transformation, the making of new friends, remembrance of terror and acknowledgement that life continues. There are 135 photographs and three essays. It is part autobiography and part story of living Jewish life in Berlin.
Nonfiction
Berlin: A Jewish Ode to the Metropolis
- From the Publisher
September 1, 2021
Discussion Questions
Jewish literature inspires, enriches, and educates the community.
Help support the Jewish Book Council.