Can Jewish Artists Transcend Germany’s Past?
Some Jewish artists are unwilling to be confined to what artist Rachel Libeskind calls the “claustrophobic limbo” of Germany’s past.
Moment Memoir | Shame, Names and the Mengele Tractor Factory
I learned about the Mengele tractor factory in 1981 when I was trying to get from Denmark to Italy by rail. I simply could not...
Victimhood in the Land of the Perpetrators
More than 20 years in the making, the Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation aims to initiate a conversation about forced migration in 20th-century Europe.
The Future of Berlin’s Jewish Museum
With a new core exhibition and a new director, the Jewish Museum Berlin hopes to overcome past controversies and make the museum a space for people of all backgrounds to engage with the history of Jewish life in Germany.
The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel with journalist Kati Marton in conversation with Amy E. Schwartz
Angela Merkel, who just stepped down as German chancellor after a remarkable16 years, has redefined the image of a woman leader. A pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany, Merkel worked as a research chemist before entering politics and rising to become the unofficial leader of the West. Award-winning journalist Kati Marton, author of The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel, shares how Merkel helped shape Germany into what some call the world’s moral center, and explores her legacy—including allowing Middle Eastern refugees to enter Germany while the world looked away. She also discusses the rise of the far right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) and Merkel’s complicated relationships with other world leaders such as Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Marton is in conversation with Amy E. Schwartz, Moment’s Book & Opinion Editor.
The State of Antisemitism in Germany Today with Ambassador Emily Haber and Robert Siegel
Emily Haber, Germany’s Ambassador to the U.S., discusses the current forms and manifestations of antisemitism in Germany, and how it is connected to other European movements. Ambassador Haber is in conversation with Robert Siegel, Moment special literary contributor and former senior host of NPR’s All Things Considered. This program is hosted by Moment Magazine with the support of the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation and co-presented by the German Embassy, Washington.
In 2021, the Pandemic Has Spawned Anti-Semitism Around the Globe
As the world came to grips with the seriousness of the pandemic last spring, conspiracies arose linking COVID-19 and anti-Semitism.
Illustrated Book Review | Belonging by Nora Krug
Belonging:
A German Reckons with History and Home
Nora Krug
Scribner
2018, 288 pp., $30
All drawings by and photos courtesy of Amy Kurzweil, inspired by Nora Krug
Anti-Semitism Watch | Germany’s Far-Right Is Changing the Political Landscape
In August, far-right mobs in the eastern German town of Chemnitz hunted foreigners through the streets. In the chaos, a kosher restaurant was attacked and...
Unravelling the Words of an Unlikely Villain
In seeking purity, do we risk missing the bigger picture?
The Consequence of Conscience
In July 2015, as thousands of Syrians and others fleeing ISIS and civil war thronged into train stations in Germany, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited...
How Germany’s ‘Rent a Jew’ Fights Stereotypes
“We try not to debunk the stereotypes from the Jewish side, but instead show the participants how stereotypes work in general.”