| A Jewish Family in Germany Today: An Intimate Portrait Contributor(s): Bodemann, Y. Michal (Author) |
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ISBN: 0822334100 ISBN-13: 9780822334101 Publisher: Duke University Press
Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions Published: December 2004 Annotation: "Why did Jews choose to live in postwar Germany? Most scholars have looked for answers to this question in the official institutional history. Y. Michal Bodemann turns our view to the private sphere and thus reveals for the first time a more intimate and at the same time more complex picture of the German Jewish community as mirrored by one family."--Michael Brenner, author of "After the Holocaust: Rebuilding Jewish Lives in Postwar Germany" "The lives of the Kalman family provide the perfect palette from which to understand the conflicts and the compromises and commitments that Jews have had to make to live not only in Germany but in the modern world."--Sander L. Gilman, author of "Jewish Frontiers: Essays on Bodies, Histories, and Identities" "These interviews are valuable and frank documents. The experiences of the Kalman family are representative of many Jewish families in the period 1945-2000. Y. Michal Bodemann's astute questions and obvious intimate acquaintance with the family bring out the problematic aspects of being Jewish in Germany today. He deals not only with questions of anti-Semitism but also with the secularization process of German Jews."--Jack Zipes, coeditor of "Unlikely History: The Changing German-Jewish Symbiosis, 1945-2000" |
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| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Jewish Studies - Biography & Autobiography | Historical - History | Jewish - General |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2004011845 |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.1" W x 9.3" L (1.20 lbs) 296 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Germany - Ethnic Orientation - Jewish - Topical - Holocaust |
| Features: Glossary, Ikids, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents |
| Review Citations: Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2005 pg. 15 - Recommended/Special Interest |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Immediately after the Holocaust, it seemed inconceivable that a Jewish community would rebuild in Germany. What was once unimaginable has now come to pass: Germany is home to one of Europe's most vibrant Jewish communities, and it has the fastest growing Jewish immigrant population of any country in the world outside Israel. By sharing the life stories of members of one Jewish family--the Kalmans--Y. Michal Bodemann provides an intimate look at what it is like to live as a Jew in Germany today. Having survived concentration camps in Poland, four Kalman siblings--three brothers and a sister--were left stranded in Germany after the war. They built new lives and a major enterprise; they each married and had children. Over the past fifteen years Bodemann conducted extensive interviews with the Kalmans, mostly with the survivors' ten children, who were born between 1948 and 1964. In these oral histories, he shares their thoughts on Judaism, work, family, and community. Staying in Germany is not a given; four of the ten cousins live in Israel and the United States. Among the Kalman cousins are an art gallery owner, a body builder, a radio personality, a former chief financial officer of a prominent U.S. bank, and a sculptor. They discuss Zionism, anti-Semitism, what it means to root for the German soccer team, Schindler's List, money, success, marriage and intermarriage, and family history. They reveal their different levels of engagement with Judaism and involvement with local Jewish communities. Kalman is a pseudonym, and their anonymity allows the family members to talk with passion and candor about their relationships and their lives as Jews. |
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