Marian Turski (born in 1926) is a survivor of Auschwitz Concentration Camp and Chairman of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. Dalia Grinfeld is a representative of contemporary Jewish life in Germany. She lives in Berlin and is the Assistant Director European Affairs of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The interview was conducted by Dieter Landenberger.
In Germany, Jewish organizations and synagogues are often under police protection. What does that say about our society and its problems?
Turski: It is difficult for me to say, because I live in Poland. Here too, we suffer from a mood of antisemitism but our synagogues are not guarded. I cannot explain why that is the case in Germany. Whenever I meet Germans or German politicians, I always experience people with values and attitudes that I can accept. However, I also see that there is a transformation in progress. In the 1960s, there was a movement in favor of reconciliation in Germany, driven by a generation of young people who had been able to speak to their parents or grandparents about their experiences. One manifestation that remains unforgotten was Willy Brandt’s gesture of falling to his knees. Nowadays, there are no personalities like Willy Brandt in Germany who express this conviction in the way he did. Perhaps there will be a new movement that once again takes up this conviction. It may be that we need to find a new way of speaking to the young generation.
Grinfeld: There is still antisemitism in Germany. It stretches from antisemitic hate speech all to the point of antisemitic violence. Over the past few years, we have seen a rise in violence. The attack on 52 people praying in the synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, is only one of several tragic examples. Jewish life is often not seen as part of German society but always from the perspective of a spectator as a result i.a. of ignorance concerning Jewish culture, tradition and history.