In 2000, there was one Jewish kindergarten in Germany. Today there are five.
The growth is evidence of an increasingly flourishing Jewish life in Germany, according to Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Berlin office.
Berger was in the Bay Area this week speaking to local Jewish leaders about German Jewish renewal — and the anti-Semitism that won’t fade.
“Anti-Semitism is an ongoing threat. There is no question about it,” she said. “But it’s not undermining Jewish life. It accompanies Jewish life.”
Berger has lived in Germany for 22 years, working as a correspondent for National Public Radio before joining the AJC.
As director of AJC’s Berlin office, she serves as an American Jewish voice for Germany’s Jews and as a representative of Jewish interests in Germany, building bridges between Germany’s Jews and its general population.
“It’s very important for us to engage non-Jewish partners because there aren’t enough Jews in Europe to combat it,” she said. “And it’s not a Jewish task. Anti-Semitism strikes at the heart of democracy, and it’s critical to raise public awareness about the danger of anti-Semitism going unchecked.”
Berger works with numerous leaders from the European Union and the German government. She has partnered with nonprofits focused on civil rights, racism and tolerance, and developed a task force that aims to help teachers, professors and youth workers combat anti-Semitism. She’s also working closely with Turkish organizations to establish roundtable discussions between German Turks and Jews.
“It’s important to reach out to minority groups and moderate voices,” she said.
The rise in anti-Semitism has different roots than in years past, necessitating new strategies to combat, Berger said.
Technology — satellite radio and television, Internet news sites and blogs — is bolstering the new wave of anti-Semitism by making it easy for people to spread information and organize.
Nevertheless, “there has been an explosion of the growth of Jewish life” in Germany, Berger said.
Between 1991 and 2005, more than 200,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union immigrated to Germany. The influx has made Germany home to the third-largest and fastest-growing Jewish population in Western Europe, after France and Britain.
But Germany only had 28,000 Jews to absorb and acculturate the immigrants. That’s one reason Russian-speaking Jews have had a harder time adapting to life in Germany than, say, fellow Russian Jews who immigrated to Israel and America.
“We’re still not sure why it has been so difficult for the adults,” Berger said. “The younger generation has been rapidly integrated into German society —but into Jewish society, well, that’s more complicated.”
German-born Jews and immigrants from the former Soviet Union often clash, Berger added. Also, Germany’s Russian-speaking Jews don’t have access to a well-funded, organized community set up to deliver a slew of resources to the population the way they do in most American communities.
Berger wants to see more leadership training programs developed for Germany’s Jews, and is encouraged by ongoing partnerships with local leaders.
The Ronald Lauder Foundation has built elementary and preschools, funded family education projects and established adult learning centers. Chabad recently built a $7.5 million community center and synagogue in Berlin. The Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is funding programs for infants and toddlers.
“America and Israel need strong partners in the center of Europe,” Berger said. “It’s in our interest to see a stronger Jewish community in Germany.”