Making Jewish culture and Jewish life visible as an important part of daily life in Germany is essential so that Jews can feel that Germany is their home. This is all the more true in view of the betrayal of all civilised values that was the Shoah, the antisemitic resentment that is still deeply rooted in our society and the large number of antisemitic crimes and attacks.

Detail view of a Hanukkah menorah (Larger version opens in new window) Source: Fuse (gettyimages) Seven-branched menorah featuring the Star of David

When asked about Jewish life in Germany, many people think of antisemitism, pogroms, the Holocaust, National Socialism or Auschwitz. Many of these associations refer to Jewish dying - as if Jewish life in Germany had ceased with the end of the Nazi era. Many people are also unaware of the rich history of Jewish life before the Shoah. They do not know that Jews arrived here with the ancient Romans, settling in the areas along the rivers Rhine and Moselle; that Jewish life has been rooted here for more than 1,700 years; and that Jews have contributed significantly to shaping present-day Germany. Many important German poets, philosophers, intellectuals, musicians, painters, scientists, physicians and more were or are Jewish. Jews were and are to be found in all parts of our society — they are as diverse and “normal” as everybody else. In early 1933, the Jewish congregations in the German Reich counted about 560,000 members. In the period between the end of the Shoah and 1989, the Jewish community in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) counted on average about 15,000 members; in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), there were fewer than 1,000 members.

The fact that Jewish life in Germany has continued and once again flourished after the end of the Second World War and the liberation of the concentration camps is cause for joy and gratitude. Since 1990, more than 215,000 Jewish emigrants from the successor states of the former Soviet Union have come to Germany. They and their descendants make up 90 percent of Germany’s Jewish community today, and Germany is now home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe.

Some 100,000 people in Germany are members of Jewish congregations. The majority of these congregations, 104 in total with about 96,000 members, are represented by the Central Council of Jews in German (Zentralrat der Juden). Based on the state treaty of 27 January 2003, the Federal Government provides funding to the Central Council of Jews in Germany, which is by its own definition open to all denominations of Judaism. Under this treaty, the Federal Government helps to preserve and foster German-Jewish cultural heritage, promote the Jewish community and assist the Central Council of Jews in its integration efforts and social work, also supporting it in its interregional tasks.

Another 26 congregations with some 5,000 members are represented by the liberal Union for Progressive Judaism (Union progressiver Juden in Deutschland) whose activities are also supported by the Federal Government on the basis of the state treaty. There are also several tens of thousands of people of Jewish faith or Jewish descent in Germany who do not belong to Jewish congregations. Beyond congregational life, numerous cultural initiatives and organisations share knowledge about or contribute to Jewish life in Germany or otherwise contribute to it, for example by organising days of culture. Among these organisations are the Jewish museums that exist in many German cities. Furthermore, Jewish life in Germany is also influenced by the many Jewish Israelis living in Germany and by Israeli culture.