After vandals stuck Europe\’s largest Jewish cemetery in Berlin, Jewish leaders are asking area metal dealers to check for wrought-iron objects that might have been stolen from the cemetery.
Berlin Jews joined hundreds of demonstrators to protest a meeting marking the merger of two neo-Nazi parties. Police estimated that fewer than 80 right-wing extremists showed up to the Jan. 15 meeting in which the National Democratic Party (NPD) of Germany and the German People’s Union (DVU) formally announced their merger. Meanwhile, nearly 100 times that number demonstrated on the streets outside the public school where the party meeting was held, in the Berlin district of Lichtenberg.\n
Prince Harry of Great Britain visited the Holocaust memorial and museum while in Berlin for a children\’s charity benefit.
Following a violent attack on dancers at a Jewish festival, Jewish leaders say they are worried about a possible upsurge in anti-Semitism among Muslim youth.
Several hundred Jewish revelers gathered in Berlin for what was billed as the city\’s first-ever Jewish parade.\n
Berlin is \”meshugge\” – a bit crazy – in the eyes of DJ Aviv Netter, an Israeli who hosts a monthly disco night titled Meshugge in the German capital.\n\nWomen dance to his music under flags bearing the Star of David and menorahs. \”I\’m kosher, kiss me,\” read their t-shirts.\n
A man and two women were brutally attacked in Berlin allegedly after the assailants demanded to know whether they were Jewish.\n\nAccording to a statement from the Jewish community of Berlin, a man of \”Mediterranean\” appearance on Friday night demanded to know if the three were Jewish. After they said they were, the man \”obviously went to get some friends,\” who then beat the three, all in their mid-20s, in an underground train and on the platform in the Wilmersdorf section of Berlin.\n\nPolice are investigating the incident as an anti-Semitic and racist attack, as it allegedly began with the attackers cursing the victims. The youths then beat and kicked the two women and one attacker smashed a bottle over the man\’s head.\n
When American Rabbi Joshua Spinner moved to Berlin\’s trendy Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood a decade ago, there were no other Jews to be seen.\n\nNow when the sun sets on a Friday night, dozens of Jewish men clad in traditional Shabbat garb with big black hats and dark long coats walk down the streets past hip coffee shops, chic boutiques and tiny art galleries to attend services at Rykestrasse synagogue.
Winger, an American who has lived in Berlin for the last five years, grew up in Cambridge, Mass., along with long periods in Kenya and Mexico, as well as New York City. The daughter of Harvard anthropologists, she picked up their skills of observation, which she has fine-tuned in her work as a professional photographer and in this beautifully written fictional debut.
Shortly after famed photographer Roman Vishniac died in 1990, his daughter Mara checked through his New York apartment. In the bottom drawer of a file cabinet she found a bundle of folders and envelopes labeled \”Berlin.\”Some 40 of the Berlin photos, first curated by Aubrey Pomerance at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, are now on exhibit through Dec. 14 at UCLA Hillel\’s Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts.
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