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. Michael 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 inter-marriage 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.
Y. Michael Bodemann is Professor of Sociology at the University of
Toronto.
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