Whenever Germans talk about Israel, they mostly talk about themselves. What is seldom discussed in such heated debates is the actual history of the relationship between Israel and the Federal Republic. German politicians, when speaking of this relationship, will use words like “miracle” and “atonement,” words than contain not so much reality as wishful thinking. After the founding of Israel in 1948, it was the Federal Republic of Germany that became the Jewish state’s strongest supporter. Reparations, arms shipments, and financial resources helped transform the existentially threatened country into a regional power. It is no wonder that Israel grasped the outstretched hand of Germany: there was hardly any other choice. But there was no talk of atonement. No one deluded themselves about the fact that in Germany former Nazis were making careers—and by aiding Israel, hoping to wash the blood from their hands. As Daniel Marwecki argues in his new book, the price for the security of Israel was Germany’s prompt absolution. Marwecki casts a perspicuous eye on Germany’s policy toward Israel from the founding of the Jewish state to the present day. Following the reading, Jacob Eder will host a discussion with Stefanie Schüler-Springorum and the author.

Daniel Marwecki teaches International Relations at the University of Hong Kong. He received his Doctorate in 2018 from SOAS University of London. His book Germany and Israel: Whitewashing and Statebuilding was published in 2018; his journalistic work has appeared in Le Monde Diplomatique, taz, UnHerd, Jacobin, and elsewhere.

Stephanie Schüler-Springorum is a historian and since 2011 has served as the director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University of Berlin. Prior to that, from 2001 to 2011, she was director of the Institute for the History of the German Jews in Hamburg. From 2009 to 2019 she was chair of the Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft of the Leo Baeck Institute in Germany, and since 2012 she has been co-director of the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies in Berlin-Brandenburg. Her areas of research include German-Jewish history, the history of National Socialism and the Holocaust, and the history of Spain.

Presented in German
Featuring a musical performance by Barenboim-Said Akademie student Begüm Aslan (double bass)