Althouse: "With fewer than 200,000 Jews among Germany's 82 million people, few Germans born after World War II know any Jews or much about them."

March 30, 2013

"With fewer than 200,000 Jews among Germany's 82 million people, few Germans born after World War II know any Jews or much about them."

"To help educate postwar generations, an exhibit at the Jewish Museum in Berlin features a Jewish man or woman seated inside a glass box for two hours a day through August to answer visitors' questions about Jews and Jewish life. The base of the box asks: 'Are there still Jews in Germany?'"

Performance art... what can't it do?

19 comments:

Phil 314 said...: Well, at least he didn't have a yellow star of David.; 3/30/13, 9:02 AM
Oso Negro said...: What happened to potluck dinners at Chabad House? This seems unlikely to foster a reasonable image.; 3/30/13, 9:10 AM
Unknown said...: I'm absolutely sure that putting people in glass boxes is the best way to get to know them as people.

We have several glass boxes at our house and we feel so close and warmly fuzzy about their contents.

sarc/; 3/30/13, 9:11 AM
Crimso said...: Much less "performance art" than zoo. "Everyone! Come look at the strange and exotic creature we tried to hunt to extinction!" But it could lead to valuable discussions. Someone might ask one of the Jews how they feel about SSM, and an exchange of ideas might break out.; 3/30/13, 9:24 AM
Crimso said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/30/13, 9:24 AM
edutcher said...: I saw a guy being tied to a cross yesterday wearing only a towel..
i get the point, but, if you want to find out what being crucified was like, "The Naked Archeologist" gives it to you minute by minute.

Same here.; 3/30/13, 9:25 AM
chuck said...: What can't it do?

Raise the dead.; 3/30/13, 10:10 AM
jimbino said...: There are few Jews, but lots of ex-nazis still living and in positions of leadership in Germany. The record of postwar "denazification" shows the behavior of Amerika to be disgraceful.

Apart from exalting von Braun, Amerika helped lots of nazis escape to South America, kept many in power to combat the USSR influence, and failed to prosecute the rest.; 3/30/13, 10:21 AM
Anonymous said...: In a glass box? How about a cage? When you are treated like a zoo animal, you should be housed like a zoo animal.

Degrading.; 3/30/13, 10:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Come to think of it, we don't have too many Muslims here. And slavery was abolished a century ago.

How should we learn about those?; 3/30/13, 10:31 AM
Aridog said...: Something about this repelled me immediately. As elkh1 said...we could do this to various minority folks here and make the into to every question "Do You People....?"; 3/30/13, 10:40 AM
ndspinelli said...: Hitler is smiling.; 3/30/13, 11:29 AM
YoungHegelian said...: Wouldn't it be cheaper to import Jackie Mason to give a couple of shows?; 3/30/13, 11:44 AM
ken in tx said...: At least, de-Nazifcation was attempted in Germany. In Japan, most Japanese still think that non-Japanese are sub-human, with some Koreans being almost human.; 3/30/13, 2:15 PM
Zach said...: It's actually a very interesting museum. Lots of good exhibits on Jewish life in the 1800s and earlier. It's good to have some exhibits where Jews aren't just victims or black and white photographs.

Most of the current Jews in Germany are immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe. Even before the war, the real center of Jewish culture was further East -- Poland and the surrounding areas. Most of the people killed in the Holocaust never even stepped foot inside Germany.; 3/30/13, 3:13 PM
Fr Martin Fox said...: Does anyone dare say this (particularly in Germany): that Hitler succeeded?

One of the things I reflect on is the extent to the horrors of Nazism have left Germany bearing a wound that cannot heal, at least not for an extraordinary amount of time, or without some extraordinary "therapy."

It reminds me of the Lord of the Rings--which I recently reread--which speaks of wounds that don't heal, and effects of Mordor that will take generations to cleanse. That idea, in turn, recalls images from the Old Testament prophets.; 3/30/13, 4:16 PM
tiger said...: Really? There are only 200k Jewish folk left in Germany?

I'm caught between thinking
1) the number would be a LOT higher

and

2) the number would be a LOT lower.; 3/30/13, 4:34 PM
Anonymous said...: I had no idea it was this low. I just assumed a lot of Jews stayed. When I was in Germany I kind of assumed anyone shorter than average and dark haired was of Jewish extraction. Now that you mention it, I didn't see anyone like that outside the main cities.; 3/30/13, 10:10 PM
Nichevo said...: Sojo, all Germans are not blondes, and all Jews are not brunettes. I remember a 1980s Penthouse article talking about the small dark ladies of the South being hotter lays than the Brunhilde types. And my cousins are big strapping blonde and redheaded boys. I myself have red and gold highlights in my dark brown beard.

That said, I don't know that you're wrong.; 3/31/13, 7:52 AM