The Compassionate Listening Project

MidEast Citizen Diplomacy

July 2003 e-Newsletter

download entire German-Jewish Reconciliation Newsletter (Adobe PDF 1 mb)

ARTICLES

Healing the Wounds of WWII: German-Jewish Reconciliation
by Leah Green
Thirty-four courageous men and women gathered in late September in Germany for our first Jewish-German Compassionate Listening project. For ten days, we listened to each other, and to Germans and Jews with widely varying experiences during WWII, including a former SS Soldier. The project touched us all at depths we could never have imagined... (full story)

Reclaiming My Family
by Ursel Kamaan, Germany
The experience of meeting with Jewish people for reconciliation went far beyond my expectations. There were moments of deep sharing... (full story)

Fear Not...
by Gabrielle Siels, Germany
On the third night of our project we had a spontaneous celebration of coming back together, a ritual for the painful separation of Jews and Germans. I wrote in my journal that night, “Please God, I saw the image of... (full story)

Touring Jewish Berlin
by Mina Cohen, USA
We’re now going to take a bus and walking tour of Jewish Berlin. Our guide is German-Israeli. As the neighborhood where we are staying in Berlin is close to the East, we soon enter an area with a lot of new buildings and construction mixed in with old... (full story)

Empty Pews
Poem by Rich Hoffman, Jewish Facilitator
(full poem)

The Jewish Cemetery
by Mina Cohen, USA
Upon entering the park we find one tombstone - Moses Mendelssohn, and a few bulldozed together in a corner. This had been the largest Jewish cemetery in Berlin… (full story)

Honoring Courageous German Women
by Eve B. Rennebarth, Germany
The Grossen Hamburger Strasse is the oldest Jewish Cemetery in Berlin that was destroyed by the Nazi’s in the early 1940s. Adjacent to this hallowed ground is the memorial in the Rosenstrasse. This is where the non-Jewish wives involved... (full story)

Ingrid: A Story of Resistance
by Mina Cohen, USA
Ingrid helped Jewish family friends during the war by smuggling money and jewels. Her courageous mother was arrested and imprisoned in Ravensbruk... (full story)

Sylvia: a Survivor’s Story
by Mina Cohen, USA
Sylvia told us how she tried to hold on to her mother when the Nazis came to take her to the gas chamber. Sylvia and her two sisters were rescued from the camp by Mme. Rothschild, and eventually made it to the United States. In 2001 Sylvia returned... (full story)

Listening to a Former Nazi
by Brian Berman, Jewish facilitator
In Berlin we listened to a former SS soldier. Several years ago, Otto dreamt that he was being kicked by people chasing after him, calling him “dirty swine”. Realizing he needed to face his past... (full story)

Lord’s Prayer in Lebensgarten
Poem by Miriam Bassuk, Jewish Participant
(full poem)