Since Germany’s refugee laws were opened up to Jews in 1990, Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union has changed and renewed the face of Jewish communities all over Germany. This renewal is perhaps most visible in Berlin, Germany’s capital, which has the largest community of Jews in Germany. It is estimated that approximately 170,000-200,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union have immigrated to Germany since 1990. In Berlin specifically, due to immigration from the former Soviet Union, the number of Jews registered in the Community has jumped from 6,000 in 1989 to around 11,000 in 2010, and many more live in Berlin who are not registered members of the official Community.
Whereas Jews living in the former Soviet Union often faced considerable anti-Semitism, nationality conflicts, economic issues, and an unstable future, Germany’s relaxed immigration laws, its economic prosperity, central location in Europe, as well as its growing Jewish community, have made it an attractive destination for these immigrants. Berlin in particular, Germany’s largest and perhaps most diverse city, has emerged as a new hub for Jewish life.
Still assimilation into German society is not an easy process, though many try to embrace the challenges. A key barrier for immigrants from the former Soviet Union arriving in Germany is that they often do not speak the language, which can alienate them from society at large. For Adults to learn German, they have to take language courses in addition to earning a living and taking care of one’s family—a difficult load to manage. Andre Lossin, managing director of the Jewish Community in Berlin explains that it can be an obstacle to speak only Russian. “Language is the key… because it gives you communication with the people around you.” Thus the German language exists as both a barrier that can make integration more difficult and as a primary requirement of assimilating immigrants into German society.
Another major challenge for first generation immigrants is obtaining careers similar to those they had pursued in the former Soviet Union. Dr. Anne-Margarete Brenker, head of administration at the Abraham Geiger Kolleg, a liberal rabbinical seminary in Berlin, explains that many of the degrees first generation immigrants had acquired during the time they resided in the former Soviet Union are not seen as equivalent to German degrees. As a result, immigrants are often forced to settle for work that requires far fewer skills than they actually possess, says Dr Brenker, adding that these positions are generally not as well paid and less prestigious than the positions they held in the former Soviet Union.
Students at Olam, a Jewish Youth Center in Berlin, describe the process of immigration as one that can make practicing Judaism difficult. When a person moves to Germany, the government determines the exact location where the family is required to move. Anna Perlina, a PhD student at the Max Plank Institut in Berlin, who moved to Germany from the former Soviet Union when she was eleven years old, explains that the German government looks at the economic situation of German cities to determine which ones are financially equipped to service new immigrants. The German government does so to avoid overwhelming individual communities and spread immigrants more evenly across the country. According to teenagers from the Youth Center, some immigrants are assigned to small cities with in some cases barely existing Jewish communities. Many of these towns have no synagogues, Jewish schools or other Jewish institutions, making practicing one’s faith difficult. After seven years however, immigrants are allowed to move freely within Germany and relocate to bigger cities. Berlin is a popular choice because of its diverse and large Jewish community, as well as accessibility to Jewish institutions.
To counter the difficulties of immigration, there are many measures in place. Andre Lossin, managing director of the Jewish Community in Berlin, explains that the Community offers a variety of integration and language courses that are intended to make the transition less stressful. To combat unemployment, for example, there are frequent meetings for the Russian-Jewish community in Berlin to find its members job opportunities. The Jewish Youth Center, which organizes weekly programs and get-togethers, welcomes children with Russian backgrounds and also provides a venue for immigrants to foster their traditions with events focused on the arts and language. The Youth Center offers hip-hop dance, fashion and design, singing and gymnastics classes as well as provides children with the weekly opportunity to learn about their Jewish heritage in a hands-on manner every Sunday afternoon.
In general, the children of immigrants who were born and raised in Germany are managing assimilation more easily than their parents or grandparents who were more closely tied to the former Soviet Union. There are several reasons why second generation immigrants are better at managing this transition. For one thing, children, regardless of their individual backgrounds, are required to learn the German language in the German school system. Though Russian is also offered at some schools, it is an elective course that can only be taken in addition to German. Despite this, some teenagers report having problems learning German because it is not the language spoken at home. But for many teenagers in Berlin, the Jewish high school, youth center, and other Jewish institutions, are places where teens of various Jewish backgrounds can come together, socialize and learn from one another, making integration and learning from one another easier.
Some teenagers living in Berlin report that speaking Russian in Germany can be extremely advantageous. These teenagers believe that having this background makes them more knowledgeable about other cultures than people who have a German background only. It also gives them a connection to other non-Jewish Russian immigrants living in Germany.
There are some Jewish people living in Berlin who find the influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union to be discouraging them from joining the official Jewish Community in Berlin. These individuals find that these immigrants have brought with them a different language and traditions that distract from the authenticity of Judaism in Berlin. Even though these people have concerns about some of the effects of these immigrants influencing the Jewish Community in Berlin, none can deny that such immigration has had a profound effect on the community,
Jewish Immigrants to Germany are faced with a conflict all immigrants are facing. They may not want to lose touch with the culture they grew up in but may feel a need to assimilate. Many families feel the pressure to surrender some of their traditions, both Jewish and non-Jewish, for the purpose of integration. On the other hand, many immigrants come to Germany with little knowledge about their religious traditions and are now able to openly practice their Jewish faith for the first time since Jewish life in the former Soviet Union was much more restricted. Dr. Benker explains that many immigrants had no strong relationship to their Jewish heritage. “It was not possible because there were no facilities, there was no synagogue, there was no rabbi, there was no Jewish background, there was no kosher food, there was no idea of festivals. It was a completely different picture.” As a result they had re-find their connection to Judaism. “They had to re-find it, not relearn it,” Dr. Brenker emphasizes. “They had to re-find it and that is of course very difficult.” The challenge for these immigrants is to balance the integration process and maintain the traditions unique to their Russian heritage.
Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union have changed the Jewish community in Berlin but the community has also changed them. While some immigrants have found assimilation into German society difficult, others have welcomed the challenge with open arms. Becoming part of a community to which a person is not native is always a give and take process, and both immigrants and the Jewish German community itself have responsibilities they must complete in order to be accommodating to the other party. Though integration has not been a seamless process, the influx in immigrants from the former Soviet Union has given Judaism in Berlin a new face that seemed impossible following the Holocaust and the destruction of the German Jewish community during the Nazi regime.
