Jewish Cultural Identity in Berlin

Photo Taken By Michelle Wantuch

Biography

My name is Rachel Star. I’m 17-years-old, and about to enter my senior year at Menlo School in Atherton, California. I am Jewish, but more through my ties to Jewish traditions rather than through my religious beliefs. My mother's family traces its roots to the Jewish populations living in Spain and Turkey, places where the majority of Jews adhere to traditional Sephardic practices. My father's family immigrated to the United States from Russia in the early 1900s and has a background in the Ashkenazi traditions. In my family, these two separate traditional cultures are unified; however, it is sometimes a challenge to find where they intersect. Because my family follows a mix of traditions from both areas, I do not feel strongly affiliated with either one. In this way, I feel I can relate to many Jews living in Berlin who also ponder their cultural identities. I initially got interested in the story of Jews in Germany through the time I spent working for the Bay Area Oral History Project during which I transcribed and summarized interviews of Holocaust survivors living in the San Francisco Bay Area. While working in Berlin, I hope to build on this knowledge and further connect with the history of the Jewish people.

Topic Introduction

Cultural Identity is a lingering question for many Jews who have immigrated to Berlin in the last twenty years and have reached different levels of assimilation. Many individuals aren't German by birth, and those who are often have parents who came from the former Soviet Union. During this research expedition, I will interview a variety of people to try to get a sense of the range of cultural identities that exist within the Jewish population in Berlin.

During these interviews, I will ask each person the same two questions that I feel provide the most insight regarding cultural identity. First, I will ask each to define their identity in one or two words based on the geographic, religious, cultural, or ethnic group to which they feel most affiliated. Second, I will ask what they believe it means to be Jewish in Berlin today. I am pairing each of these responses with a portrait of the person as an attempt to capture a more visual representation of their identity. Comparing the similarities and differences between individual responses will paint a more complete picture of what it means the various Jewish identities that exist in Berlin today.