Germany

Review: ‘White Rose: The Musical’ ‘Not Only Deserves to be Heard, But It Deserves to be Sung and Sung Loudly’ at Theatre Row

Sophie Scholl. Hans Scholl. Christoph Probst. Karl Huber.
The names of those three students and one professor – anti-National Socialist political activists all – have haunted me since the days when I was a student at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich.
You see, I started each and every day by waking up in my apartment in the Studentenstadt-Freiman, which was located on Christoph-Probst-Straße. I took the U-3 or U-6 or drove to the …

‘Juden Verboten’: Performer at Soho Theater in London Chases Out Jewish Audience Members While Davos Ski Shop Refuses to Serve Jews

“Juden Verboten.” “Jews Prohibited.” These words appeared almost out of nowhere in Germany under the National Socialist regime and Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, forbidding Jews from public life including shops, hotels, and restaurants. One might be forgiven for thinking such a thing could not happen in a modern-day Western European nation.
But one would be wrong to think so.
In fact, it was a particularly bad week to be Jewish in …

‘Never Again.’ In a Year of Far-Right Extremism, Terror Attacks on Israel, Holocaust Memorial Day on 2024 Feels a Lot Like 1938 to Me

A group portrait that included Barbara Back and Siegfried Back (top l.), and Paula Spira, their daughter (center r.), the author's grandmother, in an undated photo.

In Austria and Germany, International Holocaust Memorial Day, which this year marks the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, is associated with the pledge “Nie wieder,” or “Never again.”
This year, that pledge has taken on far greater meaning amidst a rise in antisemitic incidents in the country, the revelation that members of the Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, party had met with neo-Nazis and those calling for a mass …

The Strange Tradition of ‘Dinner for One’ at 60 Years: How An Obscure Short Film Became a Cult Classic

MUNICH — If we think of a tradition, we commonly remember behaviors or actions we had already known for some time. The word itself derives from the Latin term “tradere,” which means to transmit or hand over something. Passing on traditions has become human nature, performed from generation to generation.
One such tradition, which was passed on to me, is watching “Dinner for One,” an 18-minute television sketch from 1963, some …

‘Never Again is Now.’ Germans Mark 85th Anniversary of Kristallnacht at a Fraught Moment

Thousands of people marched in Berlin on Thursday evening to mark the 85th anniversary of the Novemberpogrome, or Kristallnacht, while the Brandenburger Tor, the Brandenburg Gate, one of the best-known landmarks in Germany, was illuminated with the words, “Nie wieder ist jetzt,” or “Never again is now,” along with a large Star of David on the second cornice.
Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, the orchestrated attacks that rocked Germany and …

Thoughts and Reflections on the Occasion of the 85th Anniversary of the Kristallnacht by a Holocaust Survivor

“Never again!” is a phrase strongly associated with the lessons of the Holocaust.  It was used by liberated prisoners from the Konzentrationslager Buchenwald and popularized by Rabbi Meir Kahane in his 1971 book which carried the phrase as its title. The phrase can be taken as a command to avert a second Holocaust as well as a universalist injunction against all forms of genocide.
On October 7, 2023, a series of …

Is It Safe to Travel to Europe During the Heat Wave? Here’s What You Need to Know Before You Go

Think it’s warm here? It’s not just much of the United States that’s sweltering under extreme heat waves, but also a good part of the European continent.
Temperatures in Italy, Greece, and Spain seem to be breaking new records daily and no relief is in sight, while many other countries – such as Austria and Czechia – are seeing unusually warm temperatures as well.
This raises the question of whether to change …