Jewish in Berlin
Text Insertliste
Posted by Katrin Mackowski
 
Aviv Netter
 
00, 6 OT Aviv Netter
"Yes, we have heard of the Holocaust, we have studied it in school - but
it was something that belonged to the past.
 
0, 15 OT Aviv
I grew up in a 100% Jewish environment - and only four years ago - when I left Israel, did I notice that I was different, because of being Jewish.
 
0, 26 (Insert) Aviv Netter, Jewish DJ from Tel Aviv
 
00, 31 OT Aviv
And then I started to wear this chain with the Star of David. Since then, I ask myself, what does being Jewish mean for me, actually. I think it is a process, a process that I go through now - even though I’m organizing these Meschugge parties that I organise - and I don’t have a final answer for you yet. "

01:01
 The Jewish community is changing; the generation of Holocaust witnesses is dying out. Yet these successful "Meschugge” or ‘crazy’ parties are not at the expense of Jewish traditions.
   
Voice over for Aviv Netter (1.08 to 2.12)
 
1.13 OT NORBERT
"I try to follow many Jewish traditions - but I can’t really say why. It’s how I’ve lived since my childhood. Whenever I think about God, I always come back to the same conclusion - that he does not exist. There is a huge divide within me.
To be Jewish, for me, is to feel my fingers tap the rhythm of Jewish music on the table, when I enjoy Jewish food with my family, that makes me Jewish.
Sure, if we go to the Jewish Museum, there is a lot to talk about in history. But I think what we do now here with the parties in Berlin, that's history – we’re also creating history - and it's time to talk about the future. "
   
 
2.15
"Would you say that you are putting the old traditional images down the toilet?"
 
 
Voice over for Aviv Netter (2, 23-2, 46) OT NORBERT
 



2.25
OT Aviv
"I think I take the old traditions and reconsider them in the light of a new generation’s values - and by doing so I provide a great service to Jewish culture. It’s the case now that Jewish music is popular at Meschugge parties in Berlin and from time to time you might hear it in clubs.” 
 
 
 
2, 52 However fun the parties may be, for many people Berlin still harbours trauma. This student from Israel has mixed feelings.
 
Amil
 
3.01
"I really like Berlin, it smiles at me, but when I come here, I can’t shake the idea that the city should be in ruins."
 
 
3.15
"And I know that 70 years ago I couldn’t have sat in the U-Bahn as long as any Germans don’t have their place, so that knowledge is always there”
 
  
3, 27 (Insert) Fernanda, fan of Meschugge parties

Maybe we’ll never forget. That is also important. It is ok. It is important that they do not forget, but can also make jokes about it. That is great.
 
 
3, 41 Stars of David as a party decoration, provocative flags and banners; a Jewish identity based around Holocaust iconography has ended. The signs are being reinterpreted here.
 
 
O-Ton Cilly Kugelmann open 3, 49-4, 41
3, 55 (Insert) Cilly Kugelmann, program head of the Jewish Museum Berlin

“If you can remember, in the 60s Jimmy Hendrix took apart the American national anthem on his guitar, just like the Frankfurt Kurorchester did with the German national anthem in the 90s. I interpret these decorations in the disco in a similar way, as a symbol, which stands for the Jewish community in the Middle East, for Israel. And they are not now being broken in a musical interpretation, or otherwise destroyed, but are being deconstructed through the disco, treated ironically through entertainment instead of standing for a national pathos.”
 
 
Voice over Aviv Netter (4, 43-4, 54) OT NORBERT
 
4, 48
"I'm from Tel Aviv, where I spent 22 years of my life, and I can say that Tel Aviv has a lot in common with Berlin."
 
 
 
5,00
And so Aviv Netter has made David Ben Gurion, the founder of the state of Israel, an icon of his Berlin parties.
 
 
Voice over Aviv Netter (5, 05-5, 15)
 
5.10
"I came to Germany and find that Germany is the most enlightened and educated nation when it comes to dealing with the Jewish-Israeli history."
 
 Cilly Kugelmann

“It is a town that hasn’t found itself yet and is always changing, and so naturally it will always pull people in. Yet a point comes when they want to marry and have children. It is interesting for young people to treat their time in such a fluid city as an orientation phase. “
 
5, 49 And so what does being Jewish mean to Aviv Netter?
 
 
Voice over Aviv Netter (5, 50 to 6.07) OT NORBERT
 
5, 55 "Jewish means to be a foreigner. Jewish people have always travelled from country to country. I was 22 years old when I packed up my things and moved to Berlin. So here is something.

 
OT Cilly

I can describe the motto of the Jewish community in the federal republic with the English expression ‘displacement’. So it started with the so-called DPs, with the displaced persons, and the moment these displaced people came from outside, they did not 100% belong and brought a different experience of life with them. With every new generation of migrants in the Jewish community come new aspects of this displacement, however it also furnishes our society with new diversity.
 
7’04  And in the Meschugge parties, you’re allowed to be a little different.

7’12: Aviv Netter
“Go and celebrate who you are – you’re special. And do special parties!”


FINAL AT 7:06