In Germany, COVID-19 postpones the revival of the Jewish Carnival tradition that the Nazis tried to end Aaron Knappstein, in blue and white tam, watches the Carnival with friends in 2019. (Toby Axelrod)
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(JTA) Looking over an old family scrapbook, Laura Chanin saw a puzzling photograph of her paternal great-grandfather, Max Solomon, wearing women’s clothes. She had questions.
“What is this? Why is he in drag?” Chanin, a 53-year-old mother of one from California, asked about the experience of several years ago.
The discovery led Chanin, who works at a logo printing business, to discover that Solomon was among the founders of the first Jewish group to officially participate in the Carnival of his native Cologne.
Jewish Ledger
In Germany, the rise of antisemitism and other extremism has Jews questioning their future
By Cnaan Liphshiz
FRANKFURT, Germany (JTA) When this country’s main far-right movement entered parliament in 2017, it was a life-changing wakeup call for 38-year-old Shai Hoffman.
Hoffman went searching for answers, quite literally. He teamed with activist and educator Stella Bauhaus and obtained government funding to operate her old double-decker bus, which she otherwise uses as a mobile classroom for immersive learning projects, for a cross-country project. They held conversations with random pedestrians across Germany to study and challenge some of their increasingly xenophobic, nationalist and populist views.
In Germany, the rise of anti-Semitism and other extremism has Jews questioning their future January 8, 2021 1:46 pm People walk near the Brandenburg Gate during Hanukkah in Berlin, Dec. 19, 2020. (Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images)
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FRANKFURT, Germany (JTA) When this country’s main far-right movement entered parliament in 2017, it was a life-changing wakeup call for 38-year-old Shai Hoffman.
Hoffman went searching for answers, quite literally. He teamed with activist and educator Stella Bauhaus and obtained government funding to operate her old double-decker bus, which she otherwise uses as a mobile classroom for immersive learning projects, for a cross-country project. They held conversations with random pedestrians across Germany to study and challenge some of their increasingly xenophobic, nationalist and populist views.