Where is home?

Journal voyage 6 – Germany day 1

Our voyage in Germany starts in a little town of the province of Bavaria. In the car, we rented at the Frankfurt airport, I read to Harry short paragraphs from Amos Eilon book: “German Requiem”, the story of the Jews in Germany from 1743 till 1933. This era has been a sort of the “Golden age” for German Jews. From their point of view most Jews had tried everything to be part of the German society and culture; in return they were generally rejected as an ethnic group.

The hatred for the Jews has always puzzled me. The great German philosopher Johann Fichte had said (this is not an exact quote): It is essential to cut off the Jewish head and fix him with a new head without one Jewish idea, perhaps, we, the Germans, should conquer the ancient Hebrew state so we can expel the Jews and send them there.

In the little booklet that I brought with me there is the history of the Wetzler family who lived in Kleinhaubach persistently from the 17th century till the end of the 1930s of the last century.

After one hour drive we arrive to that little town on the bank of the Main River. We are being treated with honor and respect by our hosts Mr. Alf Dieterle and his wife Lisa. Everyone else too, including the mayor of the town, get out of his/her way to show their care and concern and fulfill our wishes.

The town of Kleinhaubach is one of the many little German towns and villages that enable the 19th and first years of the 20th century Jews to live normal lives among the other Germans and even to keep their religious rituals. But at the “Cristal night” of November 1938 the Kleinhaubach’s synagogue was set on fire but was extinguished by the gentile neighbors because they actually feared that their own houses will burn down too.

Germany is a beautiful country, with its rivers, forests and green landscape. Everywhere I look I see a sort of calmness and beauty. On our second day here we drive with Mr. Dieterle to the old Jewish cemetery. My Jewish Germans ancestors are all buried here. On the way back I look through the window. I watch the green and brown colors of the valley ahead. At the side of the little road, trees bending over with big apples. I ask Mr. Dieterle to stop his car. I go and film. Perhaps this is the Garden of Eden? I suddenly remember the words of the young woman that I filmed in Tisha B’av in My hometown Kiryat Tivon: “what if we give in to the seduction of Diaspora? She had asked worryingly.

But my home is not in Germany, this I know beyond any doubts. Close

For the last 12 years I've been working on a long documentary film that is very precious to me. "Where is home" deals with the relation between our private home and homeland in its various implications... Learn More