Audio: 50 Years of Research Collaboration and Cultural Relations between Israel and Germany

Prof. Dr. Michael Brenner, Professor of Jewish History and Culture, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and Director, Center for Israel Studies, American University, Washington D.C.

The State of Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany are almost twins: They were established within a few months in 1948 and 1949 respectively. Both were products of the greatest catastrophe in modern history. The State of Israel emerged literally out of the ashes of Auschwitz, the two Germanies were the products of a recently divided European landscape. History tied the fate of these two states together, but it also created an enormous emotional gap between Germans and Jews, between Germans and Israelis.

Diplomatic relations were not on the horizon during the first decade of the two states’ existence. The situation with Germany can be best told by the words symbolically stamped into every Israeli passport which read: “Valid in all countries with the exception of Germany.”

Prof. Dr. Michael Brenner gives an overview about German-Israeli diplomatic and academic relations after the holocaust.

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