Judith Bernstein
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Judith Bernstein was born in Jerusalem in 1945 and grew up in the German-Jewish community of the Jeckes. Her grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz; her parents fled the National Socialists to Palestine. For decades, she has been active in Germany promoting Jewish-Palestinian dialogue. In the interview, she talks about her biography, her political views, and why she resists having her family’s fate instrumentalized for current conflicts.
Sample reading
The following excerpt comes from the full interview that was published in the publication.
Judith Bernstein: Yes. – And I also resist the idea that the fate of, for example, my grandparents now has to serve as a justification for the fight against the Palestinians. – I mean, my grandparents have no grave, but if they had had a grave, they would have turned over in it! If they had known that their fate would be used as a pretext for this terrible fight against the Palestinians.
HMV: You mean they would be on your side?
Judith Bernstein: Yes! – I do believe so. … I also find it brazen on the German side that this terrible history is being used for that. I mean, Israel does it all the time—Netanyahu constantly uses German history to argue against criticism of Israel.
HMV: What really appalls me is this delegitimization of Israel-critical, left-liberal Jews—those who criticize Netanyahu and the policies of this government, this Israeli government—by German government members. That is so unbelievable to me, because really you are the ones who represent the democratic tradition, in Israel or as Israelis. And for that you are then, so to speak, put in the pillory as anti-Israeli, even though you are actually the democratic Israelis, and not the Orthodox who refer to 5,000-year-old divine orders of land appropriation.
Judith Bernstein: Yes, and I also have to say, I can’t understand it when Mr. Schuster or Ms. Knobloch come up with the accusation of antisemitism every single time, because I think that harms them. And basically, I can’t understand it either: they live in Germany, enjoy the freedoms here, enjoy what we still have here—democracy. – And over there that is supposed to be fought—meaning the little bit of democracy that is still left. So the Palestinians are supposed to be fought there. That doesn’t work for me! I mean, I can’t enjoy all the advantages of a democracy here and deny that to the Palestinians there. – I don’t understand the Jews here either, and by doing that they harm themselves!!