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A talk between German-Israeli Dekel Peretz and German-Palestinian Raed Saleh
The interview was conducted by Rainer Zimmer-Winkel, chair of the board of diAk.
Rainer Zimmer-Winkel: I start with a very pointed question: Are there not enough reconstructed historical replicas? Do we need another one?
Dekel Peretz: Well, we definitely need the synagogue as an extra space for our community activities. In recent years, our synagogue has become a magnet for many, above all younger Jews and families, and the available space is simply no longer enough. In addition to the current synagogue, there is the open space where the former synagogue stood, and it was obvious - or actually it wasn't really, but thanks to Raed Saleh it is obvious today - that this historical building needs to be rebuilt.
Raed Saleh: I have asked myself how can it be that no synagogue has been reconstructed in its original form in Germany since the end of the war? Many synagogues have been built or renewed, but rebuilding a synagogue as it looked before the Kristallnacht was important to me. We are making a clear statement: Judaism is part of our Leitkultur," our core values and traditions, and part of our identity. Judaism has always been part of our German culture. This message was important to me.
We Germans currently tend to reconstruct a lot. We rebuild ancient castles, we restore old churches such as the ' Garnisonskirche" in Potsdam, the church where Hitler and Hindenburg shook hands. Why did we not succeed or why did we not dare take the step of rebuilding a synagogue true to its original form, thereby saying: Judaism is part of this country? Even in an historical building one needn't erase the period from 1933 to 1945; it can be recognizable. For example, the old appearance synagogue can be preserved but it can be painted a different color. This change in its outward appearance will serve as a reminder to people: "This synagogue does not fit into the cityscape; there was a time when the inhumane regime of the Nazis killed people based on their religion." That Jewish Germans, people like you and me, suddenly were not allowed to belong to Germany anymore. Therefore, I believe that the reconstruction of...
