A Place They Called Home — Children of Holocaust Survivors gain German Citizenship

Our book A Place They Called Home will be out on Monday, December 10. On this day at 6.30 pm, there will be an introduction at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, at 15 W 16th St (near Union Square). Leo-Baeck-Director Bill Weitzer will be speaking, as well as Yale historian David Sorkin and the editor of the book, Donna Swarthout, a writer with a graduate degree in political science from UC Berkeley who lives in Berlin.

A Place They Called Home. Reclaiming Citizenship: Stories of a New Jewish Return to Germany is a story collection by twelve children and grandchildren of Jewish Holocaust survivors, the majority of them Americans, who have become German citizens. Among them are Rabbi Kevin Hale, a Massachusetts-based Sofer engaged in the writing, restoration and appraisal of Torah scrolls, Yermi Brenner, an Israeli-American and the grandson of Alice Licht, the companion of a blind Berliner who saved hundreds of Jews, Sally Hess, an award-winning Ballroom dancer and former Instructor in the Arts at Princeton who lives in New York, and Pippa Goldschmidt, an Edinburgh-based scientist and writer known for The Need for Better Regulation of Outer Space.

The book is a 208 pages hardcover that also comes out as an ebook. It includes a background chapter on the citizenship law. It is available at independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. The suggested price is $19.95.

Hardcover, 208 pp
Dimensions: 6‘‘ x 9‘‘
ISBN 978-1-935902-65-2 
Suggested Retail $20 / ebook $9.99

Yes, Victoria, There is a German Thanksgiving!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and wish you a joyful start to the holiday season!

Although Thanksgiving is widely known as an American tradition, other countries have similar occasions to give thanks and celebrate a harvest. Germany has a so-called Erntedankfest, which roughly translates to “thanks-for-the-harvest-festival”. Although it is not as widespread as American Thanksgiving, the Erntedankfest is a religious holiday celebrated in the Catholic and Protestant churches, often in rural areas.

The Erntedankfest is often celebrated during the first Sunday in October, but the date may vary and can take place much earlier or later. This year, the festival took place on October 6. During this celebration, churches decorate their altars with sheaves of wheat and fruits of the harvest. Some regions may have a small parade, music, dancing and a country fair. People sometimes choose to decorate with an Erntekkrone (“harvest crown”), which is a wheat wreath built up on a pole and decorated with ribbon and paper flowers. This harvest festival is less common in big cities and usually consists only of a church service.

But whether you’re celebrating German Erntedankfest, American Thanksgiving, Canadian Thanksgiving, Argentina’s Fiesta Nacional de la Vendima, Swaziland’s Incwala, the message is the same: give thanks for what you have and celebrate with loved ones.                  

Nicole Glass, The Week in Germany