Second generation of immigrants from German speaking countries ("Yekkes")

Shoshana Stahl grew up in moshav Sde Yaakov. She did a training as kindergarten teacher in Tel Aviv and worked a few years in this profession. She married at the age of 18, and by the age of 24 she already had four children. Later she started working again, first in the administration of a kibbutz, then for the WIZO (Women's International Zionist Organisation). ; Abraham Stahl was born in The Hague. Between 1942 and 1945 he was interned in the concentration camps Ravensbrueck and Bergen Belsen together with his mother and his sister. He immigrated to Israel, together with his sister, in 1948. He studied and was teaching at the Hebrew University, in the Department of Didactics. ; ShS' parents were teachers and Zionists. In Palestine first they were responsible for children from Germany who immigrated with the Youth Aliya. They tried to learn Hebrew as soon as possible, and spoke Hebrew with their children, who were all born in Palestine. With ShS' father's parents who lived with them however they spoke German, although they knew some Hebrew. ShS' mother died from cancer when ShS was 21 years old. Her father married again, his second wife is also of German origin and at home they speak German together. ; Her colleagues say ShS is a Yekke because she is very tidy and disciplined. She thinks her twin brother is also very much a Yekke. ShS was sometimes mocked by the non-Yekkish children of their moshav, but she did not take it as seriously as her twin brother. ShS has been to Germany several times, especially to visit her maternal grandmother's grave in Duesseldorf. Her maternal grandfather was killed in a camp, probably in Auschwitz. She does not know about her mother's feelings, but during the years of the War her mother never went to a concert or listened to music. Her parents did not talk about the Holocaust, but they took care of a traumatized child of the so called “Tehran Children”. They also worked with children who had survived the camps in Belgium for one year. ShS is not afraid that her parents might have passed on their traumas to her and her children. ; ShS thinks her parents learned Hebrew better than she did. Her mother had many typical Yekkish character traits, for instance she was strict with the children. ShS still knows some proverbs and German songs from her paternal grandmother. Some people say ShS, and even her daughter, have a slight Yekkish accent in their Hebrew. ShS loved the Yekkish accuracy of her home, for example the very punctual and regular mealtimes, although the other children in the moshav used to tease her because of this. Her father worked for the Youth Aliyah and later became the headmaster of the local school. He once was attacked by East European members of their moshav when he wrote an article defending the German language and culture against Hitler. ShS did not want to go to Germany for a long time, because her husband did not want to. But now she almost feels at home in Duesseldorf, everything reminds her of her mother and the language sounds very familiar to her. However she does often wonder what older Germans might have done during the Nazi era. Her husband is a linguist and remained therefore scientifically interested in the German language, he also studied Yiddish after he came to Israel. As an adult, ShS only spoke German with her Dutch mother in law. She thinks her children don't have any Yekkish character traits, none of them has ever been to Germany. ShS has a good relationship with her Moroccan daughter in law. She thinks the ethnic groups in Israel will never assimilate. ShS' whole family is religious, her sister Shulamit is orthodox and politically active in the settlers' movement. ; AS has listened from a neighbouring room and now joins the conversation. He learned German when he was in Ravensbrueck and Bergen-Belsen, from 1942 - 1945, together with his mother, brother and sister. The languages in his family were Dutch and Yiddish. AS has no negative feelings towards the German language, in fact many German texts are important for Jewish history and like English German is an important scientific language. He also studied Yiddish after his immigration to Israel in 1948. AS tells about his immigration. He learned Hebrew after the War in a religious youth organization in Holland, where he prepared for his aliya to Israel. He knows the basics of many languages, but often his reading is better than his speaking. He describes his work at the Hebrew University, where he was teaching 25 years in the department of Didactics. He also worked for the Ministry of Education for 40 years, and besides that he trained tourist guides for the Society for Nature Conservation. AS explains why he did not want to go to Germany for a long time, though they always had to cross the country when they went to France or Sweden by train. However he became interested to see some German museums and cathedrals. While in Germany it happened to him several times that German youths asked him if he was a teacher and could explain something to them, he would answer them in German. AS and ShS don't have friends in Germany.