To be is to be different
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | To be is to be different |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1996 |
| length | 45 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Róza Berger-Fiedler , Harry Hornig |
| production | Babel TV on behalf of the SWF |
Sein ist Anders sein is a German documentary film by Babel TV Film und Video GmbH on behalf of SWF Baden-Baden from 1993, which was broadcast on SWF. The film was repeated on December 1, 1996 and December 4, 1996. It was made between 1988 and 1995 as the third installment in a series of four films documenting the reconstruction of the New Synagogue : " Ner Tamid, Eternal Light ", " Forgiving and reconciling is not forgotten ", " Being is otherness " and " Resurrection - New Synagogue Centrum Judaicum ”. The film was produced by Roza Berger-Fiedler, who, as managing director of BABEL Film und Video GmbH & Agency and with her magazine of the same name, Babel TV, maintains a news program about Jewish life in Berlin. The documentary was created in collaboration with Harry Hornig, Peter von Herwardt, Gunter Breßler, Rudolf Völkel, Holger Rogge. Uwe Kremp was in charge of production and Raimund Ulbrich was in charge of the editorial team.
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Every being is an otherness
The documentary describes the reconstruction of the New Synagogue in Berlin. With the reconstruction, Berger-Fiedler linked the question of being and being different:
“ Through blossoms, through bushes, through the leaves of the trees, they shimmer in their golden shine: The new domes of the new synagogue that is being built again. An occasion for thoughts about being and being different. For me the question from the earliest years: Why is being different to be worse. Why does being different have to be bad. Every being is a differentness. "
History of the structure
The film shows the historical background of the creation of the building through its inauguration on September 5, 1866, through to its reconstruction, which was completed in 1991.
Statements relating to the synagogue are quoted from numerous sources such as the National-Zeitung of September 6, 1866: “[...] The new house of God is a pride of the Jewish community in Berlin, but even more, it is an ornament of the city, one of the most remarkable creations of modern architecture in the Moorish style and one of the most distinguished construction companies that has carried out the north German residence in recent years [...] ” . The director comments on this: “Viewed from today, one might think that the city really has provided something more than just the building site that it had sold to the community. But the new synagogue could only serve the people for just one generation ... ”.
According to a protocol dated August 6, 1958, signed by Rabbi Martin Riesenburger, it was said about the demolition of the main room: “ ... the large community synagogue of the Jewish community of Berlin, consecrated in 1866, had to be opened today due to the high risk of collapse in the central section Aw 5718 according to the Jewish calendar, that is on August 6, 58, will be blown up. The front of this house of God is preserved for permanent remembrance and a reminder for all time. “In conclusion, it is stated in the film document that at that time it was somehow a trend in Germany not to rebuild places of worship, in both the East and the West.
History of the Jews in Berlin
The film describes the history of the Jews in Berlin, because the first edicts did not allow them to build synagogues. For this purpose, the Berlin Edict of May 21, 1671, the edict for admitting 50 families of protective Jews, but not keeping any synagogues, is used. This also proves that among the persecuted persons admitted in 1651, the ancestors of Dr. Hermann Simon were. The producer's comment is: “It was 300 years ago and yet the archives keep the lists of names of all those Jews who were once allowed to move from the then inhospitable Vienna to the Mark Brandenburg . Including the names of the ancestors of today's director of the New Synagogue Foundation Dr. Hermann Simon ”. The documentation shows the subsequent construction of the Old Synagogue in Heidereuter Gasse, which was the first synagogue in Berlin at the time.
The state of the New Synagogue in 1988 and its subsequent reconstruction until its inauguration in 1991
The post-war situation of the New Synagogue building is shown in detail. For many years there was no reconstruction, mainly because the questions of ownership and financing were unclear. It says: “An outsider can hardly imagine the state in which the ruins of the synagogue were still in autumn 1988. The rubble reached to the top of the window. The marble floors of the remaining parts of the building had been poured with an approx. 80 cm thick layer of concrete. In this concrete, sacred implements were sometimes found when it was removed, such as the lamp for the eternal light 'Ner Tamid' ” . Close-ups of a colored window and old colored building plans of the New Synagogue can then be seen. This is followed by the documentation on the restoration work on the glass windows directly on site at the tracery . The Vossische Zeitung of September 6, 1866 described the interior of the synagogue as follows: “The light flows through the colorful panes, magically subdued and transfigured. Ceilings, walls, columns, arches and windows are decorated with lavish splendor and, with their gilding and decorations, form a wonderful arabesque wreath with a fairy-like, unearthly effect, intertwining into a harmonious whole. "
Foundation and Centrum Judaicum
After the completion of the imposing building, a foundation was established under the ordinance of June 16, 1988 under the name of the New Synagogue, “To commemorate the millions of Jewish victims of fascism, their martyrdom and their anti-fascist resistance, to preserve and maintain Jewish culture and tradition -Centrum Judaicum “founded. Dr. Hermann Simon appointed. The foundation's work is thus financed from foundation funds and donations, which, however, hardly cover costs. Simon commented on this in the film: "The last account balance is not available to me at the moment [...] the order of magnitude is in a few million [...] I can tell you so much that [...] the amount of donations has decreased but fortunately it is still trickling ... and there are big drops and small drops [...] It is always unfortunate to say that he donated so much and he donated so much, because of course the 10,000 marks of the one are certainly 10,000 marks, but perhaps less than the 10 marks that a Berlin woman pays in person every month so that she can really see that it has arrived because she does not believe the bank. ”In 1988 the New Synagogue Berlin Foundation set up a board of trustees with many GDR ministers and statutes.
The builders Eduard Knoblauch and Michael Stade
Part of the film reports on the synagogue's builders. It concerns both the original builder Eduard Knoblauch and the person responsible for the reconstruction, Michael Stade. According to the memories of the son Gustav Knoblauch, “a competition was announced, a general competition for which Knoblauch developed the program. Of course, he was no less involved in the application and his project won first prize ”. Architect Michael Stade, a Protestant Christian, took over construction management when the reconstruction was completed in 1990. The GDR no longer existed then. The new topping-out ceremony was celebrated on October 29, 1990.
In an interview with the director of the Foundation Dr. Hermann Simon and construction manager Michael Stade discuss the GDR's political motive for rebuilding the New Synagogue. When asked, “The reconstruction of the synagogue began in 1988. That was before the fall of the Wall. But was it also a turning point in the treatment of the question of the Jews in Germany, both in the East and in the West? " Replied Simon. " That's right, [...] the political aspect, the propaganda aspect [...] ] and the GDR foreign policy [...] (were) anxious to polish up their image and that this (the reconstruction of the New Synagogue) was perhaps the entrance ticket for the most favored nation clause in trade with the USA [...] " . Michael Stade said: "[...] that it only happened in '88 to attribute that to Mr. Honecker as a positive, I think it's nonsense [...], he had something to do with it [...], it is him this purpose did not quite succeed [...] ” .
In March 1993, a group made up of representatives from the Berlin Jewish Community and Senators from the City of Berlin decided whether the new synagogue should be reconstructed or preserved . Michael Stade moderated the panel of experts. It had to be decided whether the interior architecture of the synagogue should be restored to its pre-war state and whether the structural state should be preserved in 1993 without any reconstruction. The state curator Professor Helmut Engler gave the following decisive opinion: "[...] the decision was also supported by Heinz Galinski that, given the financial basis, [...] one should not concentrate on one or two rooms initially, Instead, the basic idea was to make the entire building complex, as far as it was preserved, accessible and repairable [...] Then, in individual steps, to decide how to proceed with the design on the basis of the then secured original structure [...] ] "
Scheunenviertel and being different
For Berger-Fiedler, the construction site, the past and present of the people form a unit. It therefore accompanies the film documentary with images from Jewish life in Berlin, which took place near the Scheunenviertel . On the subject of the Jewish district , the film also shows an interview with Salomea Genin . In 1963 she was allowed to move to East Berlin and later wanted to live in the Scheunenviertel. In this survey, Genin explains the choice of the Scheunenviertel as her place of residence. Since her parents were themselves Eastern Jews who immigrated to Germany from Poland , many of whom had already lived in the Scheunenviertel, she feels at home there. Here, the film documentation addresses the question of being different, being bad with the following question: “ At your door it says that Germans and foreigners are received here. Do you feel experienced foreigner to be someday? " . Genin replied: “Well, I got the feeling: I am a dirty Jew, even as a child! And I had several experiences that really traumatized me, back then, that made me very afraid and those are fears that have come up in recent years. Even in the times of the GDR. Because I felt the anti-Semitism in the GDR very well and what frightened me the most was that people didn't know that they were anti-Semites! " The director says:" When questions concern you, you feel some things differently [. ..], watching from the side, has always been easy [...] and I've never understood why no one asks the question: Why do people leave the place where they were born? Why are they looking for happiness elsewhere? And who, who hasn't even tried, can imagine what it means to be a stranger? “To the next question:“ When did you come back and why? ” Genin replies that her roots are in Berlin, but also that the GDR was a police state.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Babel-TV website ( Memento of the original from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Several historical pictures of the state of the building after 1945 on the synagogue website
