Donna Swarthout, at The Blogs

Apr 22, 2024, 11:22 AM

Hop onto social media these days and you’re sure to find a firestorm over the latest statements by prominent artists or writers supporting Israel or Palestine. In Germany, where freedom of speech is protected, the consequences of speech can...

Apr 20, 2023, 11:58 AM

What is a Jew in Germany today? Exploring diversity beyond conventional norms

“There was a man who did not like Jews and he killed them,” says a 6-year-old boy at a visit to the Jewish Museum in Berlin when asked what he and his classmates knew about Jews. This answer propelled Shlomit...

Aug 26, 2022, 5:16 PM

Moving on from Jewish Germany’s Summer of Scandals

While Netflix viewers were treated to a new season of Stranger Things this summer, Germany’s Jewish community has had its own version of “stranger things” playing out. It started in May with details of a sexual harassment scandal involving...

Jul 8, 2021, 5:08 PM

Towards a more inclusive politics for Germany’s Jews

East Side Gallery, Berlin (Donna Swarthout)

I’m about to renew my German Reisepass after reclaiming my German citizenship and moving to Berlin eleven years ago. My Jewish parents escaped Germany in the 1930s and could never have imagined that the country they fled would one...

Mar 17, 2021, 11:50 AM

Germany’s Weakened Far-Right: What’s at Stake in 2021?

Preliminary results from Germany’s first two regional elections of the year show that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) received a significantly lower share of the vote in Baden-Württemberg (9.7%) and Rhineland-Palatinate (8.3%) than it did in the 2016...

Nov 20, 2020, 3:04 PM

Jewish Values in Higher Education, Or the Lack Thereof

Higher education is an attractive field for people like me who are born with the propensity to debate, argue, persuade and exchange ideas with just about anyone. Making money never motivated me as much as the chance to become...

Nov 3, 2019, 9:04 PM

How the Media Distorts Public Perceptions of anti-Semitism

Whether reading the news reports in English or German, the headlines were all the same: “One in four Germans holds anti-Semitic views.” These attention-grabbing openers were followed by articles about the World Jewish Congress’ October 2019 Assessment of Anti-Semitism...

Jan 24, 2019, 12:23 PM

Featured Post

I’m Jewish, American and happy to live in Berlin

To those who warn me about the rise of European nationalism: My family has never experienced anti-Semitism in Germany

Nov 12, 2018, 6:04 AM

Where’s the Good News About the Jews? A Report from Berlin

I’m not sure what’s more disturbing, the fact that Jews are joining the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party, or the non-stop media coverage of this fringe group’s efforts to get public attention. Nineteen so-called “German Jews” attended...

Apr 29, 2018, 11:05 PM

Beyond Kippas

I felt more detached and out of place than inspired by the crowd of 2,500 or so people clapping and nodding their heads in response to the speeches at last week’s ‘Berlin Wears a Kippa’ rally. Perhaps it’s because...

About Me

Donna Swarthout has been writing about Jewish life in Germany and the legacy of the Holocaust since moving from the U.S. to Berlin in 2010. She is the editor of A Place They Called Home. Reclaiming Citizenship. Stories of a New Jewish Return to Germany (Berlinica 2019).

Contact Me