Jews in Germany Feel Winds of Change

Many of the recent Russian Jewish immigrants have only a thin grasp of either Hebrew or the Torah.

New regulations

While no official information has been released, news reports say the regulations would likely require the immigrants to have knowledge of German and the skills to get a job in Germany, be under the age of 45 -- and have a certificate of membership from the Jewish community in their home country.

In a late-December interview with Reuters news service, the Central Council said it was opposed to the immigration restriction plan.

The new rules are "ready for discussion in some areas, and in others fully unacceptable," Spiegel said. "If one compares how many Jews were murdered in the Holocaust and how many have immigrated and could still come -- the relations speak for themselves," Spiegel said.

'Fraud should be stopped'

Michael Lawton, who founded the Gescher Lamassoret liberal synagogue in Cologne, noted that there is "general agreement, even in Jewish community, that there is fraud in the application process, and that this fraud should be stopped."

The difficulty, though, is "coming to an agreement on who should be allowed in."

Making applicants prove that they are currently involved in a Jewish community in the CIS presents a double standard, Lawton explained. Many non-practicing Jews were killed in the Holocaust, when the standard of proof was simply whether one had Jewish forebears.

"If the idea is to provide restitution for the Holocaust or protect people from anti-Semitism, then the same standard that applied during the Holocaust should apply today," he noted.

Meanwhile, Israel has spent the last decade urging the former Soviet Jews to apply for residency in the Jewish state rather than Germany.

A future for Jews in Germany?

David Denysenko participates in the ceremony marking the anniversary of the nationwide Nazi pogrom of 1938, in the synagogue in the city of Regensburg.

David Gall, who until recently published Hagalil, an Internet newspaper aimed at combating anti-Semitism, agrees with the Israelis. Eastern European Jews should move to Israel instead of Germany because "there is no future for Jews in Germany. The history of Jews in Germany should come to an end."

On the outside, Gall said, Germany appears to have become open to Judaism, with the government funding various initiatives to fight anti-Semitism. But for the most part, these are ineffective and empty, he said. "This country doesn't really want Jews here. There are signs of that everywhere," he said bluntly.

But his personal opinion aside, Gall says he understands why immigrants are choosing Germany over Israel. "First of all, it is similar – the weather, the food, the culture. Look at a picture of St. Petersburg and Berlin, they're not so different. On the other hand, Tel Aviv is completely different. Also, the financial situation is more upbeat in Germany," he said.

Finally, Gall said, "there's the question of security – in Israel there are bombs going off in supermarkets. That doesn't really sound so appealing to people."