Land of Israel

Jewish organizations appealed to the public to forgo the purchase of goods from Germany

With his son still on the front lines, philosopher Samuel Hugo Bergmann wrote about how the news of victory over the Nazis was received in Jerusalem

Some of the Israeli public opposed the establishment of relations

At the beginning of 1960, Israeli and West German leaders decided that it was time for a certain détente. This took the form of an official meeting between the two head statesmen: David Ben Gurion and Konrad Adenauer

“The Germans must not forget what was done during these shameful years. […] Nobody, absolutely no one, will relieve us from that shame.”

Not only did many German citizens have reservations about the agreement-in-process. Considerable portions of the Israeli public were also unprepared to accept neither the very concept of negotiations with Germany nor the funds from the “land of the murderers,” which was defined by opponents as “blood money.”

The incidents in the various events that were part of “German Culture Week” proved just how complex – over 40 years ago – the encounter was between German artists and the Israeli public

Relations between the Communist Parties in Israel and East Germany