German Jews and the Persistence of Jewish Identity in Conversion : Writing the Jewish Self

Angela Kuttner Botelho

ISBN 10: 3110737221 / ISBN 13: 9783110737226

Published by De Gruyter, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2021

About this Item

Druck auf Anfrage Neuware - Printed after ordering - This book explores the fraught aftermath of the German Jewish conversionary experience through the story of one family as it grapples with the meaning of its Jewish origins in a post-Holocaust, post-conversionary milieu. Utilizing archival family texts and multiple interviews spanning three generations, beginning with the author's German Jewish parents, 1940s refugees, and engaging the insights of contemporary scholars, the book traces the impact of a contested Jewish identity on the deconstruction and reconstruction of the Jewish self. The Holocaust as post-memory and the impact of the German Jewish culture personified by the author's parents leads to a retrieval of a lost Jewish identity, postmodern in its implications, reinforcing the concept of Judaism as ultimately a family affair. Focusing on the personal to illuminate a complex historical phenomenon, this book proposes a new cultural history that challenges conventional boundaries of what is Jewish and what is not.

Seller Inventory # 9783110737226

Bibliographic Details

• Title: German Jews and the Persistence of Jewish Identity in Conversion : Writing the Jewish Self
• Publisher: De Gruyter, De Gruyter Oldenbourg
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3110737221
• ISBN 13: 9783110737226
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 236W x 160H x 16D millimeters 236 millimeters width by 160 millimeters height by 16 millimeters depth
• Weight: 410 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This book explores the fraught aftermath of the German Jewish conversionary experience through the story of one family as it grapples with the meaning of its Jewish origins in a post-Holocaust, post-conversionary milieu. Utilizing archival family texts and multiple interviews spanning three generations, beginning with the author’s German Jewish parents, 1940s refugees, and engaging the insights of contemporary scholars, the book traces the impact of a contested Jewish identity on the deconstruction and reconstruction of the Jewish self. The Holocaust as post-memory and the impact of the German Jewish culture personified by the author’s parents leads to a retrieval of a lost Jewish identity, postmodern in its implications, reinforcing the concept of Judaism as ultimately a family affair. Focusing on the personal to illuminate a complex historical phenomenon, this book proposes a new cultural history that challenges conventional boundaries of what is Jewish and what is not.

About the Author

Angela Kuttner Botelho, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, USA.