In the land of our friends

German-Israel youth exchange project with participation of youngsters from Fürstenfeldbruck and Even Yehuda

Study-excursion and youth exchange in Israel

17-25.04.2012

Israel is a very beautiful country. It has a very rich and diversified nature – the north is green, the Lake of Galilee blue, the Dead Sea and the Negev are yellow. It was a good mixture of historical, religious, cultural excursions mixed with getting to know Israel inside out through stays in host families and coping with the Holocaust.

The program was quiet full and interesting, but therefore a little bit demanding. However when coming to Israel, people want to see and experience the rich cultures, the religions and the history. The program was well structured and perfectly organized.

The friends and their families in Even Yehuda gave a warm and hearty welcome. The Germans felt like at home, coming to friends, not being strangers. The relation- and friendships were continued from the point on, where they had been left off at the end of the exchange in Germany. There is nothing one can compare with the wonderful openness of Israelis. The host did their utmost to provide their guest with a pleasant and meaningful time. Living in host-families made it possible to experience the daily life and to take a deep insight into Israeli society with its problems and challenges.

It was maybe a once in a lifetime possibility to meet holocaust survivors and Jews that managed to leave Germany and Austria before 1939 such as Mister Bettlerheim und Miss Gretel Marom. Such encounters are very precious and meaningful. Today it's still possible to hear these stories from people that lived them through. In the near future this will not be possible anymore. Talking to such history witnesses makes it clear and understandable that Israel is and has to be the save-heaven for Jews. Only here, in Israel Jews can live freely side-by-side with other religions.

The meeting with the Palestinian-Arab-Lutheran minister Ibrahim Azar in Jerusalem showed the other side of the picture. He doesn't have a passport. Therefore he doesn't have a clear identity. It is a pity that Israel isn't more open minded in this context. It is important to see both sides. Minister Azar proclaimed: "We have to learn to live together." This is exactly the purpose and what is actually done by youth-exchange-project. However in this case mainly between Germans and Israelis.

The young Germans felt shame and at the same time responsibility when visiting Yad VaShem, because their people, their ancestors were the murderers and this leads to take care in the present and in the future that the Holocaust will not forgotten and will not happen again - nowhere, against no people. Yad Vashem returns to the victims their names, their faces. The victims don't stay inconceivable, anonymous numbers like when visiting concentration- or death camps. One of the main messages of Yad Vashem is: This crime human being did to human beings. Therefore every human being has to cope and to stand up to it and to take care that it won't happen again. It became clear that the German past is at the same time the Jewish and the Israeli past.

It is great how Israeli society connects the past with the future. This society managed to integrate and to form one society with Jews from numerous, different countries, cultures and societies. The memorial day for the Holocaust victims followed a week later by the memorial day for the fallen in Israeli wars and the terror victims that ends with the celebration of Israel's independence proclaims and shows this very clear. 

The ones that didn't take part in this project missed a lifetime experience.

Jerusalem is a beautiful, at the same time modern and very old city.

The guides were very good. They all - Esther Janis, Michael Schwennen and Tamar Landau / have very interesting personal life stories. They don't give the feeling of being a tourist. They allow and invite to take part their life and to see the places and to hear the history, religious stories that are important for them and their country. Especially to be with Ms. Tamar Landau is something very special, because one feels her love for her city Jerusalem; she is funny and charming, although her life could have made her heard, because as a young girl she didn't manage to reach the safe-heaven before 1939.

All the places for overnight stays were clean and good. The driver Menachem was very good.

Karl Bedenk, Head of the German delegation: Everything worked out perfectly. To return more than only once to the host families was very good. Yad Vashem returns the victims their honor. The German basic law opens with: It is impossible to infringe the honor of a human being. With this in mind a circle is closed in Yad VaShem. And this is the responsibility that we have to take care for and to translate into action.