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

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.

"The book is fascinating and important, focusing on a very seldom analyzed question: What forms of Jewishness – identification, affiliation, historical interest, religious practice – persist among Jews who convert to Christianity, and among their descendants? [...] Without making claims to explaining the phenomenon of the persistence of Jewishness in conversion as a general topic, the book presents a stunning range of responses to the question at hand."

Naomi Seidman, Chancellor Jackman Professor in the Arts, University of Toronto.