Passports issued by Israel in its early years stated that the document was “valid for all countries except Germany”; the German language was banned in cultural venues and on the radio; books auf Deutsch were prohibited from entering the country.
In the young Jewish state formed in the aftermath of the Holocaust there seemed to be little chance that German could ever be anything other than the language of a murderous dictatorship.
But fast forward 50 years and German was being spoken in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
In 2008, on the 50th anniversary of Israel’s founding, Angela Merkel gave a historic speech to Israeli MPs in which she proclaimed, in German, that Israel’s security was a German raison d'état.
“Historic responsibility is part of my country's Staaträson,” she said. “That means that Israel’s security is never negotiable as long as I am Chancellor.”
The unequivocal wording of her pledge appeased the anger among some Israeli politicians that the langua…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The German Review to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.