ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Jewish community at present emerging in Germany, focusing first on the significant demographic changes brought on by the immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union, and on their special problems of adjustment and accommodation. It analyzes the current self-perception of the community and suggests that although significant voices are calling for a "normalized" German-Jewish identity, formidable obstacles still stand in the way. "At home" means the community, albeit incrementally, is moving away from ambivalence about its very existence and defen-siveness vis-a-vis Israel and the rest of the diaspora. Jewish immigrants choose Germany in part because they cannot get into the United States and have, for various reasons, rejected Israel as an option. In Barbara Honigmann's case, her extreme ambivalence led her to physically leave Germany and settle in Strassbourg, taking up the life of an Orthodox Jew with the Rhein at her back.
