Johannes Becke German Guilt and Hebrew Redemption

Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste and the Legacy of Left-Wing Protestant Philozionism

Introduction

The history of AktionSühnezeichen Friedensdienste (ASF) in constitutes an intriguingpoint of departure to studythe legacyofleft-wingProtestantPhilo- zionismwithin German-Israeli relations.Eversince ASF began sending volun- teers to Israel in 1961, the encounter between left-wingProtestant pacifists and the Jewishnation-state producedvarious forms of converts: converts to , converts to , and converts to the Palestinian cause.¹ While manyvolun- teers chose Israel for the sun, the beach,² and the promise of romantic encoun- ters in the exotic Levant,³ few left the region unchanged. The graduates of ASF’s Israel program frequentlymoved on to fill Israel-focused (or Middle East-fo-

The author would like to thank BernhardKrane,head of the Israel desk at Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste, foraninterview on the topic and forhis generoussupport in researching ma- terial forthischapter.Many thanksalso to Jenny Hestermann forher advice on locating the Süh- nezeichen diaries from the first cohortsand of course to the anonymous reviewer for the de- tailed and helpful criticism.

 In the thirdcohort alone, four volunteers convertedtoJudaism, “twostayedoninIsrael; and all remained strongly pro-Israel”;see Lilach Marom, “‘On Guiltand Atonement’:Aktion Sühne- zeichen Friedensdiensteand ItsActivity in Israel,” YadVashem Studies 35 (2007): 187–220, here at 196.  Harald Martenstein, “Das volle Utopieprogramm,” Tagesspiegel (January 10), 2004,http:// www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/das-volle-utopieprogramm/480722html (last accessed September 28,2018).  The first bashful hint towards romantic encounters between German volunteers and Israelis is contained in the diary of the first cohort,which explains that native-born Israelis arecalled “sa- bras” after the pricklypears,which arepricklyonthe outside but sweet on the inside –“espe- ciallythe women, ‘according to reports’”,Evangelisches Zentralarchiv (EZA)19/735[all transla- tions by the author]. Later accounts by Aktion Sühnezeichen volunteers aremuch moreexplicit. The third issue of the volunteer journal Memrachit (1986) contains practical advice for female German volunteers on how to escape unwanted male Israeli attention, including “entangling people in political conversations” and “reactingtophysical come-ons with aslapinthe face,” EZA 19/1868.

OpenAccess. ©2020 Aue-Ben-David et al., published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the CreativeCommons Attribution 4.0 International. https:// doi.org/10.1515/9783110664713-015 242 Johannes Becke cused)positions in the German media, Protestant churches, political founda- tions, and academia. Both the current president of the German-Arab Society (and avocal critic of Israel’sforeign policy), Michael Lüders, and the late Eike Geisel, akey inspiration for the left-wingpro-Zionistmovement known as ‘Anti-Germans’ (Antideutsche), begantheir intellectual careers as Aktion Sühne- zeichen volunteers in Israel.⁴ Within the Protestant churches,the impact of pas- tors who served as volunteers in Israel can be felt in the Protestant Middle East Commission (EvangelischeMittel-OstKommission),⁵ in the Working Group “ and Christians” at the Protestant Church Congress (Evangelischer Kirchentag),⁶ in key policydocuments on the Arab-Israeli conflict,includingthe recent position paper “Promised Land” (Gelobtes Land),⁷ and in the transformation of Israel Sunday(Israelsonntag) from an obscure remainder of supersessionism and the Protestant missions to the Jews into ayearlycelebration of Christianity’sJewish roots.⁸ When the researchfield of Israel Studies was strengthened within Ger- man universities in 2015 on the occasion of half acentury of German-Israeli dip- lomaticrelations,⁹ two junior academic positions were created in Heidelbergand Munich – and both werefilled with graduates of ASF’sIsrael program.¹⁰ The history of ASF,¹¹ the attitude of German Protestants and the German Left towards Israel,¹² as well as the embeddedness of ASF volunteersinthe politics of

 Foranumber of introductory essays on the “Anti-Germans,” see Moshe Zuckermann, ed., Tel Aviver Jahrbuch für Deutsche Geschichte2005:Antisemitismus,Antizionismus,Israelkritik (Göt- tingen: Wallstein Verlag,2005).  Kirchenamt der EKD,ed., Israel-Palästina: Eine Positionsbestimmung der Evangelischen Mit- telost-Kommission (Hannover: EKD,2009).  Gabriele Kammerer,Indie Haare, in die Arme: 40 Jahre Arbeitsgemeinschaft “Juden und Christen” beim DeutschenEvangelischen Kirchentag(Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2001).  Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD), Gelobtes Land?Land und Staat Israel in der Dis- kussion: Eine Orientierungshilfe (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus,2012).  Foradetailed theological engagement with Israel Sundaybytheologians close to ASF,see WolfgangRaupach, ed., Weisungfährt vonZion aus, vonJerusalem Seine Rede: Exegesen und Meditationen zum Israel-Sonntag(Berlin: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste,1991).  JohannesBecke, “Land and Redemption: The Zionist Project in Comparative Perspective,” Trumah 23 (2016): 1–13.  This includes Daniel Mahla, the current coordinator of the Center for Israel Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, and the author of this article.  Gabriele Kammerer,Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste: Aber man kann es einfach tun (Göttingen: Lamuv, 2008); Anton Legerer, Tatort: Versöhnung.Aktion Sühnezeichen in der BRD und in der DDR und Gedenkdienst in Österreich (Leipzig:Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2011).  Martin Kloke, Israel und die deutsche Linke(Frankfurt: Haag und Herchen, 1990); Gerhard Gronauer,Der Staat Israel (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht,2013). GermanGuilt and Hebrew Redemption 243 post-war reconciliation,¹³ have all receivedample scholarlyattention. Despite its enormousimpact on German-Israeli relations,however,the history of Aktion Sühnezeichen in Israelawaits its scholarlydue.¹⁴ This chapter lays the ground for asystematic examination of ASFinIsrael by presentingaframework for the studyofPhilozionism, atonement,and the politics of German guilt.

Philosemitism and Philozionism: YoungGermans playing Israelis?

When it comes to the German-Israeli dimension of the largerProtestant-Jewish encounter,the affinityfor Israel is frequentlyframed as part of the broader phe- nomenon of Philosemitism.¹⁵ With respect to studying the activity of ASFinIs- rael, though, amoreadequate framework might be Philozionism, atype of affin- ity for Jewish nationalism which openlysympathizes with the Zionist motif of a radical break with the history,politics,and cultureofthe Ashkenazi Jewish Dia- spora. Liliane Weissbergfamouslymocked the German Philosemitism of the by- gone Klezmer craze as “young Germans […]playing Jews.”¹⁶ In examining the phenomenon of German Philozionism (whether within ASF or among the Anti- Germans), we might adapt this phrase to speak of young Germans playing Israelis with regard to language, habitus,dress code, or an overall perspective on Jewish life and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

 ChristianeWienand, “From Atonement to Peace? Aktion Sühnezeichen, German-Israeli Re- lations and the Role of Youth in Reconciliation Discourse and Practice,” in Reconciliation, Civil Society,and the Politics of Memory,eds.Birgit Schwelling (Bielefeld:transcript,2012), 201–35;Christiane Wienand, “Reverberations of aDisturbingPast: Reconciliation Activities of YoungWest Germans in the 1960s and 1970s,” in Reverberations of Nazi Violence in Germany and Beyond, eds. Stephanie Bird et al. (London: Bloomsbury,2016): 223–50.  Foranoverview,see Jörn Böhme, “Die Arbeit der Aktion Sühnezeichen/Friedensdienstein– Geschichteund Entwicklung,” in 20 Jahre Deutsch-Israelische Beziehungen, ed. Karlheinz Schneider (Berlin: Deutsch-Israelischer Arbeitskreis für Frieden im Nahen Osten, 1985: 137–50;Marom, “‘On Guiltand Atonement.’ Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdiensteand ItsActiv- ity in Israel”;Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste,50JahreAktion Sühnezeichen Friedens- dienstein(Berlin: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste, 2011).  Adam Sutcliffe and Jonathan Karp, “Introduction: ABrief History of Philosemitism,” in Phil- osemitism in History,eds.Jonathan Karp and Adam Sutcliffe (Cambridge and New York: Cam- bridge University Press, 2011): 1–26.  Liliane Weissberg, Reflectingonthe Past,Emvisioningthe Future:Perspectivesfor German- Jewish Studies (New York: LeoBaeck Institute, New York, and German Historical Institute,Wash- ington, 2003), 12. 244 Johannes Becke

While Philosemitism and Philozionismrelyonasimilar set of textual and historical symbols in their perception of “the Jews as aresolutelydistinct people, with distinctively admirable characteristics,”¹⁷ they tend to draw rather different conclusions. At the risk of over-simplification, one might suggest the following typology: Philosemites studythe Talmud (through the eyes of Daniel Boyarin), but Philozionists read the Hebrew Bible (through the eyes of David BenGuri- on)¹⁸;Philosemites admire Diasporic statelessness, but Philozionists celebrate state-makingand military prowess; Philosemites learn Aramaic and Yiddish, but Philozionists studymodernHebrew;finally,Philosemites dream of convert- ing to Judaism (the Orthodoxstream, to make it more authentic), but Philozion- ists mimic the traits of Israeliness(secular Ashkenazi Israeliness, to make it more prestigious). Foranorganization whose very name carries the loadedterm ‘atonement,’ the salient phenomenon of conversions to Judaism as aform of Vergangenheits- bewältigung (overcomingthe past)¹⁹ might not be terriblysurprising.²⁰ Conver- sions to Zionism(or Anti-Zionism, for thatmatter)haveproved to be moreprob- lematic, however,both for political and theological reasons.Inthe context of ASF’sactivities in Israel, engagementwith the question of Philozionism left an enduringimpact on the organizational cultureofthe organization. Countering the romantic Christian ZionismofASF’sfounder, Lothar Kreyssig,the Israel vol- unteers on the ground quicklydeveloped an abidingorganizational culture of sarcasm (with significant traces of Israeli humor). Second, in response to the

 Sutcliffe and Karp, “Introduction: ABrief History of Philosemitism,” 7.  In this context, left-wing German Protestantism developed its own tradition of studyingthe Talmud, but in adecidedlyJewish-Israeli setting, aclose entanglement of Philosemitism and Philozionism. As acritical intervention against Christian Anti-Judaism (often based on distorted readingsofthe Talmud), the studyprogram Studium in Israel (Studies in Israel) has brought morethan 600 German students of Protestant theology to Israel to studyRabbinic literature at the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem. Unsurprisingly, the studyprogram has astrong Sühnezei- chen connection: Michael Krupp, one of its founders,was the former head of the ASF officein Jerusalem. The studyprogram also produced an influential series of preachingmaterial that deals with Christian-Jewish relations; see WolfgangKruse, ed., Predigtmeditationen im chris- tlich-jüdischen Kontext: ZurPerikopenreihe I(Neuhausen: Kruse, 2002).  On conversions to Judaism as Vergangenheitsbewältigung see Barbara Steiner,Die Inszenier- ung des Jüdischen: Konversion vonDeutschen zum Judentum nach 1945(Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2015), chapter5.  Forthe conversion account of Christel Eckert (Michal Evenari), whobelongedtothe first co- hort of Aktion Sühnezeichen volunteers and was married to an Israeli, see Michal Evenari, “The Story of aLife: From GermanytoIsrael,” Chabad, 2008, http://.www.chabad.org/theJewish Woman/article_cdo/aid/704922/jewish/The-Story-of-a-Life.htm (last accessed September 29, 2017). GermanGuilt and Hebrew Redemption 245 radical critique of ASF’sone-sided identificationwith the Zionist project (both real and imagined) which was voicedbyAktion Sühnezeichen volunteers from the New Left,ASF’sleadership attempted to promoteanethos of ‘critical solid- arity’ with Israel, based on the writingsofthe left-wing theologian Helmut Goll- witzer (1908–1993).²¹ ASF’scultureofsarcasm mayseem somewhat puzzling;after all, the organ- ization is known for its nuanced and theologicallycomplex position towards German memorial culture.²² In aspirit of camaraderie, former volunteers joking- ly refertoone another as “fellow atoners” (Mitsühner), and formerIsrael volun- teers are known as “first-class atoners” (Edelsühner). Such sarcastic humor seems to have emergedfrom the gapbetween the organization’ssublime theol- ogyofatonement and the mundane reality of difficult volunteer work done in nursing homes, kindergartens and Holocaust memorial sites.Among the Israel volunteers, however,this dark wit,which was alreadyarticulated by the very first cohort,might also be understood as backlash to the organization’sguilt- drivenPhilozionism. The letters of Lothar Kreyssigfrom that period, for instance, depict Israeli state formation from adecidedlyChristian Zionist perspective,with German volunteers playing the role of the biblical spies (Numbers 13:1–33)and the eschatological ingathering of the gentiles (Isiaiah 56:6–7). Kreyssigpor- trayed the first cohort of Israel volunteersasthe “first reconnaissance patrol, with which we willarrive in Israel after along and arduous wandering across the mountain ridgesofGerman guilt.”²³ When the volunteershad to wait in the Netherlands before being allowed into Israel, Kreyssiglikened their journey to the biblical wandering across the desert, “when the People of Israel livedin tents for forty years on the waytothe conquest of the Land (Landnahme). What adeep referencetothe end of all ways,thatwecan now accompanythe People of God on the waytoits final conquest of the land!”²⁴

 Helmut Gollwitzer,Vietnam, Israel und die Christenheit (Munich: Christian Kaiser Verlag, 1967). On ASF’sactivities in Israel, see esp. Helmut Gollwitzer, “ZurIsrael-Arbeit der Aktion Sühnezeichen” (February 1977), EZA 97/719.  Christian Staffa, “Die ‘Aktion Sühnezeichen’:Eine protestantische Initiative zu einer beson- derenArt der Wiedergutmachung,” in Nach der Verfolgung:Wiedergutmachungnationalsozia- listischen Unrechts in Deutschland?, eds.Hans Günther Hockerts and ChristianeKuller (Göttin- gen: Wallstein-Verlag, 2003): 139–56.  Letter from Lothar Kreyssig to Harald Schlagowski, January 28 1962, EZA 19/735.  Letter fromLothar Kreyssig to EleonoreDannemann, January 10 1962, EZA 19/735. Formore examples of Kreyssig’sidiosyncratic theology of atonement,see Konrad Weiß, Lothar Kreyssig: Prophet der Versöhnung(Gerlingen: Bleicher Verlag,1998), chapter18–includingthe idea to have Aktion Sühnezeichen volunteers build atemple for Jews,Christians and Muslims in Jeru- salem or to establish a24/7prayerteam of volunteers at YadVashem. 246 Johannes Becke

Yetitdid not takelong for the initial romanticism of encountering the Land of Israel from the deck of aship in Haifa to be replaced by an acid wit.The first cohort referred to itself as an “atonement team” (Sühnemannschaft)and an “atonement family” (Sühnefamilie)guided by their “atonement father” (Süh- nevater,the group’spastor). Volunteers who picked potatoes for up to ten hours each dayweresaid to be engagingin“real atonement” (echtzusühnen) while femalevolunteersor“atonement girls” (Sühnemädchen)who fell ill were described as “incapacitated to atone” (sühnekampfunfähig).²⁵ Manyofthe terms appear alreadycrossed out in the original manuscript, and none made it into the official publication of parts of the diary of the first cohort in Ansgar Skriver’s book on Aktion Sühnezeichen.²⁶ The self-deprecatinghumor,however,prevailed: decades later, the volunteer journal Memrachit would feature mock advertise- ments poking fun at Israel as the “atonement paradise,” pretended to offer T- shirts with the logo “Atone with us. Atoningisfun,” and inquired of its readers, “Have youatoned today?”²⁷ While such satire might have helped ASF volunteersdeal with the disillu- sionments of romantic Philozionism, it was no match for the ideological battles that came to shape the organization’swork in Israel after the Six DayWar in 1967. When ASF opened its doors to conscientious objectors in 1969, an increasing number among the volunteers arrivedwith affiliations to the NewLeftand werenolonger willingtoreadthe “conquest of the Land” (Landnahme)inthe occupied territoriesinlight of biblical prophecy.Politicalviolence began to af- fect the organization’sactivities, and when aPalestinian terrorist attacked an ASF bus in Nablus in 1976 with anail bomb,two young Germans werekilled and many more wereinjured.²⁸ The traumatic experience made astrongimpres- sion on future generations of volunteers, but the terror attack did not seem to disillusion thosevolunteers who openlyidentified with the Palestinian cause. Volunteer projects that focused on the Palestinian Arab minorityinIsrael, in par- ticular,produced vocal opponents of Israel’ssettlement policy.²⁹ In the first issue after the outbreak of the First Intifada, the volunteer journal Memrachit printed

 EZA 19/735.  AnsgarSkriver, Aktion Sühnezeichen: Brücken über Blut und Asche (Stuttgart: Kreuz-verlag, 1962),120–38.  Memrachit 1–3, EZA 19/1868.  Kammerer,Aktion Sühnezeichen, 159–62.  Forpublications by former ASF volunteers on the occupied territories, see JanMetzger, Mar- tin Orth, and Christian Sterzing,Das ist unser Land: Westbank und Gaza-Streifen unter israel- ischer Besatzung(Bornheim-Merten: Lamuv, 1980); Dieter Bednarz und Michael Lüders,Palästi- na Protokolle: Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektive (Hannover: Fackelträger-Verlag, 1981). German Guilt and Hebrew Redemption 247 its name in Arabic instead of in Hebrew letters,published legal advice in case of being arrestedatdemonstrations, and included an angry accusation directed at the Israel desk at ASF headquarters:

Honestlyspeaking, Iamquitedisappointed by ASF’sIsrael policy.ASF invokestwo ele- ments that areimportanttome: The ‘ConfessingChurch’ and the phrase ‘learningfromhis- tory’.You know the situation in Israel. Would youdisagree when Isay that there is racial discrimination, ‘highlyarbitrary’‘democratic rights’,torture in the prison systemand racial prejudice? ‘Learningfromhistory’:How manypeople [still] need to be arrested,tortured, shot down beforeASF shows its true colors?I’mnot callingonyou to send us stones or Molotov cocktails.Like almost all the volunteers in the Arab sector, I’mfinallycalling for moreclear-cut statements and amoredefinitive advocacyfor the Palestinian cause.³⁰

From Critical Solidarity to aTheologyofIsrael

No such clear-cut statement would arrive from Berlin. On the contrary,inre- sponse to the First Intifada, ASF published along and carefullyworded open let- ter addressed to “all those in the Federal Republic who follow the news from Is- rael and the occupied territories with great concern and ask themselveswhat to do.”³¹ Framed as aGerman response to amuch more radical statement by Israeli peace organizations (which criticized the “wide-spread unconditional loyalty to- wards the State of Israel” and called for astruggle against “the moral and phys- ical decayofIsraeli society”³²), ASF’smissive showed all the hallmarks of the ‘critical solidarity’ with Israel which the Aktion Sühnezeichen leadership had begun to promoteinthe 1970sasaresponse to an influx of New Left volunteers: aconflicted sense of solidarity with both sides, arejection of simplifications, and an ethics of responsibility rooted in both the history of German guilt and left- wing Protestantism.³³

 Memrachit December 1987, EZA 19/1868.  UlrikeBergeretal., Offener Brief an alle, die in der Bundesrepublik die Nachrichten ausIs- rael und den besetzten Gebieten mit Sorge verfolgenund sich fragen, was sie tun können (Ber- lin: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste, 1988).  “Appell an die Freunde Israels,” ibid., 8; quotingJesch Gvul, Ha Schana ha 21,and Dai le Kibusch. “Appell an Die Freunde Israels.” In Offener Brief an alle, die in der Bundesrepublik die Nachrichten ausIsrael und den besetzten Gebieten mit Sorge verfolgenund sich fragen, was sie tun können, edited by Ulrike Berger,Jörn Böhme, Dietrich Gaede, BernhardKrane, and Heribert Krane, 8. Berlin: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste, 1988.  Forearlier ASF statements on the topic, see Volkmar Deile, Heiner Holland, and Johannes Müller, “Richtliniender Arbeit der Aktion Sühnezeichen/FriedensdiensteinIsrael,” Zeichen 2 248 Johannes Becke

In contrast to the Christian Zionism of Pietist and Evangelical origins (with its own Israel-basedvolunteer organization),³⁴ this left-wing Protestant Theology of Israel wasdecidedlynon-messianic, showing aclear sympathyfor the social- ist ideals of the kibbutz. Thus, in aspeech entitled “Israel – and Us” (Israel – und wir), held in Berlin in 1958 after returningfrom atrip to Israel,³⁵ Helmut Gollwit- zer famouslyidentifiedthree “moments”–that is, perspectives – on the State of Israel: from amoral perspective, “[every] German who travels to Israel should be clear: every Jewwho livestodaylives not because of us, but in spiteofus[…]in spite of me!” From atheological perspective,the renewal of Jewish life in the Land of Israel/Palestine could lead to arenewal of biblical hermeneutics and Christian-Jewish dialogue; afterall, “anyone who dealswith Israel must – like it or not – be atheologian.” Finally, from asociological perspective,Gollwitzer argued that Israel (in sharp contrast to the FederalRepublic of Germany) repre- sented an example of a “non-restorative social structure,” aform of socialist awareness crystallized in the “phenomenon of kibbutzim.”³⁶ As an expression of this Gollwitzer-style ‘critical solidarity,’ the ASF open let- ter from 1988 emphasizes the “specific German background […]ofthe Shoah” and its consequenceof“astrongneed for security thatisfelt by manyJews in- side and outside of Israel,” onlytocontrast this with “the need for security by the Palestinians, in whose history the flight and expulsion of 1948 known as ‘al-Nakba’ (the catastrophe) is acentral frame of reference.”³⁷ While underlining the self-understanding of Zionism as “the national liberation movement of the Jewishpeople” and the “non-colonial character” of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the text sheepishlyadmits “colonial aspectsinIsrael’sdevelopment,concerning, for instance, the appropriation of lands and the economic linkage between the occupied territoriesand the heartland.”³⁸ In addition, after rejecting the claim that Zionismrepresents “aform of racism,” the letter goes on to acknowledge “racist thoughtand actions” in Israel, includingthe “almosttotal lack of rights

(1977): 30 –1; “Präambel für die Arbeit in Israel,” Zeichen, 9:1(1981): 11–2; “Grundsätze der Is- raelarbeit,” Zeichen,14:2(1986): 16–7.  Andrea Schneider, “Hagoshrim – Die Brückenbauer: Freiwilligendienst in Israel,” www.rundfunk.de, 2016,https://rundfunk.evangelisch.de/kirche-im-radio/am-sonntagmorgen/ hagoshrim-die brueckenbauer-7826(last accessed August 28,2018).  Helmut Gollwitzer,Israel – und wir (Berlin: Lettner,1958).  All quotations according to W. Travis McMaken, “‘Shalom,Shalom, Shalom Israel!’ Jews and Judaism in Helmut Gollwitzer’sLife and Theology,” Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 10:1 (2015): 1–22, here at 13–5.  Ibid., 3.  Ibid., 4. German Guilt and Hebrew Redemption 249 and the oppression of the Palestinians in the occupied territories.”³⁹ After strong- ly condemning the claim to a “special German responsibility towards the Pales- tinians” as “the victim’svictim,”⁴⁰ the text also rejects the temptation to “whole- heartedlytakeaposition for one of the two sides. Such wholehearted support could onlyrefer to both peoples’ right to exist in Israel/Palestine.”⁴¹ Even the text’sconcluding call for action appears exceedinglywell-balanced by criticizing West Germany’s “military cooperation with Israel and the Arab states,which makes it harder to find apolitical solution to the conflict.”⁴² This carefullyconstructed equidistance crumbled under the shock of an in- tense polarization in the German Left duringthe First Gulf Warand the two Pal- estinian intifadas. DIAK (Deutsch-Israelischer Arbeitskreis fürFrieden im Nahen Osten), the left-wing offshoot of the more mainstream German-Israeli Society (DIG, Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft), took asharp turn towardsamore radical- ized critique of Israel and the Zionist project.⁴³ Aktion Sühnezeichen,for its part, increasinglyreturned to its Philozionistroots,not least by abandoning all volun- teer projects that centered exclusively on Israel’sPalestinian Arab minority in 1994.This ideological shift comes into stark relief when one reads ASF publica- tions dedicated to the celebration of Israel Sunday: in 1995,for instance, the bro- chure contained an interview with EliezerFeiler,amember of the Israeli Commu- nist Party who had long been responsible for the party’sexternalrelations.⁴⁴ In its original form, the interview had been publishedbytwo ASFvolunteers de- ployed in the “Arab sector,”⁴⁵ preceded by the following tendentious introduc- tion:

The political activist Feiler […]repeatedly witnessed wrongful Jewish actions against Arabs and had to realize that chauvinism and national arrogance arenot typicallyGerman char-

 Ibid., 5.  In another example of ASF sarcasm, duringthe author’sstayinIsrael (2001–2002), aGer- man Protestant senior volunteerwas jokinglyreferredtoas“the victims’ victims’ victim” after agroupofyoungPalestiniansinJerusalem had stolen his wallet.  Ibid., 7.  Ibid., 8[emphasisadded].  Martin Kloke, “In aller Freundschaft: 50 JahreDeutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft,” haGalil.- com,2016,http://www.hagalil.com/2016/03/deutsch-israelische-gesellschaft/ (last accessed Oc- tober 9, 2017).  Yossi Melman, “He sawRed,” Ha’aretz, 2004,https://www.haaretz.cim/he-saw-red-1.111779 (last accessed October 9, 2017).  Dieter Bednarz and Michael Lüders,Blick zurück ohne Hass:Juden ausIsrael erinnern sich an Deutschland (Cologne: Bund-Verlag,1981), 116–39. 250 Johannes Becke

acteristics:Ominously, the attitude of manyJews in Israel towards the Arabs resembles in manyrespects the German positiontowards the Jews in the time of National Socialism.⁴⁶

In the 1995 ASF brochurefor Israel Sunday, this passagedisappeared. Nonethe- less, while keepingquiet about Eliezer Feiler’saffiliation with the Israeli Com- munist Party,the interview still contains the passagewhich had attracted the at- tention of its original publishers: “The Germans uncriticallyadopted the propaganda depiction [of the Jew], because amajorityofGermans had no idea what aJew wassupposed to be. Here[in Israel] the samething happens when it comes to the Arabs.”⁴⁷ ASF’spublications for Israel Sundayfrom recent years are decidedlyless open to aradical critique of Israel and the Zionistproject.Consider,for example, the content of the Israel Sundaybrochures from 2003 until 2017,which discussed the politics of Palestinian nationalism, includingBDS⁴⁸ and the Kairos Palestine Document.⁴⁹ However,although the textsfeatured Jewish-Israeli voices (often from the moderate Israeli left), duringthe sameperiod onlyasingle Palestinian author appeared in the brochures, tellinglytodiscuss Jerusalemfrom a Muslim (not,say,Palestinian) perspective.⁵⁰ While the collections of short texts include highlycritical discussions of Evangelical Christian Zionism,⁵¹ the overarchinglegacyofProtestant Philozion- ism is unmistakable. Forinstance, aliturgy suggestion for Israel Sundayfrom 2008 describes the establishment of the State of Israel as “God’ssign of protec- tion (Gottes Zeichen seiner Bewahrung)[of his people] after and within ahistory

 Ibid., 116.  Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste,Wenn die Propheten aufständen …:Handreichung zum Israel-Sonntag1995(Göttingen: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste1995), 39.  Christian Staffa, “Wastun mit der Kampagne Boykott,Desinvestition, Sanktionen?,” in Isra- elsonntag2015:Denkt nicht,ich sei gekommen, die Tora und die Prophetenaußer Kraft zu set- zen (Berlin: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste, 2015), 25–28.  Hanna Lehming,Und es ist doch ein Kairos! (Berlin: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste 2011).  Abdallah Hajjir, “Jerusalem ausmuslimischerPerspektive,” in Israelsonntag2012: Jerusalem – Niemandwirddich noch “Verlassene” nennen (Jesaja 62,4)(Berlin: Aktion Sühnezeichen Frie- densdienste, 2012), 37–38. In contrast to the title, the text itself does contain referencestoJer- usalem from aPalestinian perspective.  Martin Kloke, “ChristlicheZionisten – Eine kritische Darstellung,” in Israelsonntag8.August 2010. “Wünschet Jerusalem Segen …” Psalm 122,77–87 (Berlin: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedens- dienste, 2010. German Guilt and Hebrew Redemption 251 of homelessness and hardships among the nations, including Christendom.”⁵² In the confession of sins, the text recommends asking for forgiveness for the fact that “we failed to recognize it as asign of your faithfulness when [your people] returned to live within its borders as an independent state.”⁵³ The prayers of in- tercession ask God to “sharpen our attention for anything which appears as an indignant criticism of Israel (Israelkritik), but is in reality anti-Jewish (judenfein- dlich).” In asomewhat curious phrasing that seems undecided whether the di- vine promise ends at the Green Line, the prayer concludes by requesting divine protection “for the Jewish communities here and the Israeli cities and settle- ments over there.”⁵⁴ The most recent position paper on ASF’sactivities in Israel from 2014,writ- ten by Bernhard Krane, the headofthe ASF Israel desk, aptly captures this re- turn to the left-wingChristian Philozionism of Helmut Gollwitzer and his disciple Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt.⁵⁵ With clarity that would have been unthinkable throughout AktionSühnezeichen’s period of anxious equidistance, the position paper notes:

Fortheological and political reasons, Aktion Sühnezeichen fights for the belief that aspe- cial bond links the People of Israel (AmIsrael)and the Land of Israel (Erez Israel)and that the modernStateofIsrael has the right to exist as the nation-stateofthe Jewish Peo- ple. Such apro-Zionist positioncreates both common ground as wellasdivisionsinASF’s cooperation with other civil society groups and parties.[…]ASF’sTheology of Israel is based on the continuingrelevance of God’scovenant with the People of Israel and the Di- vine Promise of the Land.⁵⁶

 Helmut Ruppel, “Liturgie Für den Gottesdienst am 10.Sonntagnach Trinitatis. ‘Israel 1948– 2008’.” in Israelsonntag2008 …und so wirdganzIsrael gerettet werden,wie geschrieben steht: ‘AusZion wirdkommen der Retter.’ (Brief an die Gemeinde in Rom, 11,26) (Berlin: Aktion Süh- nezeichenFriedensdienste, 2008), 18–22, hereat18.  Ibid., 19.  Ibid., 21.  Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt,Die Juden und ihr Land (Hamburg: Siebenstern-Taschenbuch- Verlag, 1975).  BernhardKrane, Grundsätzliches zur ASF-Israelarbeit (Berlin: Aktion Sühnezeichen Frie- densdienste, 2014).) 252 Johannes Becke

Atonement as At-One-Ment: From Christian to Post-Christian Philozionism

How exceptional is the history of ASF in Israel?Zygmunt Bauman remindsus that positive and negative exceptionalism are bothfruit of the sametree. He de- picts the long history of Western exceptionalism towards the Jewish people as “Allosemitism,”“the practice of setting the Jews apart as people radicallydiffer- ent from all the others, needingseparate conceptstodescribeand comprehend them and special treatment in all or most social intercourse.”⁵⁷ Thus, German Protestant Philozionismshould not be studied in isolation from its counter- image, namely, atheologicallygrounded Antizionism within the samemilieu: re- sentment towardsZionism and the State of Israel has along history within the German Protestant Church, especiallywithin left-wingProtestantism.⁵⁸ Thelevel of GermanProtestant investment(bothfinanciallyand emotionally) into the community of barely3,000 Palestinian Arab Lutherans in the HolyLand, for in- stance, faroutstrips their numbers and relevance for the declining minorityof Palestinian Arab Christians. Consequently, the studyofboth Protestant Philo- zionismand Antizionism needstobeintegratedinto abroader history of Allo- zionism,⁵⁹ an exceptionalist understanding of Jewish nationalism which, in the German case, goes backtoJohann Gottfried Herder’sfascination with the ancient Hebrews.⁶⁰ Such ahistoricizing approach oughttobeapplied as well to the phenomen- on of German guiltand Sündenstolz (sinner’spride): research on the German- Jewish-Israeli conundrum still tends to be approached as adenselyentangled cluster of exceptionalism, demarcated by asense of Jewishnationhood as an ex- ceptional people, the Shoah as an exceptional crime perpetrated by the Germans, and finally,the State of Israel as an exceptional state.Paradoxically, the recent establishment of separate chairs and research institutes for the study of the

 Zygmunt Bauman, “Allosemitism: Premodern, Modern, Postmodern,” in Modernity,Culture and “the Jew,” eds.Bryan Cheyette and LauraMarcus (Cambridge:Polity Press,1998): 143 – 56, hereat143.  Foraconcise overview,see Martin Kloke, “Deutsche Protestantenund der Sechstagekrieg 1967. Eine Biblanz nach 50 Jahren,” Compass-Infodienst,2017, https://www.compass-infodi enst.de/Martin-Kloke-Deutsche Protestanten-und-der-Sechstagekrieg-1967.15867.0.html (last ac- cessed October 11, 2017).  JohannesBecke, “Beyond Allozionism: Exceptionalizing and de-Exceptionalizingthe Zionist Project,” Israel Studies 23:2 (2018): 168–93.  Ofri Ilany, In Search of the HebrewPeople: Bible and Nation in the German Enlightenment (Bloomington,N:Indiana University Press, 2018). German Guilt and Hebrew Redemption 253

State of Israel and the Holocaust in Germanacademiahas the potential to fur- ther entrench this phenomenon, unless their teaching and research are closely integratedinto acomparative research agenda. In the case of ASF,such an approach might explore, for instance, linkages between transgenerationalguilt-drivenidentification with the victims and simi- lar historical processes. To put it in the sarcastic parlance common among former ASF volunteers: how does German Edelschuld (first-class guilt) and German Edelsühne (first-classatonement) differ from ordinary white guilt? What distin- guishesguilt-drivenGermanconverts to Judaism from figures like Rachel Dole- zal, the famous “trans-racial” convert to blackness?⁶¹ What are the commonali- ties and differencesbetween the many, manyGermanconverts pushing into JewishStudies and Rabbinical Studies, and what Native American scholars refer to as ethnic fraud,namely, the curious phenomenon of white people push- ing into Native AmericanStudies based on spurious claims to distant Native Americanancestry?⁶² To evade the trap of exceptionalism, the entanglement of guiltand redemp- tion in the German-Israeli and the Protestant-Jewish encounter needs to be stud- ied as part of abroader history of emotions of the post-colonial and increasingly post-Christian West.Such acomparative and theory-guided approach might be usefullyinformed by the dynamics of vicarious ethnicity as aform of atonement, or,inthe words of the psychoanalyst Irwin Rosen, “atonement as at-one-ment.” ForRosen, atonement is an “identification with the fantasized victim of one’s sadism,” and “this identification constitutes the atonement (or at-one-ment) ex- perience in which, magically, the aggressor seeks forgiveness, by becoming one- in-suffering with his victim.”⁶³ Rosen’spsychoanalytic model captures twodis- tinct processes of atonement as at-one-ment,depending on the type of identifi- cation with the victim: concordant and complementary.Inthe concordant model of identification with the victim, the “guilty and self-accusatory concordantaton- er” seeks to repair “that aspect of himself that has been identified with the vic- tim,”⁶⁴ frequentlythrough acts of reparation. Unlikethese “repairers,”⁶⁵ their counterparts (who follow the complementary type of atonement) struggle with

 Rachel Dolezal and Storms Reback, In Full Colour:Finding My Place in aBlack and White World (Dallas:BenBella Books,2017).  Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, “Taku Inichiapi? What’sinaName?,” in ASeparateCountry:Postco- loniality and American Indian Nations (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2012), 123–32.  Irwin C. Rosen, “The Atonement-Forgivenness Dyad: Identification with the Aggressed,” Psy- choanalytic Inquiry 29 (2009): 411– 25,hereat414.  Ibid., 412.  Ibid., 420. 254 Johannes Becke the “imaginativelyenhanced, projectivelyascribedretaliation of the vengeful vic- tim who is now endowedwith the samemalevolence as that which impelled the abuser’soriginal attack”⁶⁶ – as “embracersofsuffering.”⁶⁷ If we apply this typologytothe Germanpolitics of guilt,the Christian Phil- ozionismofAktion Sühnezeichenmight be considered aconcordant type of atonement,based on the idea of atonement as reparation. In contrast,the post-Christian Philozionism of the so-called “Anti-Germans” (Antideutsche) ap- pears to be acomplementary type, namely, atonement as sufferingand venge- ance. In other words, concordant atoners are drawntoacts of repentance,in- cludingthe optionofideological, religious,and even ethnicconversion, as its most radical form. Complementary atoners,for their part,seek aprojection screen for their fantasies of self-harm, or,asthe Anti-Germanshaveput it in ref- erencetothe bombing of Dresden: “Bomber Harris – do it again.”⁶⁸ Of course, the two typesofatonement are closelyintertwined. The entangle- ment of Christian and post-Christian Philozionism in particular stands out in the writingsofthe late Eike Geisel, another formerASF volunteer in Israel. After publishing Nathan Weinstock’s Le sionisme contre Israël in German,⁶⁹ Geisel later became an important inspiration for Philozionists in the German Left – and an acerbic critic of the self-serving Germancultureoffauxatonement,in- cludingconversions to Judaism.⁷⁰ As the case of Eike Geisel shows, the ideolog- ical production of the Anti-Germans and theirintellectual forebears can hardly be reduced to provocative statements,puzzling acts of self-flagellation, and the characteristic personality disordersof“compulsive confessors”⁷¹ and “atone- ment addicts.” ⁷² Forscholars of Jewish-Protestant relations however,the shift from Sühnezeichen (signofatonement) to Antideutsche (Anti-Germans) might in- dicate an intriguingtheological movement:like other varieties of whiteguilt,the

 Ibid., 412.  Rosen, “The Atonement-Forgivenness Dyad,” 420.  Foraninsightful case studyofleft-wingIsraeli bewilderment at the phenomenonofthe Anti- Germans,see Amira Hass, “Korban Mi-She-Korban Acharon(He Who Is the Last Victim Is the True Victim),” Ha’aeretz, 2004,http://www.haaretz.co.il/1.957024.  Nathan Weinstock, Das Ende Israels?Nahostkonflikt und Geschichte des Zionismus, eds. EikeGeisel and Mario Offenberg (Berlin: VerlagKlaus Wagenbach, 1975).  EikeGeisel, “Deutsche Seelenwanderungen: Rückblick aufeine zehnjährigedeutsch-jüdi- sche Verwechslungskomödie,” in idem, Die Banalität des Guten: Deutsche Seelenwanderungen (Berlin: Edition Tiamat,1992),9–34.  Rosen, “The Atonement-Forgivenness Dyad,” 421.  Ibid., 420. German Guilt and Hebrew Redemption 255

Anti-German ideologyofa“revengeagainst the self”⁷³ resonates with the basic templateofpost-Christianity – all of the guilt,with none of the forgiveness.

Conclusion

As the case of the Temple Society (Tempelgesellschaft)demonstrates,the German Protestant presenceinthe Land of Israel predates both the State of Israel and the institution-building of the New Yishuv. ⁷⁴ In the long history of German Protestant engagement with Jewishnationalism, the activities of AktionSühnezeichen Frie- densdienst in Israel reflect acompellingcombination of paradoxes: atheology of Israel thatisdecidedlyleft-wing, an ethics of atonement which coexists with an entrenched cultureofsarcasm, and acomplex legacyofPhilozionism that stretches all the wayfrom Christian Zionismtothe ‘critical solidarity’ of a strict equidistance, while sometimes foreshadowing the naïveAnti-German en- thusiasm for all thingsIsraeli. Forthe studyofcontemporaryJewish-Protestantrelations, the history of ASF is avivid reminder that the Zionistproject not onlyrepresents arupture for Jew- ish history,but also for interfaith relations.Hence, both the most intense forms of contemporary Protestant sympathyand antipathyfor the Jewish experience are no longer shaped by Diasporic statelessness,but by Zionist state formation in the Land of Israel. Especiallyinthe Germancase, such astudyofProtestant Philozionism and Antizionism should not be limited to the fieldsoftheologyand church history,but instead contributetoabroader history of emotions of the post-colonial and post-Christian West,with aspecial focus on the emotional pol- itics of white guilt.

 Ibid., 423.  Foranintriguingcase studyofcounterfactual history which explores what aGerman Prot- estant stateproject in the Land of Israel might have looked like, see Derek Jonathan Penslar, “What If aChristian StateHad Been Established in Modern Palestine?,” in What Ifs of Jewish History:From Abraham to Zionism, ed. Gabriel D. Rosenfeld (Cambridge and New York: Cam- bridge University Press, 2016): 142– 65.