I Sleep in Hitler's Room

  I Sleep in Hitler's Room

  An American Jew Visits Germany

  Tuvia Tenenbom

  Copyright © 2011 by Tuvia Tenenbom

  The Jewish Theater of New York

  POB 845, Times Square Sta.

  New York, NY 10108

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

  ISBN: 978-0-9839399-2-4

  International Praise for Tuvia Tenenbom

  “Irresistibly fascinating . . . emotionally explosive . . . seductive . . . engaging . . . very effective humor.”—The New York Times

  “Every word that comes out of Tenenbom’s pen can set the world on fire.”—Yiddish Forward

  “A mystical provocateur; unstoppable.”—Le Monde (France)

  “Tenenbom’s hodgepodge of politics, zealotry and literary genres is fresh and audacious.”—The Village Voice

  “Brilliant.”—The Jewish Week

  “Dazzling . . . A free artist who fights for truth and tolerance.”—Le Vif L’Express (Belgium)

  “Tenenbom’s laughter touches our soul in places where mere intellect could never reach.”—Die Zeit (Germany)

  “One of the most iconoclastic and innovative of contemporary dramatists.”—Corriere Della Sera (Italy)

  “He resembles the late German stage and film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. But where Fassbinder blackly brooded, Tenenbom crackles and shoots off sparks.”—Lifestyle

  “Tenenbom dares.”—La Razón (Spain)

  • • •

  Tuvia Tenenbom is a political dramatist and journalist. His articles and essays have been published in newspapers including Die Zeit of Germany, Corriere della Sera of Italy, and Yedioth Ahronoth of Israel as well as on various internet sites. Tuvia, who holds advanced degrees in both fine arts and science, is also the founder and artistic director of The Jewish Theater of New York.

  This book is dedicated to my wife, Isi Tenenbom, who joined me along for the ride, snapped close to 2,000 photos along the way, lovingly comforted me when the going was tough, and shared in the laughter when it was all done.

  The Germans, I am apt to believe, derive their original from no other people.

  — Tacitus

  If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.

  — Albert Einstein

  Acknowledgments and Thanks

  My debt of gratitude to the many people, institutions, and companies for their help during the different stages of my journey:

  The people of Die Zeit who guided me as I started out:

  Helmut Schmidt, former chancellor of Germany; Giovanni di Lorenzo, editor in chief; Dr. Christof Siemes, culture reporter; Peter Kümmel, chief drama critic; Jens Jessen, culture editor; Evelyn Finger, Belief & Doubt editor.

  Stanislaw Tillich, prime minister of Saxony; Kai Diekmann, editor in chief of the most-read European daily, Bild; the popular comedian and pianist Helge Schneider; Adolf Sauerland, mayor of Duisburg; the journalist and activist Peter Scholl-Latour—to name just a few.

  The various tourist-information offices around the country who facilitated my free stay in hotels and eateries; the directors and managers of institutions who personally accompanied me into their treasures; the managers of the luxurious Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof in Frankfurt, Excelsior Hotel Ernst in Cologne, and Hotel Elephant in Weimar, among others; various leading politicians and activists of the right, left, and center; celebrated leaders of culture; various economists; bosses of industry, including Volkswagen and Mercedes; priests, pastors, rabbis, and heroin addicts; high-school students who warmly welcomed me into their classes and life; the Turkish community of Marxloh, including the imam of Germany’s biggest mosque. Thanks go also to all those in between, including Germany’s poor and forlorn in cities and farms across the land, as well as its richest on the island of Sylt. And for the many, too many to mention, who gracefully opened for me the door to their homes and the gate to their souls.

  Deserving special mention are Michael Eberth, who fought and still fights for this book, for his loyalty and boundless intelligence, and Isa Lowy, my mother-in-law, who was—and is—always there for me.

  From Rowohlt’s publicity campaign for this book before it was censored.

  Original title in German:

  Ich bin Deutschland: Eine Entdeckungsreise

  Author’s Notes

  Events in this book span 2009 through 2011.

  Journey in Germany: May through September 2010.

  Not all people interviewed, or cities visited, have made it to this book. Those who are in this book are fair representations of those met and interviewed.

  Order of appearance is chronological, unless otherwise stated. Specific date, day, hour, minute, or second not mentioned. This is not a work of fiction.

  When used in interviews, quotation marks in this book indicate exact quotes by interviewees.

  Interviews contained herein were recorded, filmed, or done in the presence of at least one witness. When none of these conditions existed, relevant pages were approved by the source before publication. On the occasions when interviewees requested their authorization before publication, their written authorizations were properly secured. In addition, supporting evidentiary materials were accumulated. Email correspondence, when applicable, was preserved. Nearly two thousand pictures were taken.

  Table of Locations

  Chapter 1: New York

  Chapter 2: Rome

  Chapter 3: Hamburg

  Chapter 4: Neumünster

  Chapter 5: Hamburg

  Chapter 6: Wolfsburg

  Chapter 7: Munich (“München”), Berlin

  Chapter 8: Berlin

  Chapter 9: Suburb of Hamburg

  Chapter 10: Hamburg, Munich, Oberammergau, Schwangau

  Chapter 11: Munich, Dachau

  Chapter 12: Munich, Nürnberg, Coburg

  Chapter 13: Tübingen, Black Forest, Stuttgart

  Chapter 14: Frankfurt, Nauheim, Butzbach

  Chapter 15: Berlin

  Chapter 16: Berlin, Dortmund

  Chapter 17: Duisburg, Dortmund, Mülheim, Düsseldorf.

  Chapter 18: Duisburg (Marxloh)

  Chapter 19: Köln

  Chapter 20: Weimar

  Chapter 21: Buchenwald, Weimar

  Chapter 22: Leipzig

  Chapter 23: Dresden, Meißen, Görlitz, Zgorzelec (Poland)

  Chapter 24: Hamburg

  Chapter 25: Sylt, Denmark

  Preface

  This book was scheduled to be in German bookstores in April of 2011. It never got there.

  It was advertised by Rowohlt, one of the biggest and most powerful publishing companies in Germany, as an up-and-coming title on its 2011 list, as a best seller.

  It never got there, best seller or not.

  Alexander Fest, head of Rowohlt, made sure of that. This book, he told me, would be published only if I agreed to tone it down. He had a plan, a simple plan: Cut or change the most revealing parts. Why? Well, there are things that are better kept secret. No, he didn’t phrase it like that. He used harsher words. Words like “Your book is deplorably undercomplex [sic] and uninformed.” What was so bad about it?

  The answer came soon enough. I was presented with a version of the manuscript reflecting cuts and changes throughout, and only if I agreed with their “edited” version would they publish the book. Most of the
edits had to do with German anti-Semitism, which this book uncovers. Accounts of it were fully cut from their edited version. Also cut were passages of certain interviews where respondents betrayed their anti-Semitism and were now transformed into philo-Semites by the stroke of a pen.

  Other times Mr. Fest showed a creative streak. In a few instances where this book had the word Jews in it, he demanded that it be changed to Israel. It’s not nice to show that there are Germans who hate Jews, but Israel is a different story; that’s political and the Israelis, after all, are known to be bad people.

  What he did was not make the book “overcomplex” or “informed.” What he did was pure censorship, fit for an Iranian publisher under the ayatollahs. He steamed when I said this, but he didn’t change his mind.

  Discussions with Mr. Fest, or with those he charged with the task of negotiating with me in his company, lasted for months. Usually, he employed the worst conduct that this writer has ever witnessed in a professional context. Verbal abuse was a staple in his dealings, as he and his cadre of followers seemed to cherish every opportunity to get ugly and, at times, descend to anti-Semitism. I am, so I was told at one point, a “Jewish hysteric,” like the “patron saint of all of them, Woody Allen.”

  Yes, Jews are “hysteric.”

  As time went by I was screamed at, constantly lied to, and spoken about in the most degrading terms. When I tried to meet Mr. Fest he would hide and say he’s not in Germany and won’t be any time soon. As time passed, I was not allowed to speak to anyone in the company, and if I called no one talked to me. Only emails. Abusive emails, to be exact. I was the Degenerate Jew, the “hysteric,” treated like a slave by the Master Race.

  It didn’t start that way. The book in front of you was actually accepted by Rowohlt. My editor, the one who commissioned me to write it and followed its development, told me that “it’s even better than I expected.” She asked for no changes and demanded no cuts. All she wanted was to see it printed.

  But Mr. Fest didn’t.

  Lawyers, outside editors, various literary agents and fellow journalists tried to intervene. Some tried to change Mr. Fest’s mind, others tried to find different German publishers.

  All failed.

  No German publisher, I was told privately, would publish a book that paints Germans as anti-Semitic. It has nothing to do with truth; it has everything to do with image. Germans are a tribe, I was told, and the tribe will protect itself. This is something I am not used to. Walk into any American bookstore and you will find quite a number of books that are fiercely anti-American, and no one is protesting or raising any objections. This, after all, is the essence of free speech. But Germany, obviously, is not America.

  Personally, I didn’t want to believe it. Month after month and week after week, I tried to mend the fences, but, like everyone else, I too failed. Time passed, lies piled up, and nothing changed for the better.

  This does not mean that I stop trying. Even as I write these words, I continue to identify and approach likely German publishers. Recently I entered negotiations with another of Germany’s top publishers. They are “eager” to publish the book, they tell me, and I hope that they will follow through. Time passes, but hope springs eternal.

  The passage of time, though painful and exhausting, proved a blessing in disguise, as it offered the benefit of hindsight. It is better indeed to look at events with a more rounded view that only time can afford.

  Events described in this book are timelier today than they were last year. A demonstration in Hamburg, as recounted in these pages, provides a striking similarity to the demonstrations in the Middle East and North Africa: In both cases the younger generations rebel against their elders and demand a revolution. Can a demonstration in Hamburg better illustrate the demonstrations taking place in the Middle East today? I believe so. There’s something in the spirit of youth, be it for good reasons or bad, that calls for rebellion; and there’s something in the spirit of man, for better or worse, that if allowed to wreak havoc he or she will do so. Additionally, it illustrates the power of the crowd and its psychology and of mass mentality. Similarly, with respect to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the issue of Gaza and flotillas as told in this book grants us a better understanding of what is happening today and will happen in the years ahead.

  The Muslim world, also covered and uncovered here, is the first chapter of a long story and sure to be followed by many others. The relationship between the Christian and Jewish worlds, methodically described below, is another example of the turmoil within us that is certain to affect us now and far into the future.

  But we are affected not by war and politics alone; social phenomena make their mark as well. The birth of the iPad, for example, not only finds its way into this book but has had on our lives an impact that so far has been lasting. Then there are natural disasters, which no less than war or politics or social change deepens our understanding of the world over time. The volcanic ash cloud that hovered over our heads and plagued European skies in 2010, and which is discussed below, shares similarities with the subterranean eruption that led eventually to the nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. In both cases we the people are players in a game of nature that we know almost nothing about.

  But, truth be told, this is not why this book is presented to you today. These observations, as interesting as they may be, do not warrant the sweat that bringing this book to life exacted.

  What drives me to see to it that this book is published can be summed up in one word: America. In the present political atmosphere, where for many of us human rights have attained the level almost of a religion, we can benefit from a reality check. Germany today is one of the most powerful economic powers in the world, a country that has bought many of our assets, including most of the American publishing industry—a country that exerts vast influence on us, a country that prides itself on having the best record of preserving human rights, a country that deems itself the best of democracies, a country many in America hold in highest regard and emulate, a country that this year reached the top of the Mainly Positive Influence chart in a BBC poll of “Countries’ Influence”—and yet, this is a country that has not changed since Hitler’s days in power. No, of course: Hitler does not rule Germany today, the Nazi party is outlawed, and Germany no longer exterminates Jews or gays. But Hitler, let us not forget, did not create the Holocaust, he simply operated in a social environment that invited it. The people were ready. Hitler, an Austrian nobody, stirred the pot of hate that had preceded him and his unsold paintings. The peoples’ hearts were with him, as they are today. The hate for the Jew then, and the hate of the Jew today, as described in this book, is the same exact hate.

  Yes, I know, it’s a horrible thing to say, to accuse a whole nation of racism. But as horrible as it is to say this of a people, it’s manifold more horrible to find out that that this is the truth. I wish, from the bottom of my heart, that it were not the case, that the people of Germany, people I’ve always liked, were not what I found them to be.

  Mr. Fest is just an example. There are many others like him. And you know it only when they get caught. People who have read Mr. Fest’s emails came out of the woodwork to share some little secrets with me. His messages, they say, point to a “Herrenrasse” (master race) mentality. They explain that he is a man who grew up in a household sympathetic to the Nazis. The late Joachim Fest, Alexander’s famous father, who served as an editor of infamous Nazi architect Albert Speer and wrote the biography of Adolf Hitler in which he hardly even mentioned the Holocaust, was indeed a controversial figure.

  Some prominent Jews of the time, such as author Jurek Becker (author of the novel on which the movie versions were based, Jakob der Lügner, starring Armin Mueller-Stahl, and many years later, in the United States, Jakob the Liar, starring Robin Williams), would never accept an invitation to Mr. Joachim Fest’s home. Jurek refused to shake Joachim’s hand when both happened to be attending the same events; it was not, he said, a gesture of goo
dwill he would exchange with a Nazi.

  But enough of Mr. Alexander Fest. He is, sadly, not the exception. I know because I witnessed many Fests.

  As I write these lines, the Middle East is boiling over across many borders: Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen . . . as people demand the right to free speech. The West, ever eager to show its commitment to human rights, spares no bomb to kill those who stand in the way. It goes without saying that Arabs must pay with their lives to have free speech but Germans can suppress it and not lose a dime. Why are the Germans allowed to be pathetic censors while Arabs are forced to tell the truth? Who gave us in the West the right to kill others who are not really any worse than us?

  Toward the end of correcting this injustice, in this book I tell the story of Germany today in the clearest, simplest, and most honest and straightforward way possible.

  No. Not all people in Germany are bad. There are exceptions, but sadly not many. Yes, there are good people in Germany too, great men and women whom I’m proud to consider my friends. They inspire me, they challenge me, and I know I can trust them to be by my side if ever I need them. And indeed, it is also for their sake, in the name of my love for them, that I make this book public. No hate in a people will be extinguished if allowed to burn unchecked, no racism in a nation will disappear if allowed to be irrigated with the rain of silence, no German will survive the poison around him if the iron gate of censorship protects it and no Jew will survive if he keeps silent.

  This is the history of humanity. This is the story of democracy. This is the essence of this book.

  When I set out to travel the land of Germany, I didn’t think for one moment that it would end up as it did. In the worst of my nightmares I never imagined that the word Jew would be on the minds of so many people. What I hoped for when I started the journey through the Fatherland was “lots of fun.” Nobody ever warned me that Germany was a horrible place for a Jew. Nobody ever told me that I would finally understand why the Holocaust started there and nowhere else. Nobody prepared me for a gas chamber.