“He may not celebrate Christmas, but he’s still the #1 Advent hero”

Itay’s Volunteer Work at Shalom Rollberg

For five years now, he has been volunteering in his neighborhood of Neukölln – branded a “flashpoint district” – for the Shalom Rollberg initiative. He is just one of many Jewish volunteers who tutor the local children and teens, who are mostly of Turkish or Arab descent, or organize recreational activities for them. The project is under the umbrella of the MORUS 14 club, which nominated Itay to represent all the mentors as an “Advent hero.”

Chosen as “Advent Hero”

Shalom Rollberg then informed Itay that he had been selected by the tabloid and the energy supply company as their “Advent Hero” – and that the club had won a 5,000 € donation as a result. This was followed by an interview in the press, a photo shoot on the initiative’s premises – without the children, of course, due to the coronavirus. The following day, the newspaper ran an article headlined “He may not celebrate Christmas, but he’s still the #1 Advent hero” For the first time in my life, I bought a copy of that tabloid. Of all newspapers, I thought to myself. Itay was less bothered about that. We chuckled together at the headline.

Itay was notified that on Sunday, 29 November, he would be symbolically handed a check and invited to perform his duty as “Advent hero:” switching on the lights of the 15 meter tall Christmas tree on the plaza in front of the Brandenburg Gate. A Christmas tree of all things, I thought to myself. Even I steer clear of Christmas markets and holiday hype. And in front of the Brandenburg Gate, of all places! I am still a fan of the artist Horst Hoheisel’s proposal, back in 1995, of grinding down this German national landmark into dust and then scattering said dust on the plot where the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe now stands. But of course, in the end, I accompanied Itay for the occasion. Somebody had to take pictures, after all.

Reactions from Itay’s Family in Israel

Meanwhile, his family in Israel was elated – and not only after the Israeli TV news picked up the story. His mother, who was born in 1948 at a DP camp in Kassel to two Polish Shoah survivors, grew very emotional and posted on Facebook about how proud she was of the man her son had grown into:

ערכי ואוהב ללא קשר לדת ומוצא

(Values and love, regardless of religion or background).

It must have felt peculiar to her, given that Germans had murdered her parents’ families during the Shoah.

Itay is not uninterested in this story, but it holds much less significance to him than it does to me. I was also the one who took the initiative a few years ago on our visit to the former Jägerkaserne military base in Kassel, where his mother spend the first year of her life before her parents emigrated with her to the newly founded State of Israel. On the same trip, we’d also stopped in the Hessian town of Ziegenhain, where Itay’s grandparents had met and married at a DP camp. At the Arolsen Archives – to his family’s surprise – I found documents furnishing evidence of his grandparents’ time in the DP camp and her efforts to obtain reparations (Wiedergutmachung).

In tracking them down, I naturally benefited from my familiarity with archival research obtained during my work at the Archive of the Jewish Museum Berlin. The fact that my boyfriend is a (secular) Jewish Israeli is not irrelevant to my profession. Obviously, it’s not why we fell in love. And my relationship with him does not justify my role as a non-Jew working for a Jewish Museum. But it does forge a present-day connection and build a bridge to my daily life and my own lived reality – even though Itay – the Advent hero who doesn’t celebrate Christmas – actually doesn’t celebrate Hanukkah either! It would never occur to him to go to Pariser Platz for the Hanukkah candle lighting.