On the website Jüdisches Hamburg erzählen, 20 short interview excerpts provide insights into the many different ways of life, origins and self-perceptions that characterize Jewish life in Hamburg in the recent past and present. The map alone, which is also provided, makes it obvious that the Jewish history of Hamburg cannot be limited to the local perspective.
What role do different origins and traditions, family experiences of persecution and migration routes play in one's own biography, self-positioning in the Jewish community or questions of belonging? Based on an initial question, the interviewees reported on their own history, that of their parents and relatives as well as their life and work in Hamburg. Even if these are purely subjective narratives, many of the interviews are exemplary for larger communities of Jews in Hamburg, such as the group of remigrants, the group of Persian Jews who came to the Hanseatic city in the 1950s, the group of so-called contingent refugees who immigrated mainly in the 1990s or the group of Israelis, some of whom also see themselves as belonging to the Jewish community. Different clusters can also be formed with regard to the generations, each with their own horizons of experience and lifeworlds. The videos provided on the website are edited versions of the interviews.
The interview project was funded by the Department for the Promotion of Jewish Life of the Ministry of Science, Research, Equality and Districts and was realized in part in cooperation with the Jewish Community in Hamburg and the Jewish Museum Berlin.