Solidarität

Not long ago, I took a leave from Chicago and my fulfilling work at JUF to embark on a yearlong sabbatical-a leap into the unknown. I was offered the opportunity to live, study, and work in Germany for a year, through the U.S. State Department and German Bundestag-funded Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange program.

While it was difficult to leave Chicago-especially for a country I’d never been to before, with a language I’d never spoken-I knew this was the opportunity of a lifetime.

This opportunity was particularly exciting given, my hobby- I create content for two military history documentary studios: Battle Guide and Real Time History . We have YouTube channels with thousands of subscribers, and a large audience interested in learning more about the past. This was a chance for me to learn about Jewish and military history-in person-in the heart of Europe.

My time in Germany began with intensive German language school in Cologne. Along the banks of the mighty Rhine River, I quickly progressed through the basics of the German language and got acquainted with everyday German life. I toured the WWI and WWII battlefields across western Europe, and I familiarized myself with Cologne’s Jewish community.

After two months in language school, I moved in with my host family in Berlin. I took classes about German-Jewish history and helped teach a class at Freie Universität about Adolf Hitler. I spent most of the year researching and writing a documentary about the Israel’s Six-Day War for Real Time History. I met with members of the German Bundestag and with the American Ambassador to Germany, and traveled to historical sites far and wide.

My moving day from Cologne to Berlin, eerily, coincided with the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. The historical implications were not lost on me as I watched the news in horror. I was taking the train to Wannsee-the Berlin island on which the Nazis planned the mass killing of the Holocaust 80 years prior-on the same day I watched comparable scenes play out in real time in Israel and Gaza.

Thankfully, I discovered something new about Germany: Solidarität/Solidarity. As I watched the October 7 massacre and its aftermath unfold with growing disgust and grief, I was welcomed to Berlin by Germans eager to support me and the Jewish people.

Everywhere I went, Israeli flags fluttered in solidarity, and I heard German politicians make speeches supporting Israel and Jews across Europe and the world. Non-Jewish German friends reached out to invite me to events supporting Israel. Israeli hostage posters hung in German public schools and government buildings. I saw stickers at every soccer match stating emphatically “FOOTBALL FANS AGAINST ANTISEMITISM!” Despite my hyperawareness of German-Jewish history, I found myself constantly thanking Germans for their continued support for me and for our community.

We have come a long way since the evils of the Second World War. Germany’s infamous and dark history with the Jewish people has morphed into a place of brilliantly bright solidarity with our people. I can happily report that the country of Germany and its people-today-are our friends and allies.

Michael Adato is a Strategist for JUF’s Israel Education Center.