(Im)Possible Romance: Intimate Relationships Between Israeli Jews and Non-Jewish Germans in Contemporary Israeli Documentary Cinema

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The article explores several Israeli documentary films of the past fifteen years which dare to touch on the under-researched subject of romantic relationships between Israeli Jews and German non-Jews, in three different documentary sub-genres. The main premise here is that overall, the heightened emphasis in Israel on Holocaust commemoration, the unique insights of second and third generation survivor offspring, the rise of globalization and the attraction felt by contemporary Israelis to Berlin have inspired the production of films that tackle a subject once considered taboo. Unlike current Israeli documentaries however, which treat political and social issues like the plight of the Palestinians, immigrant workers, asylum seekers, etc., and focus on “the other” or “the stranger”, the films discussed here, burdened by Holocaust memory, foreground the Jewish-Israeli side of the relationship, thus precluding an in-depth representation of the German side.