11 ‘You want to take us to Jerusalem …’

Abstract

a rally and a conference were organized in the German city of Weimar celebrating the establishment of a new movement: Medinat Weimar. According to an information sheet, which was handed out on-site and had been posted earlier on the internet, the purpose of the rally was to introduce the movement to the general public, while the conference was meant 'to broaden the collective element to the movement' .1 The rally took place on the Theaterplatz from 11 am till 1 pm, and the audience was encouraged to actively participate in the meeting and to bring homemade signs and banners. It was stated that 'Empty placards and markers will also be available so anyone can add their own slogans'. To the untrained eye it seemed yet another anti-fascist demonstration. Standard maxims were displayed, such as 'Rettet uns vor den Nazis' , though more cryptic expressions and demands were also presented, such as 'Auch die Diaspora braucht ein Zuhause' and 'Koschere Bratwurst Jetzt!' (Fig. 11.1). Since the average gentile would not be familiar with the Hebrew word for 'state' , Medīnat ‫ַת(‬ ‫ינ‬ ‫ְדִ‬ ‫,)מ‬ the ultimate goal of the gathering remained probably unclear to most of the general public and the guileless passers-by. Nevertheless both the movement's logo, a map of the German federal state of Thuringia (Thüringen) emblazoned with a Menorah, the Jewish seven-branched lamp stand, and its adage 'I Y Thuringia' , clearly hinted at its ultimate objective: the foundation of Jewish State in this Bundesland, with Weimar as its capital. It seems rather unheymish, though perhaps not inapposite, to found a New Jerusalem in Weimar, the birthplace of the first constitutional German Republic, which made way for Nazism and, one could argue, ultimately led to the Holocaust.