The starting point and inspiration for this project is CAFÉ ATARA, the legendary German-Jewish café in Jerusalem. Founded in 1938 by the Jewish exiled emigrant Bernhard Grünspan, it became the most important meeting place for German-speaking Jews in Jerusalem.
In our CAFE ATARA, actors act as dialogue partners for the guests, presenting the thoughts and feelings taken from biographical or literary texts of six people who emigrated at that time. At individual tables, the visitors are more than spectators; they can ask questions and enter into dialogue with the actors, who do not leave their roles.
Room-filling projections visualise the life stories and images of our protagonists. Our visitors can talk personally to Else Lasker- Schüler, Beatrice Zweig, Arnold Zweig, Gabriele Tergit, Erich Mendelsohn and Sammy Gronemann.
Rehavia neighborhood Jerusalem
The Rehavia neighborhood was an attempt by German Jews to recreate the Berlin district of Grunewald in Jerusalem. Our reconstruction of the CAFÉ located there, allows visitors to approach the subjective reality of this specific world . In this context, CAFÉ ATARA becomes a living laboratory – where loss of identity, loss of language are the focus.
Our project concentrates on this ambivalent dilemma. It documents and examines the experiences of those Jewish emigrants who decided to remain ‘German’ in Jerusalem/Palestine. Their enforced stay in Jerusalem was perceived as an exile and not as a return home in the Jewish sense. Jerusalem was not Berlin, Ben Yehuda Street was not Motzstraße and Café Sichel was not the Romanisches Café. Perhaps that’s why they tried to recreate the German café as exactly as possible, because so much was missing in this new life .
“What am I supposed to do here?” asked Else Lasker Schüler in Jerusalem. Giving up being German was not an option.
Physical violence
It is important to understand that the German Jews were not greeted with great joy or optimism by the Yishuv, which consisted of a majority of Jews from Eastern Europe. A frequently posed question was “Are you here out of conviction or from Germany?”
The German language could not be spoken openly. There were even acts of physical violence perpetrated by non-German Jews against prominent Jewish immigrants like Arnold Zweig.
Was the decision to hold on to German culture and language in a strangely Jewish way, and in a new Jewish context which did not welcome them, an act of defiance? Was it an act of defiance against the Yishuv and against nazi-Germany at the same time?
In December 2024, we had the wonderful experience of presenting our ATARA in Hallmackenreuther, a famous café in Cologne.
It has been a tremendous success. Our performances were sold out, and our visitors were exuberant in their praise for our innovative approach. Despite the difficulty of the subject, the ‘performances’ were characterized by an easiness in conversation and encounter. We are committed to performing ATARA for many more years.
Presentation at Limmoed NL
Director Brian Michaels will present this project CAFÉ ATARA with visual artist Kane Kampman at Limmoed NL on March 9 in The Netherlands.
Schrijf je nu in voor Limmoed NL, het wereldwijde festival van Joods Leren.
Zie hier het programma van Limmoed 2025.
cover: The original ATARA coffeehouse in Jerusalem
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