The first year of the fellowship program (2019) focused on the topic “Russian speaking communities in Germany and Israel: Their relations to Russia and their significance in both countries“ and was organized in cooperation with the German Association for East European Studies, the German Council on Foreign Relations, and the Center for Liberal Modernity.

The end of the Soviet Union marked the beginning of a remarkable emigration movement. More than one million people left the Soviet Union for Israel, over two million people received German citizenship on grounds of their ethnic German origin, and nearly 250,000 persons of "Jewish nationality" received permanent residence rights in Germany. How did their integration in both societies proceed and in what ways do they shape the political, social and cultural developments in Israel and Germany today?

Five fellows dealt with these and related questions.

The topics our fellows focused on in 2019:

• Sergii Gurbych: „Russian-speaking writers in Germany and Israel: Reflecting and Shaping a Socio-Cultural Environment”
• Rebekka Hahn: “Belonging and Self – A biographical study among second-generation female ethnic Germans from the former Soviel Union”
• Dr. Yuriy Nesterko: “The impact of ethnic and/or cultural affiliations as well as religiosity on mental health outcomes in Jewish immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Germany and Israel”
• Jonna Rock: Negotiating Germanness, Jewishness and Russianness in an era of changing social boundaries: A study of identity formation amongst Russlanddeutsche, Russian Jews and ethnic Russians in Berlin
• Liza Rozovsky: “Immigration 2.0: What brings young Russian speaking Israelis to Berlin?”

>> Our 2019 fellows

Conference: The Russian-speaking diaspora in Germany & Israel

On November 4-5, 2019, the first year of the Fellowship Program came to a close with an international conference in Berlin. Highly-respected panelists from Israel, Russia and Germany discussed different topics relating to Russian-speaking immigrants in both countries under the heading “The Russian-speaking diaspora in Germany & Israel”. The areas covered ranged from literature and political participation to visibility in the media and security policy.

The conference was organized by the German-Israeli Future Forum (DIZF), in cooperation with the German Association for East European Studies (DGO), the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and the Center for Liberal Modernity (LibMod). 

The event was held in German, Russian and English. Simultaneous interpreters were provided for all three languages.

Participants included Polina Aronson, Max Czollek, Nelly Elias, Olga Grjasnowa, Alexander Ilichevsky, Hans Joas, Achim Goerres, Maria Knyazeva, Julia Lerner, State Secretary Andreas Michaelis, Jannis Panagiotidis, Ruprecht Polenz, Katharina Raabe, Larissa Remennick, and Shimon Stein.