Among Jews in the Diaspora, recent years and especially recent months have seen a growing disenchantment with Israeli politics and with Israel's claim as the only legitimate basis for Jewish existence. At the same time, European Jews have begun to reassert their own traditions in contrast to both America and Israel. As the case of German Jewry makes clear, much of this return of Diaspora comes from the Jewish periphery: women, Russian Jewish immigrants, Jews not recognised by Jewish law and Gays and Lesbians. But German Jews are also facing the involvement of non-Jewish Germans in Jewish culture, as both a boost and as an irritant. Ten internationally distinguished scholars are addressing these and other issues.

This collection addresses three interrelated themes: the basic issues in contemporary German and European migration since 1945 with particular focus on new developments in the 80s; the ways in which the citizenship debate has proceeded and how immigration and citizenship have been handled in Western Europe; the ways migrants have responded to situations in receiving countries, focusing on institutional structures.

Departing from the recent critical literature on the emergence of a new German Jewry, this volume proposes a new perspective on the post-1980s phenomenon of re-emerging Jewish culture in Germany as a case study for wider developments in Europe and the international context.

This collection of essays addresses three interrelated themes: the basic issues in contemporary German and European Migration since 1945 with particular focus on new developments in the 80s; the ways in which the citizenship debate has proceeded and how immigration and citizenship have been handled in Western Europe.