In contrast to most other countries, both Germany and Israel have descent-based concepts of nationhood and have granted members of their nation (ethnic Germans and Jews) who wish to immigrate automatic access to their respective citizenship privileges. Therefore these two countries lend themselves well to comparative analysis of the integration process of immigrant groups, who are formally part of the collective "self" but increasingly transformed into "others." The book examines the integration of these 'privileged' immigrants in relation to the experiences of other minority groups (e.g. labor migrants, Palestinians). This volume offers rich empirical and theoretical material involving historical developments, demographic changes, sociological problems, anthropological insights, and political implications. Focusing on the three dimensions of citizenship: sovereignty and control, the allocation of social and political rights, and questions of national self-understanding, the essays bring to light the elements that are distinctive for either society but also point to similarities that owe as much to nation-specific characteristics as to evolving patterns of global migration.

""Well documented, but slim and readable, even for general adult readers."" . Choice ."sophisticated and highly informative.The authors and topics are diverse and represent a spectrum of useful progressive thought." . International Migration Review In contrast to most other countries, both Germany and Israel have descent-based concepts of nationhood and have granted members of their nation who wish to immigrate automatic access to their respective citizenship privileges. Which lends to a rich comparative analysis of the integration process of immigrant groups. This volume offers rich empirical and theoretical material involving historical developments, demographic changes, sociological problems, anthropological insights, and political implications. Focusing on the three dimensions of citizenship: sovereignty and control, the allocation of social and political rights, and questions of national self-understanding, the essays bring to light the elements that are distinctive for either society but also point to similarities that owe as much to nation-specific characteristics as to evolving patterns of global migration. Daniel Levy is Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He was previously Research Fellow at Harvard's Center for European Studies. His publications reflect his research interests in the comparative sociology of immigration in Europe and collective memory studies. Yfaat Weiss studied at the Universities of Tel-Aviv and Hamburg and is presently a Senior Lecturer in the Department for Jewish History at Haifa University and Director of the Bucerius Center for Research of Contemporary German History and Society. She has written on Eastern European Jewry in Germany and on Zionism and the State of Israel."

Yfaat Weiss tells the story of an Arab neighborhood in Haifa that later acquired iconic status in Israeli memory. In the summer of 1959, Jewish immigrants from Morocco rioted against local and national Israeli authorities of European origin. The protests of Wadi Salib generated for the first time a kind of political awareness of an existing ethnic discrimination among Israeli Jews. However, before that, Wadi Salib existed as an impoverished Arab neighborhood. The war of 1948 displaced its residents, even though the presence of the absentees and the Arab name still linger.

Weiss investigates the erasure of Wadi Salib's Arab heritage and its emergence as an Israeli site of memory. At the core of her quest lies the concept of property, as she merges the constraints of former Arab ownership with requirements and restrictions pertaining to urban development and the emergence of its entangled memory. Establishing an association between Wadi Salib's Arab refugees and subsequent Moroccan evacuees, Weiss allegorizes the Israeli amnesia about both eventual stories--that of the former Arab inhabitants and that of the riots of 1959, occurring at different times but in one place. Describing each in detail, Weiss uncovers a complex, multilayered, and hidden history. Through her sensitive reading of events, she offers uncommon perspective on the personal and political making of Israeli belonging.

Noch im ersten Drittel des 20. Jahrhunderts unterschied sich das assimilierte deutsche Judentum von den polnischen Juden, die als ethnische Minderheit getrennt von der polnischen Gesellschaft lebten. Mit der Machtubernahme der Nationalsozialisten in Deutschland anderte sich auch das vielfaltige Beziehungsgeflecht zwischen deutschen und polnischen Juden. Yfaat Weiss untersucht diese Beziehungen von der religiosen uber die soziale Ebene bis hin zur Politik internationaler judischer Organisationen und den zionistischen Bestrebungen zur Forderung der Einwanderung nach Palastina. Aus der Presse: "Wie konnte es dazu kommen? Die Antwort ist nicht einfach, sondern sehr komplex. Weiss Arbeit tragt entscheidend dazu bei und sollte unbedingt von allen, die sich fur das Thema interessieren, gelesen werden." Die Mahnung 1.3.2001"

In the wake of the Nazi regime's policies, European Jewish cultural property was dispersed, dislocated, and destroyed. Books, manuscripts, and artworks were either taken by their fleeing owners and were transferred to different places worldwide, or they fell prey to systematic looting and destruction under German occupation. Until today, a significant amount of items can be found in private and public collections in Germany as well as abroad with an unclear or disputed provenance. Contested Heritage. Jewish Cultural Property after 1945 illuminates the political and cultural implications of Jewish cultural property looted and displaced during the Holocaust. The volume includes seventeen essays, accompanied by newly discovered archival material and illustrations, which address a wide range of topics: from the shifting meaning and character of the objects themselves, the so-called object biographies, their restitution processes after 1945, conflicting ideas about their appropriate location, political interests in their preservation, actors and networks involved in salvage operations, to questions of intellectual and cultural transfer processes revolving around the moving objects and their literary resonances. Thus, it offers a fascinating insight into lesser-known dimensions of the aftermath of the Holocaust and the history of Jews in postwar Europe.