ijab.de: Barbara, Efrat, Siegen-Wittgenstein and Emek Hefer are partners. Tell us more about that.
Barbara Friedrich: Our relationship dates back to 1966. It was initiated by a Jewish citizen of Siegen who had advocated for a partnership already in the 1950s. Holocaust survivors had started to settle in Siegen, long before Germany and Israel began to develop diplomatic relations. Our partnership was formally established more than 50 years ago. Siegen-Wittgenstein is a pretty large district and so we have been able to offer a range of exchange activities that has even broadened over the years. The youth centres and youth organisations run six or seven exchanges a year, plus we have expert exchanges and other activities for adults.
Efrat Simmenhausen-Shafran: Not to forget the parliamentary groups that are on the lookout for additional ways to cooperate.
Barbara Friedrich: All these activities are managed by volunteers, some of whose parents already volunteered when they were young. They took part in exchanges in their youth, and now it’s their kids who are travelling to Israel. The foundation for this is a deep friendship that comes straight from the heart. It’s neither intellectual nor logical; these are strong emotional ties.
7 October: “My thoughts went straight to my friends”
ijab.de: There are events where all of us can say with certainty where we were at that moment and what our thoughts were. I imagine that for you, 7 October is one of those events.
Efrat Simmenhausen-Shafran: On that day I was travelling with a group of tourists in the Negev desert and was awakened by the sound of rockets. On my way home I heard the first news reports about the massacres and the hostage-taking. I thought, that’s impossible. They must have gotten it wrong. I simply could not believe it. It was only when I saw the first videos online that I understood the enormity of what was happening. Back in Emek Hefer, I went straight to the city council building. We set up an emergency task force that was staffed around the clock to assist our citizens. We received thousands of requests for help. To this day, our work has not returned to normal levels. We had some very serious cases to resolve: families whose relatives were taken hostage, whose children were killed in Gaza. A woman from our community committed suicide because she felt unable to cope with the situation. Of course we were glued to the news 24/7. And we hosted hundreds of families and communities from the evacuated settlements in southern Israel.
Barbara Friedrich: For me, 7 October was a day like any other until news started coming in online of the massacres. I just could not believe it. I always felt safe in Israel, and now this. My thoughts immediately went to my friends. I felt totally helpless.
ijab.de: Has your partnership helped to overcome that feeling of helplessness?
Barbara Friedrich: It has, but I still feel we are not doing enough. Plus there were all these pro-Palestinian protests, even here in Siegen. I was speechless. Again, I just could not believe it.
Efrat Simmenhausen-Shafran: I was shocked too at the protests. I always thought of Siegen as a safe place, and suddenly there was all this hate. But, wow, we have friends. Soon after 7 October there was a demonstration of solidarity with Israel. I was moved to see all these people and hear them sing Hatikvah, our national anthem. Our mayor received an official letter from the district councillor and the member of parliament for Siegen-Wittgenstein. Our volunteers are sharing their impressions online with their friends in Germany, telling them things they probably don’t even tell their parents. It’s important for them to share. My own communication channels have spiralled out of control. There were days when I had more than 2,000 WhatsApp messages. It was impossible to respond to them all.
How much do people in Germany know about Israel?
Barbara Friedrich: We keep asking ourselves what we can do to help. We organise protests, our young people fill care packages for their friends in Emek Hefer, we talk in schools and with teachers about antisemitism and what can be done to combat it. We also feel it’s important to stay in touch with our friends in Israel. During the pandemic we learned how to use Zoom, which is paying off for us now.
Efrat Simmenhausen-Shafran: It’s important to talk to people in Germany about Israel and about Israeli society. My impression is that they generally don’t know a lot about us. Do they know that Israeli Arabs exist? That there are many religions in Israel? There is an Arab village close to where I live, and I feel safe going there. For Hamas these Arabs represent the enemy because they live and work in Israel. It’s important to have discussion events to teach people about life in Israel. Emek Hefer is on the border with the West Bank; Israel is just 15 km wide at this point. What is it like living on the border? For the first time, I feel unsafe. We are within earshot of military operations, we can hear gunfire and bombs going off. It is a very fragile situation and our friends in Siegen are showing more empathy with us than some Israelis who live in safer areas.
Barbara Friedrich: Safety is always a concern when organising exchanges with Israel. On 7 October, a girl from Siegen was still in Emek Hefer and it was not easy to bring her home. Austria responded more promptly and managed to get Austrian citizens out on a flight. Germany did not do so.
Efrat Simmenhausen-Shafran: It wasn’t just Germany; I also heard complaints about the British Embassy. I think a lot of governments were slow to grasp the urgency of the situation, which led to a delayed response.
“We’re naïve, but we’re creative”
ijab.de: What are your plans for the future? Of course, youth exchanges are currently impossible. When do you think you might be able to offer one again?
Efrat Simmenhausen-Shafran: This may sound foolish, but I am optimistic. I hope the situation will have normalised by the summer. We have several exchanges in the pipeline and are waiting for the summer. Besides, the situation in Germany is safe; we’re just waiting for our government to give us the go-ahead.
Barbara Friedrich: We‘re naïve, but we’re creative. We want to allow the kids to travel. After all, they couldn’t do any of that during the pandemic. We’re ready to go – obviously respecting all the rules around safeguarding.
This interview was made possible in cooperation with ConAct - Coordination Center for German-Israeli Youth Exchange.
