Page - 166 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 1/2015

166 Mobile culture Studies. The Journal 1 2o15 David Jünger | On board of life Jewish collective. The ship itself seemed to be something like a stage, on which the future of the Jewish people had its dress rehearsal. The Jewish homeland was in the making and the Jews had to prove that they were worthy to be called the Jewish people. Thus, the passengers suspi- ciously watched their fellow travelers, argued about Judaism, Zionism and many other topics and tried to balance their mixed feelings towards the admired and at the same time disgusted East European Jews. More confusing, however, was still the prospect of Eretz Israel, the holy land, that they came closer day by day. What was this land, which was in the first place only the profane Man- date Palestine? They knew the holy land from prayers, text books and songs but they did not know so much about the land they were about to enter in a couple of days. Moreover, questions arose what the personal connection was to the holiness of the land, or at least to the profane soil of it. They knew so much about it but did not know anything. They were so strongly connec- ted to it but had never been there before. It was part of their being as Jews but nothing of their being as German Jewish individuals. With the increasing confusion about their connections to the holy land, Eretz Israel, Palestine also their confusion increased about their selves. What are they, what is Jewish about them and what is the connection between the glory of Jewish history and the misery of daily life under worsening conditions not only in Germany but in whole Europe? confusion is the word that most accurately describes the dominant feeling that came to the fore in most of these thoughts and reflections by German Jewish travelers on their way to Pale- stine. These personal confusions reflect the general confusion about the connection between Jewish past, present andå future. That this connection was about to disintegrate was a common fear in Europe of the 1930s. On the ship passage to Palestine, in the personal reflections of ordinary German Jews this dilemma of Jewish existence in the modern world can be traced in miniature as well as in its almost pure form. Authors affiliation Dr. des. David Jünger, Zentrum Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg, Sophienstrasse 22a, D – 10178 Berlin d.juenger @ zentrum-juedische-studien.de Extended Abstract of: David Jünger, ‘An Bord des Lebens. Die Schiffspassage deutscher Juden nach Palästina 1933 bis 1938 als Übergangserfahrung zwischen Raum und Zeit’, Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 1, 2015. <http://unipub.uni-graz.at/mcsj>