Reports

On Sunday, January 19, the sixth edition of the “Choosing a Jewish School” fair, launched in 2019 by Elodie Marciano, was held in Paris. In 2023, K. had already devoted an article to this event, which has shaken up the institutional world and has become an unmissable meeting place for the entire ecosystem of French Jewish education and youth. One year and three months after October 7, we decided to go back, curious and concerned about the effects of the current climate on the youngest. Between the stands of the youth movements and the large school complexes, the images of the hostage release were on a loop against a background of Am Israel Chai – let’s follow the guide!

What has happened to Odessa, once dubbed the “Star of Exile” by Isaac Babel, since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Joseph Roche gives us his account of how the Jewish community is trying to survive there, despite the war and the departures.

The German federal elections – which will take place this Sunday, February 23, 2025 – are of decisive importance for the future of Europe. With this in mind, Monty Ott delivers for K. an investigation into the history of the AfD, which is growing strongly. Now supported by Trump and Musk, and championing Russian interests, since its creation about ten years ago this party has undergone a process of radicalization leading it towards increasingly anti-European and far-right positions. A dive into the networks and ideology of German sovereignism.

Our K. editorial team continues their reports from Israel with Julia Christ and Elie Petit. After their account of the demonstration for the release of the hostages on Saturday May 4, 2024, this time they attended a Yom Hazikaron ceremony with one question in mind: how does this eve of the “Remembrance Day for Israeli War Victims and Victims of Actions of Terrorism” differ from all the others?

Gabriel Rom continues his report on how Polish cemeteries have become an increasingly sensitive issue in Polish society over the years. With the emergence of a dictable, albeit contested or revised, Jewish memory, Rom examines the history of Nazi and Polish policies to destroy Jewish cemeteries. Yet, he is also astonished by local initiatives to recreate them, suggesting the beginnings of a sense of history.

Two members of the K. editorial team, Julia Christ and Élie Petit, are currently in Israel to document and analyze the various movements underway in the country, post-October 7 – the war in Gaza is still going on and an agreement is in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas for the cessation of fighting and the release of hostages. First stop on their journey this week: on their first evening in Tel Aviv, they took part in one of the weekly anti-Netanyahu demonstrations, guided by producer Karen Belz. They report their impressions and first analysis.

Poland once had more than 1,500 Jewish cemeteries. Since Poland’s current Jewish population is estimated at 10,000. The math is stark: today in Poland there is about one Jewish cemetery for every 15 living Polish Jews. In the report — which we are publishing in two parts — American journalist Gabriel Rom tells us about both the virtuous initiatives to preserve these cemeteries and the vicious policies of exploitation to which they are subjected.

In this “Postcard from Suriname” Anshel Pfeffer regales us with the little known story of the Jewish community of Suriname. Born out of migration and colonialism, to becoming an isolated, autonomous active community in the 18th and 19th century, this is the story of a Jewish state that could have been and never was.

How can we understand South Africa’s determination to accuse Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice? Howard Sackstein, a founding member of the Jewish Anti-Apartheid Movement, looks back in this text at the country’s deteriorating political and economic context, the ANC’s bankruptcies and the way it is trying to restore its image and fill its coffers by acting as a mouthpiece for global anti-Zionism. Against the backdrop of these political maneuvers, the uncertain future of the South African Jewish community looms large.