Die deutsche Sprache bei der 1. und 2. Generation deutschsprachiger Emigranten in Israel

Based on about 250 narrative interviews, the article describes the language biographies and cultural identities of Jewish emigrants from German speaking countries in Israel, 60 years after the cultural break of Nazi persecution. It focuses on the influence of external factors (like family-background in Europe, forms of settlement, partnerships, friends, jobs etc. in the new surroundings) on the acquisition of Hebrew and the maintenance of a mostly very educated and correct German in the 1st generation. Additional analyses illustrate the interdependence of language attitudes and abilities in the 2nd generation, who often acquired German as children in the family, but were ashamed of it during their adolescence.