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An astonishing history of wartime Berlin that reads like a thriller
Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945
Ian Buruma
Penguin Press, 400 pages, $35
World War II Berlin had its share of fanatical Nazis, along with a handful of courageous resisters. But it is the people navigating between these two moral poles that seem to interest Ian Buruma the most — those trying, against the odds, to remain “decent in a criminal state.”
It’s an idea that surfaces repeatedly in this wonderful book, whose title, Stay Alive, embodies the era’s other imperative. By 1943, Berlin was suffering mightily under Allied bombardment. Food, fuel and housing were growing scarcer. Civilians were spending nights and eventually days, too, underground. Facing annihilation, the regime was executing its own citizens for desertion, dissent or “defeatism.” In lieu of Heil Hitler or simply auf Wiedersehen, Buruma writes, Berliners commonly greeted one another with the admonition Bleiben Sie übrig (stay alive).
This detail was new to me, one of many small revelations in this immersive chronological account of a capital city in the vise of both Nazi tyranny and wartime privations. Buruma’s impressionistic cultural and social history touches on government propaganda, escapist cinema, the dilemmas of Germany’s artistic class, the courtroom dignity of Hitler’s opponents, the rigors of life in the bunkers, the desperation of the city’s last remaining Jews, and more. Stay Alive manages to be at once panoramic and intimate, dispassionate and deeply moving. It reads much like a thriller, albeit one where the ending is never in doubt.
With short, punchy sentences, Buruma, a chaired professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College and a prolific author, stitches together a variety of first-person sources to depict the city’s evolving routines and attitudes. Some, such as the journalist William Shirer’s Berlin Diary and the Berlin Diaries of the Russian aristocrat Marie “Missie” Vassiltchikov, are familiar. Others, including the recollections and correspondence of Buruma’s own father, Leo Buruma, a Dutch forced laborer in the city from 1943 to 1945, are unique or surprising.
It was his father’s wartime letters home, written cautiously to elude Nazi censorship and avoid causing his parents anxiety, that inspired the book, Buruma says. Leo, who had been a law student, worked at a brake and machine gun factory, enduring vile living conditions, limited food and, as the Third Reich’s fortunes turned, the threat of death from Allied bombs. But he was not entirely a prisoner. For a while, he was able to enjoy some of the city’s cultural life and even pursue a romance with a Ukrainian forced laborer. Seven years after the war, he would marry a Jewish woman, Ian Buruma’s mother.
Two themes play out in Stay Alive. The first is Buruma’s consideration of the range of reactions and moral choices, from the bravest to the most craven, provoked by an immoral regime. “Not everyone is cut out to be a hero; and even heroes are not always morally pure,” he writes. “Compromises come with a price, however, some of which are more acceptable than others.”
The German officers and others involved in coup attempts against Hitler had varying degrees of involvement in the Nazi regime. Some had led the war effort; others were conservative nationalists, abhorring the Third Reich but still loyal to Germany. When it came to Berlin’s Jews, a minority of Berliners protested their treatment or offered protection. Far more looked away, or worse, as their neighbors disappeared. Many German actors, musicians and others — including Berlin Philharmonic conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler — swallowed their ideological objections to keep performing.
Buruma’s second narrative thread traces the disintegration of the city, from a thriving cultural redoubt to a battered hellscape, and the responses of its resilient but ultimately despairing residents. Buruma makes the somewhat questionable claim that terror bombing in itself failed to shatter morale. But, certainly, morale collapsed as German defeat appeared inevitable, and Nazi images and insignia were consigned to the flames.
From 1941 up until the war’s end, most of Berlin’s Jewish population was deported to concentration camps and murdered. Some Jews chose a dangerous, peripatetic underground existence instead. Among these “U-boats” was Marie Jalowicz, a lawyer’s daughter, whose ordeals Buruma describes. In her case, as well as others, shelter sometimes required sexual transactions. When the lecherous husband of a woman offering refuge showed up at her bedside, Buruma recounts, Jalowicz pragmatically “let him have his way.”
Jewish spouses in “mixed” marriages to non-Jews and the Mischlinge, generally children of such marriages, mostly escaped deportation. Buruma interviewed one such Mischling, Horst Selbiger, detained in 1943 with other Mischlinge and Jewish spouses in a former welfare office for Jews on Rosenstrasse. The wives of the Jewish detainees (and some others) famously gathered in protest, called out for their husbands’ release and refused to leave. The prisoners were eventually freed – a rare instance of successful public protest in Nazi Germany (or of any public protest at all).
Buruma also tracked down other Germans, in their 80s and 90s, who recollect childhood under siege in Berlin. Jörg Sonnabend, an ex-engineer, remembers a semblance of normal life, succeeded by a fear of British bombers. He, like Buruma’s father and other survivors, was left with lifelong post-traumatic stress disorder.
In the end, neither Nazi triumphalism, willed ignorance nor moral scruples proved a match for Allied firepower. And surrender brought no immediate relief. As many as 100,000 Berlin women and girls were raped by Soviet soldiers, Buruma reports, including Marie Jalowicz. Widespread hunger was calamitous, but the postwar situation rapidly improved.
One of Buruma’s messages is about the dangers of conformity, “the temptation to look away.” But he also describes Stay Alive as a love letter to Berlin, which in recent decades has become a potent memorial landscape. “The city itself is a monument,” he writes, “not only to man’s blackest depravity, but to its capacity to be reborn and live again.”
The post An astonishing history of wartime Berlin that reads like a thriller appeared first on The Forward.
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Contributor to Drop Site News Says Israelis Should ‘Be Removed From Our Planet’
Abubaker Abed reporting from Gaza. Photo: Screenshot
Abubaker Abed, a self-described Palestinian journalist and contributor to the far-left news outlet Drop Site News, has come under intense scrutiny following the circulation of social media posts in which he called for the “wiping out” of Israel and said that Israelis “mustn’t feel safe.”
The remarks, which quickly spread across multiple online platforms, have prompted widespread condemnation and renewed skepticism over the credibility and coverage of Drop Site News, a controversial publication fiercely critical of Israel and US foreign policy in the Middle East.
“Wiping out Israel off the planet is not enough revenge. Israelis mustn’t feel safe anymore. Haunt them and go after them where they go. These terrorist parasites must be removed from our planet,” Abed posted on an Instagram story.
Drop Site co-founder Ryan Grim responded to the incident by clarifying that Abed’s comments do not reflect the editorial position or institutional stance of his publication. Grim, a far-left investigative reporter who has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza, did not condemn the statements by Abed.
“We also are never going to police the language of anyone who survived a genocide,” Grim posted on X.
Abed, a social media influencer from Gaza who evacuated to Ireland during the Israel-Hamas war, has previously suggested that attacks on Jewish institutions might be justified if they signal support for Israel.
Following the recent attack on the Temple Beth Israel Synagogue in Michigan, Abed resurfaced a photo from the synagogue featuring an Israel soldier. Abed wrote that the attempted mass casualty event was justified because the assailant defended himself.
“A person is not criminally responsible if they act reasonably to defend themselves against an imminent and unlawful use of force,” Abed wrote in a since-deleted post on X. “Israel murdered his relatives and is illegally bombing and invading his country.”
The FBI said last week that the attack on the largest Jewish temple in Michigan was an “act of terrorism” inspired by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group committed to Israel’s destruction.
Drop Site, a new media organization which debuted in July 2024, has found itself under immense criticism over its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the broader Middle East. The outlet has consistently characterized Israel as a “genocidal” aggressor stoking chaos and violence throughout the region.
Meanwhile, Drop Site depicts internationally recognized terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in a far more favorable light. Drop Site lead reporter Jeremy Scahill routinely refers to Hamas as “the resistance” and has given softball interviews to Hamas leaders.
Drop Site has also defended the Iranian regime from accusations of terrorism, asserting that Tehran’s goals “center on national sovereignty.” The site contends that Iran has “sought to project influence regionally through allied governments and forces (Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthi, Iraqi Militants, etc.) what’s often called the ‘Axis of Resistance.’”
Some observers have raised alarm bells over the outlet’s growing popularity among establishment mainstream liberals. Ben Rhodes, a former Obama administration official and co-host of the popular “Pod Save America” podcast, has praised the outlet on his social media profile and confirmed he is a subscriber.
Drop Site’s expanding influence does not seem to be confined to left-wing or liberal ideological circles. Right-wing media personality Mike Cernovich contended on X that young conservatives are increasingly reading Drop Site “for Israel news.” Joe Kent, the former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, over the weekend reposted a Drop Site article pushing Iranian regime propaganda falsely claiming the US was actually trying to kill a downed American airman — just hours before he was dramatically rescued.
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Frankfurt cinema declines to participate in Jewish film festival, spurring backlash
(JTA) — A Frankfurt cinema’s decision not to participate in the local Jewish film festival is spurring allegations of antisemitism, even as its manager says the move was financial.
The Jewish Community of Frankfurt announced last week that the Astor Film Lounge did not wish to host movies during Jewish Film Days this year. The cinema, it said, had cited its workers’ reluctance to staff movies that are part of the biennial festival, as well as concerns about the security required to host Jewish events.
“The decision unequivocally signifies that Jewish life, Jewish people, and a Jewish media presence are no longer welcome at the Astor Film Lounge,” the community said in a statement.
“This line of reasoning is not only disappointing, but sends a devastating societal signal: If Jewish life and Jewish presence are suppressed out of fear of potential reactions, then this effectively amounts to a capitulation to antisemitic pressure,” the statement continued. “The fact that Jewish life can only take place under police protection is already shameful. That this necessity for police protection is now being used as a pretext to completely prevent Jewish events is a scandal.”
But the cinema’s managing director, Tom Flebbe, contested the Jewish Community of Frankfurt’s interpretation of events. In a statement cited in a leading local newspaper, he said the theater had withdrawn this year for economic reasons, as only 40 to 50 guests had come to screenings last year.
Flebbe said a lower-level manager had made unauthorized and inaccurate remarks about security concerns.
“Economic viability is a legitimate and necessary basis for business decisions — regardless of the thematic context of an event,” Flebbe said, adding that other joint projects with the Jewish community will continue as planned.
“The ASTOR Film Lounge MyZeil views Jewish life as a natural and welcome part of this society,” the statement concluded. “The decision against participating in the 2026 Jewish Film Days is not against Jewish people, Jewish culture, or Jewish presence. It is the result of a careful consideration of economic factors. We regret that our reasoning has been interpreted in this way and stand by our decision.”
During the 2024 festival, a half-dozen venues hosted screenings as part of Jewish Film Days. The Astor Film Lounge hosted one screening, of the film “March ’68,” a love story set during the Polish government’s antisemitic campaign following Israel’s Six-Day War.
Film festivals have emerged as a frontier for tensions over Israel and antisemitism. Germany’s largest film festival, the Berlinale, was roiled by tensions this year as its jury head fended off calls to criticize Israel. A major Toronto film festival, meanwhile, ruffled feathers last year by first canceling and then screening a documentary about the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. And a Jewish film festival was canceled in Malmo, Sweden, last year because too few cinemas would agree to show movies for it.
Flebbe’s explanation for why Astor Film Lounge would not participate in this year’s Jewish Film Days did not satisfy everyone who heard it. The Berlin-based German-Jewish Values Initiative, a non-partisan think tank, in an open letter called the economic justification a “mere pretext.”
“To the best of our knowledge, the Jewish Community of Frankfurt was prepared to guarantee a minimum revenue” for the film festival, the letter said. By apparently giving in to “threats and antisemitic pressure,” it added, the cinema has capitulated “to the very forces seeking to drive Jews out of the public sphere.”
The post Frankfurt cinema declines to participate in Jewish film festival, spurring backlash appeared first on The Forward.
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Israeli, Serbian leaders denounce antisemitic statements at Belgrade protest
(JTA) — Israeli and Serbian officials are denouncing antisemitic comments made by demonstrators during a clash between Serbian students and police at a protest last week.
“Death to Vučić and all the Jews around him,” one protester said in a televised interview, referring to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. “Long live Serbia.”
The protest last Tuesday marked the latest flashpoint in a series of anti-government protests that have erupted across the country over the past year after 16 people died in an accident at a railway station in November 2024. Hundreds of students participated in the protest, which came as Serbian police searched the offices of the University of Belgrade as part of an investigation into the death of a female student. The school’s leadership claimed that the investigation was an “attack on the university” for its support for the student-led protest movement.
Serbia and Israel first established diplomatic relations in 1948, and Vučić told the Jerusalem Post last year that the country “will always appreciate, respect, and like the Jewish people and Israel.”
Nemanja Starović, the Serbian minister of European integration and the chair of Serbia’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, called on the protest leaders to “unambiguously condemn these antisemitic incidents and to immediately remove all antisemitic messages and slogans from university premises.”
“On multiple occasions over the past months, we have warned about the widespread antisemitic ideology within the so-called blockade movement at universities in Serbia,” Starović wrote in a post on X. “Ignoring this dangerous threat has allowed it to escalate into open calls for murder, which now appear as a logical and inevitable outcome.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned the demonstrator’s comments in a post on X.
“Israel strongly condemns the reprehensible antisemitic calls made yesterday in Belgrade,” the post read. “Israel appreciates the Serbian government’s immediate condemnation of these calls and its firm and consistent stance in the fight against antisemitism.”
Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Israel Office and Eastern European Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, also condemned the antisemitic rhetoric in a Times of Israel op-ed.
“One gets the impression that this is a politically motivated to harm President Aleksandar Vučić, who has close ties with the State of Israel, key Jewish organizations such as AIPAC and the Serbian Jewish community,” Zuroff wrote. “That is completely unacceptable! If these things are not stopped, they will end up in dangerous violence, and therefore cannot be ignored.”
The controversy over the protest comes as antisemitism has surged in Europe in recent years. Last September, Serbia arrested 11 individuals accused of perpetrating hate-motivated acts in France and Germany, including throwing green paint on the Holocaust Museum, several synagogues and a Jewish restaurant in Paris.
The post Israeli, Serbian leaders denounce antisemitic statements at Belgrade protest appeared first on The Forward.