Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus "KEINHEIMISCH"

In the organizer's words:

TOMER DOTAN-DREYFUS

KEINHEIMISCH (Ullstein)

Reading & talk

"It seems as if I know all the plants in this country, but never their roots." "Sabres" is the Hebrew name for cactus fruits, which are prickly on the outside but surprise with their sweet flesh on the inside. This is exactly how many Jews born in Israel see themselves: Their ancestors not only settled the desert of Palestine, but cultivated the land, they believe. But more and more dark colors are blending into this picture since the Jewish state has been acting as an occupying state. What is it like to grow up in a country where Jewish hegemony represses, excludes and silences the Arab population? And where can a Jew be indigenous today - in Israel, Palestine, Germany?

Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus writes the story of his family, overshadowed by the Holocaust, and at the same time questions the history of Israel's founding. His grandfather took part in the Nakba, but the expulsion of the Palestinians was later told as a "liberation". What role did his grandfather really play in 1948? In Keinheimisc , childhood memories merge with reflections on history, literature and politics. A touching story about stories and the question of how much we can trust them.

Dotan-Dreyfus grew up in Haifa, Israel, and has lived in Berlin as an author and translator since 2011. He writes regularly about Israel and Palestine as well as anti-Semitism in Germany. His articles appear in Süddeutsche Zeitung, taz and Berliner Zeitung, among others. His first novel Birobidschan (Voland & Quist) was longlisted for the German Book Prize 2023.

(Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus is presented by AKID أكيد)