Tuvia Tenenbom - I Sleep in Hitlers Room: An American Jew Visits Germany

Copyright 2011 by Tuvia Tenenbom

The Jewish Theater of New York

POB 845, Times Square Sta.

New York, NY 10108

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-0-9839399-2-4

Irresistibly fascinating... emotionally explosive... seductive... engaging... very effective humor.The New York Times

Every word that comes out of Tenenboms pen can set the world on fire.YiddishForward

A mystical provocateur; unstoppable.Le Monde (France)

Tenenboms hodgepodge of politics, zealotry and literary genres is fresh and audacious.The Village Voice

Brilliant.The Jewish Week

Dazzling... A free artist who fights for truth and tolerance.Le Vif LExpress (Belgium)

Tenenboms laughter touches our soul in places where mere intellect could never reach.Die Zeit (Germany)

One of the most iconoclastic and innovative of contemporary dramatists.Corriere Della Sera (Italy)

He resembles the late German stage and film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. But where Fassbinder blackly brooded, Tenenbom crackles and shoots off sparks.Lifestyle

Tenenbom dares.La Razn (Spain)

Tuvia Tenenbom is a political dramatist and journalist. His articles and essays have been published in newspapers including Die Zeit of Germany, Corriere della Sera of Italy, and Yedioth Ahronoth of Israel as well as on various internet sites. Tuvia, who holds advanced degrees in both fine arts and science, is also the founder and artistic director of The Jewish Theater of New York.

This book is dedicated to my wife, Isi Tenenbom, who joined me along for the ride, snapped close to 2,000 photos along the way, lovingly comforted me when the going was tough, and shared in the laughter when it was all done.

The Germans, I am apt to believe, derive their original from no other people.

Tacitus

If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.

Albert Einstein

My debt of gratitude to the many people, institutions, and companies for their help during the different stages of my journey:

The people of Die Zeit who guided me as I started out:

Helmut Schmidt, former chancellor of Germany; Giovanni di Lorenzo, editor in chief; Dr. Christof Siemes, culture reporter; Peter Kmmel, chief drama critic; Jens Jessen, culture editor; Evelyn Finger, Belief & Doubt editor.

Stanislaw Tillich, prime minister of Saxony; Kai Diekmann, editor in chief of the most-read European daily, Bild; the popular comedian and pianist Helge Schneider; Adolf Sauerland, mayor of Duisburg; the journalist and activist Peter Scholl-Latourto name just a few.

The various tourist-information offices around the country who facilitated my free stay in hotels and eateries; the directors and managers of institutions who personally accompanied me into their treasures; the managers of the luxurious Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof in Frankfurt, Excelsior Hotel Ernst in Cologne, and Hotel Elephant in Weimar, among others; various leading politicians and activists of the right, left, and center; celebrated leaders of culture; various economists; bosses of industry, including Volkswagen and Mercedes; priests, pastors, rabbis, and heroin addicts; high-school students who warmly welcomed me into their classes and life; the Turkish community of Marxloh, including the imam of Germanys biggest mosque. Thanks go also to all those in between, including Germanys poor and forlorn in cities and farms across the land, as well as its richest on the island of Sylt. And for the many, too many to mention, who gracefully opened for me the door to their homes and the gate to their souls.

Deserving special mention are Michael Eberth, who fought and still fights for this book, for his loyalty and boundless intelligence, and Isa Lowy, my mother-in-law, who wasand isalways there for me.

From Rowohlts publicity campaign for this book before it was censored.

Original title in German:

Ich bin Deutschland:Eine Entdeckungsreise

Events in this book span 2009 through 2011.

Journey in Germany: May through September 2010.

Not all people interviewed, or cities visited, have made it to this book. Those who are in this book are fair representations of those met and interviewed.

Order of appearance is chronological, unless otherwise stated. Specific date, day, hour, minute, or second not mentioned. This is not a work of fiction.

When used in interviews, quotation marks in this book indicate exact quotes by interviewees.

Interviews contained herein were recorded, filmed, or done in the presence of at least one witness. When none of these conditions existed, relevant pages were approved by the source before publication. On the occasions when interviewees requested their authorization before publication, their written authorizations were properly secured. In addition, supporting evidentiary materials were accumulated. Email correspondence, when applicable, was preserved. Nearly two thousand pictures were taken.

Table of Locations

Chapter 1: New York

Chapter 2: Rome

Chapter 3: Hamburg

Chapter 4: Neumnster

Chapter 5: Hamburg

Chapter 6: Wolfsburg

Chapter 7: Munich (Mnchen), Berlin

Chapter 8: Berlin

Chapter 9: Suburb of Hamburg

Chapter 10: Hamburg, Munich, Oberammergau, Schwangau

Chapter 11: Munich, Dachau

Chapter 12: Munich, Nrnberg, Coburg

Chapter 13: Tbingen, Black Forest, Stuttgart

Chapter 14: Frankfurt, Nauheim, Butzbach

Chapter 15: Berlin

Chapter 16: Berlin, Dortmund

Chapter 17: Duisburg, Dortmund, Mlheim, Dsseldorf.

Chapter 18: Duisburg (Marxloh)

Chapter 19: Kln

Chapter 20: Weimar

Chapter 21: Buchenwald, Weimar

Chapter 22: Leipzig

Chapter 23: Dresden, Meien, Grlitz, Zgorzelec (Poland)

Chapter 24: Hamburg

Chapter 25: Sylt, Denmark

This book was scheduled to be in German bookstores in April of 2011. It never got there.

It was advertised by Rowohlt, one of the biggest and most powerful publishing companies in Germany, as an up-and-coming title on its 2011 list, as a best seller.

It never got there, best seller or not.

Alexander Fest, head of Rowohlt, made sure of that. This book, he told me, would be published only if I agreed to tone it down. He had a plan, a simple plan: Cut or change the most revealing parts. Why? Well, there are things that are better kept secret. No, he didnt phrase it like that. He used harsher words. Words like Your book is deplorably undercomplex [sic] and uninformed. What was so bad about it?