For a year and a half, Rabbi William Wolff and photographer Manuela Koska-Jäger documented the life of the Jewish community in Schwerin, West Pomerania.
He is the rabbi of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern community. She is a German Christian photographer, who met the rabbi by chance and followed him as he visited different stations in his life as a Holocaust survivor, up to his current work in post-war Germany.
The journey led to an exhibition and a book, "Abraham war Optimist," which recently arrived in Israel .
The exhibition opened at the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa last Wednesday, sponsored by German Ambassador to Israel Andreas Michaelis. The opening was attended by Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Justice and Culture Minister Uta-Maria Kuder, Rabbi Wolff and Manuela Koska-Jäger.
From the exhibition (Photo: Manuela Koska-Jäger)
There are three Jewish communities in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern area, comprised of more than 100,000 Jews. Both the ambassador and minister noted at the opening that they consider the Jews and the renewed communities in Germany an integral part of German culture.
Dani Fesler, CEO and principal of the Leo Baeck Education Center, noted in his address that "we must educate a generation which believes in a dialogue and understanding. We must remember where we came from, but also believe in our ability to make a difference.
"The exhibition stresses normalcy and gives the feeling that life can go on."
The exhibition will be displayed at the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa for the next two months.