- [Narrator] 19 year old Semon Shabaev is part of a vibrant Jewish community in Germany.

Despite his country's dark history of genocide and a rise in antisemitism, he embraces his German Jewish identity.

- [Semon] They consider it's my duty to pass on our traditions to the next generation.

- [Narrator] Mentored by filmmaker Anja Baron, Semon shines light on how Germany is addressing its past and how his generation looks to the future.

[pensive percussion music] - [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by... Additional funding by... - The first thing anyone ever asks me when they find out I'm Jewish is, "You're Jewish and you live in Berlin, "Germany of all places?"

All young Jews in Germany have a really big task because we are the people that must tell other people from other countries why we're living in Germany.

Why we're living in this place where we was killed by the Germans.

It has always been a dream of mine to show Jewish life in modern day Berlin, navigating the past while living in the present.

My name is Semon Shabaev.

I'm 19 years old and I'm a young Jew from Berlin, Germany.

From an early age on I was taught to respect my elders and to love and honor my Jewish faith.

- [speaking in foreign language] - [Semon] Because of our Jewish faith, my father decided to leave the former Soviet Union and had to choose between the US, Israel, and Germany.

- [speaking in foreign language] - [Semon] He decided to go to Germany, even despite Germany's dark past.

He believed in the country and he also believed in the opportunity he would get to start a new life here in Germany.

The family is the most important thing to me.

They help me to become this person who I am today.

My mother is not only my mother, she's my best friend too.

[melancholy piano music] Anna is my sister and she's almost like a twin.

She's only one year younger.

She's my better half.

I love her so much.

She's also very creative.

Plays the piano and composes her own pieces.

- Being a Jew in Germany offers a lot of opportunities.

I can live my Jewish personality and I can show that I'm Jewish.

I'm proud to be Jewish.

It's important to keep the Jewish roots because we are a nation and we've been going through so much.

Despite this hard history and this hard time we've been going through, we've built up a big community.

- [Semon] I think that life gives you two families.

One you are born with and the other one you choose by yourself.

Jakob is my best friend.

Anna, he, and I are kind of inseparable.

Every time, if you look at the picture I'm always smile, but my sister not.

[Semon laughing] I smile and you're not.

- [Anna] But here I'm smiling.

- Yeah, yeah, because I'm not here.

[both laughing] I wanted to include Jacob and Anna in this film because together we not only represent the younger generation of German Jews, but each of us plays different aspects to the heart of stone in a way that no one person can because the subject really is bigger than all of us.

[melancholy folk music] I was always very shy and introverted.

I started building walls around me to protect myself, but when I was 11 years old I joined a group of Jewish youngsters who invited me to visit the Jewish youth center.

Being with other Jewish kids every Sunday helped me feel more self-confident.

So today I wanted to introduce our Jewish youth center called Olam, where we get together every Sunday.

Olam has played an important part of my life.

Why is Olam important?

- We give possibilities to the kids here that they don't get every day because not every Jewish child is in a Jewish elementary school or a Jewish high school and we give them the possibility every Sunday to learn something about Judaism, to meet new Jewish friends, to learn something about history, about Jewish traditions.

I personally find the youth center, it's one of the most important departments of the Jewish community in Berlin.

The kids that come here become later members of the board of the Jewish community, principals and teachers in the schools, and some of them also go to the Israeli army.

It all begins in Olam.

- [Semon] Today I work as madrich or a youth guide.

I see myself not so much as a teacher, but as a big brother and I consider it my duty to guide these young people and to pass on our traditions to the next generation.

What will we celebrate next week?

Yes.

- I celebrate the Yom Ha'atzmaut.

It's the independence of Israel.

- Right, and how do we celebrate this?

- Um?

- Yeah!

- I will go to the synagogue and we celebrate like the birthday of Israel.

- Right, Yom Ha'atzmaut is the birthday of Israel.

Okay, guys, thank you for your attention and we go eat something, right?

[speaking in foreign language] Today we interview Rabbi Joshua Spinner.

He's been living and working in Berlin for almost 20 years and really knows all about the Jewish community here.

I have a lot of questions for him.

- There's no question that there's been a resurgence or even a renaissance of Jewish life in Berlin.

And there were a number of things that Germany undertook and one of those things was a commitment to rebuilding Jewish life.

It seemed to me that Germany has done a significant job in trying to come to terms with the past and in trying to ensure that it, not its Jews, but it is fundamentally different.

So if you ask me, you know, am I concerned about antisemitism in Germany today in a way that it affects my life now?

No.

In a way that it may affect my life in 10 or 20 years and put a question mark over this entire project then?

Yes, definitely.

The people who feel today German and Jewish are not making a claim that they are German Jews, they're making a claim that they are German and Jewish and these things are not contradictory or they are comfortable with both.

So it's kind of a new thing.

Of course, living in Germany, things, tragedies that happened more recently but also the important and exciting and positive things that happened in Germany and in Europe over the thousand years of the history of Jewish people here, an unbelievable intellectual history.

The amount of scholarship of the Torah that took place in this country is astounding.

From the 11th century straight through till shortly before the Second World War and the Holocaust.

Right, from a German perspective perhaps what's extraordinary is that some level of forgiveness has been possible and some level of change has been possible and that there is a different country today than the one that existed before and that enough Jews feel comfortable living here, certainly relative to other places in the world, that they do live here.

That's one piece of history.

From the Jewish perspective what's extraordinary is that almost it's a mirror image of that, is the incredible resilience of our people.

The importance of being here, not for German society, but for the rest of Jewish society is such a clear and compelling sense of mission and purpose that it outweighs any of the insecurities.

When the room here, and the children here, look and act and sing and engage and observe just like Jewish kids in London, just like Jewish kids in New York, that matters, that's important.

[group singing in foreign language] - [Semon] In Berlin, you can never escape the past.

Past and present always live side by side.

- [Jakob] Here was once the Berlin Wall.

Right there.

You can see it actually on the slide, see?

- [Semon] For me it's important to do a tour of historical Jewish sites.

The sites are a good way for people to honor the fate of millions of Jewish people who died during World War II and there's no better person to take us around than Jakob.

Jakob is like an expert in all things German and Jewish.

[melancholy violin music] To me it's important to know the history of our country.

We all know about the past, especially national socialism.

Because it's so important to remember this time, there are monuments everywhere.

- [Anna] Standing here, it's just a horrible feeling.

And I think about it, that the stones symbolize the dead people, I get goose bumps.

- [Jakob] When you walks through the lane and you see this memorial, when you look up you see the American flag on its embassy and when you look straight you see the German flag on the Reichstag.

You can see actually the whole German history of the past 80 years.

This is a very emotional place.

It's in the center of Berlin.

It's in the heart of Germany.

It's a part of Europe, it's reminding us always of the worst genocide in the history happened in last century, here in Germany.

[melancholy violin music] - [Semon] Between 1941 and 1945, track 17, which was once a regular freight track and part of the Grunewald station in Berlin, became the train track from which Jews were deported to concentration camps in Eastern Europe, including Auschwitz.

In October 1991, the track was turned into a memorial site.

The steps up to the tracks are the very same steps taken by those who were brought here to be deported.

- We're here in Grunewald, a borough where there is a lot of Jewish people but there used to be even more Jewish people.

They will literally taken from their homes, from their home train station to the last days of their lives.

[melancholy piano music] - [Semon] The grounds you walk on is the ground my people walked on.

It's an eerie feeling.

- You know, for the people here, it used to be also just a common and just a normal place.

It's where they came to catch a train to take a trip somewhere.

It was something completely daily.

From one day to another.

The change, the Holocaust.

Today this is a train station as it used to be, except for this platform which is part of the German remembrance culture.

That you shall never forget what happened in the past.

It's undoubtedly true that there is a rise of antisemitism in the present day.

Thank God, I don't experience it personally but it's still an important matter we have to face.

- We must understand what is antisemitism.

- I think the people always need a victim group or group who are weaker than themself.

- Minorities?

- Yes, it's always a minority.

- The people think about Jewish people, they're so rich.

The people, the people...

The world is ours.

- [Jakob] So you can see what all this antisemitism can lead to actually.

We're sitting on a place like this where the antisemitic people, army, guns, and power started not only to discriminate, but to kill.

- [Semon] I was born in this country as a German and a Jew.

It is important to me to show how this country's dealing with its dark past and not just to put silent memorials but actively remembering the dead.

It is Holocaust Remembrance Day and it's a gray, dark January day.

The concentration camp is exactly 60 minutes from my home.

80 years ago, a few miles away from Berlin, people were murdered in the worst possible ways because of their beliefs.

Looking at this place and thinking about what happened it makes me doubt humanity.

Until 1945, the Sachsenhausen concentration camp was the model camp for all other camps.

It was built at a time when the world press was distracted watching the 1936 Olympics, which took place only few miles away in Berlin.

Every year, Germany marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

This year, more than 80 years after the November pogroms, also known as the Kristallnacht or Crystal Night, Jews who were taken from their homes in Berlin on that night are being remembered in a special ceremony.

- [speaking in foreign language] - Morris Marx, Siegfried Wolfe, Costa Hessenhausen.

Eva Loud, Sally Novisham, Samuel Weiss.

- [Young Man] Samuel Gombot, Otto Sumpeg, Richard Ulun.

- [Young Woman] Oscar Norwells, Heinz Watchdog, Max Berl, Curt Cam, Victor Ayala.

- [Young Man] Marcus Hatmanberg, Phyllis Burn, Colt Bargainman, Yamen Zacks, Geralt Kroll.

- [Semon] As Germans, we learn about the Holocaust from early age on and it becomes a part of our identity and it always ends in the same motto.

Never again and never forget.

- The significance of this day to me personally is that we are from Germany and this is Germany's history.

We have to remember this history because we are the next generation.

We are the future.

- [Semon] When you walk the sidewalks of Berlin, you will notice special golden stones on the ground.

These are so called stolpersteine.

The name literally means stumbling stones.

These golden stones are placed into the sidewalks in front of the very buildings that Jews were deported from and bearing their names.

I think having memorials is one thing, but putting a name to the endless numbers of deported and murdered Jews and others.

They deserve to be remembered by name and on a daily basis.

This project was conceived by German artist Gunter Demnig.

- There are many central monuments, you know, in the middle of Berlin, big monument, but it's anonymous.

But the names, it happened here, not anywhere.

If you see the stone, you want to read.

You have to go.

I think it's very important for their relatives because now there's a place that can remember, because many of them, most of them don't have a grave, don't have a gravestone.

- [Semon] While most stones commemorate the names of Jews who died in concentration camps, today's ceremony is dedicated to Jews who survived.

Howard Schattner, the son of Holocaust survivor Marc Schattner, sent words to be read on the ceremony.

- Here are his own words.

"I would like to thank you all for coming "on a quite cold February morning "to participate in this very special event, "the insulation of stolpersteine "for three Holocaust survivors.

"My father, Meschulim Schattner and his two brothers, "Berl and Jakob.

"It was six o' clock in the morning at October 28, 1938 "when a loud knocking sounded at the family's front door.

"At the door was the police with an order "to arrest the three brothers.

"They were taken, placed on a train, "transported to the Polish border "and expelled from the country.

"For the next nine years they lived as refugees.

"Finally they immigrated to New York City "where they began their new lives."

- [Semon] Many neighbors also attended.

Two current residents, a Jewish couple from Russia who lives in the very same building Max Schattner used to live in, comes to pay their respects to the newly laid stumbling stones.

- [speaking in foreign language] - The stumbling stones to me represent yet another way to remember the past while living in the present.

I think the stolpersteine are a symbol for us because six million Jewish people, it's a very big number, and one name, or here three names, see, that's another feeling.

For some people it's unbelievable to see police officers standing outside Jewish buildings.

But for me, it's a normal thing.

Berlin City government offers police protection to all Jewish institutions around Berlin.

Recently, antisemitism has once again become a more prominent issue, both in Germany and worldwide.

It is important for me to talk about antisemitism.

Today we are at the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

The Central Council recently implemented a new program called Likrat.

It's a program designed to educate young Jews between the ages of 15 and 19 about Judaism.

- [speaking in foreign language] - [Semon] With this program we visit seminars, so where we learn how to convey the principals of Judaism to people who are not Jewish.

Schools can request to have Likratinos come to their school to talk about Judaism.

That's why I signed up for the class, to become a so-called Likratino.

Our goal is to build bridges with the non-Jewish population and to address any prejudice or outright antisemitism.

I feel it's important to show that we are all just normal people, just with different faiths, and that that is okay, but that most of my generation doesn't blame young Germans for what their ancestors did.

- [speaking in foreign language] - [Semon] One of the highlights for our youth center is to prepare for a singing and dancing contest called Jewrovision.

I have been taking part in Jewrovision ever since I was 12 years old.

[upbeat pop music] This year I'm not performing at the Jewro, but I'm here to make a behind the scenes video channel.

Jewrovision is the biggest competition hosted by the Central Council of the Jews in Germany for Jewish kids all over Germany.

Every year we get to the event on Friday afternoon and celebrate Shabbat together.

Everybody loves Jewrovision because you connect with young Jews from all over Germany.

Some Jewish people of my generation often feel we need to remember.

Yes, but is it not also time to move on?

Live in the present and look to the future.

[upbeat pop music] - [Anna] What we are achieved despite our past, the Jewish life exists in Germany and that's the important thing.

[upbeat pop music] - [Jakob] We have to get out from this victim road.

Of course the history has dark parts, but by being Jewish here and showing that we are still here, we will not leave this country because it's ours too, as well as yours, is an act of power.

- [singing in foreign language] - [Semon] When somebody asks me, "Do you feel more Jew or do you feel more German?"

I can't answer on this question because I'm both and I love to be both.

- [Group] Chai!

- [Semon] This year was more exciting than ever.

After preparing for Jewrovision all year, we ended up winning first prize.

It was an absolutely amazing feeling.

But the most amazing thing was despite the competition there was an incredible sense of togetherness amongst young Jews in Germany.

To me, that's the biggest prize of all.

[singers cheering] [classical piano music] - [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by... Additional funding by... For more "Films By Kids" visit thirteen.org/filmsbykids.

[upbeat classical music]

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