Marina Chernivsky: Bruchzeiten - 39th Jewish Culture Days Berlin

October 7, 2023, marked a historic turning point—and for many Jews in Germany, a deeply personal one as well. What has changed since then? How are people living whose sense of security, belonging, and trust have been shaken by the Hamas massacre and its aftermath?

Marina Chernivsky, a psychologist, researcher on antisemitism, and founding executive director of the counseling center OFEK e. V., addresses these questions in her book *Bruchzeiten*. In it, she combines autobiographical experiences with social analysis and impressively demonstrates how collective experiences of violence and crisis become embedded in individual life stories. She describes the fear, isolation, and disappointment that are exacerbated by anti-Semitic incidents, a lack of solidarity, and public debates. At the same time, she addresses what it means when the reversal of perpetrator and victim roles and the trivialization of Jewish experiences become part of everyday life—and what consequences this has for the lives of those affected.

Thus, *Bruchzeiten* paints a picture of a dual alienation: from a society to which one naturally felt a sense of belonging, and at the same time from the trust that one’s own perspective is heard and taken seriously. With her lucid and personal book, Chernivsky offers a rare insight into the realities of Jewish life after October 7 and invites readers to rethink belonging, responsibility, and the state of our democratic society.

(in German)