“The jubilee year shows how rich our ties are”

Mr Ambassador, in November you issued an invitation to a very special concert: renowned German countertenor Andreas Scholl and Israel’s star musician Idan Raichel appeared together at the Zappa Club in Tel Aviv. That sounds like a good example of the very relaxed nature of German-Israeli relations. How did the evening go?

Initially it looked as if the concert was doomed to failure: Idan Raichel had a severe throat infection and couldn’t sing! The programme had to be changed at the last minute. But everything went well: Andreas Scholl took on a number of songs, accompanied by his wife, the Israeli pianist and harpsicord player Tamar Halperin. Other artists from the Idan Raichel Project also stepped in to help, including Maya Avraham, Amir Dadon and Avi Wogderess Wassa. The songs came from all different epochs and corners of the world – with singing in German, Hebrew, Arabic, English and even Amharic. The venue was full and the audience loved it. In short, it was a great evening.

The concert took place as part of the jubilee year marking 50 years of diplomatic relations. The year is now coming to an end. How would you sum it up?

The jubilee year gave us the opportunity to show a lot of Israelis and Germans just how diverse and rich the ties are between our countries and people in many different areas. The programme included many encounters at a political level, as well as concerts, theatre performances, sports events, get-togethers for young people, exhibitions, scientific exchanges, business conferences and delegations and much more. Most importantly, almost all were projects on which Israelis and Germans had worked together. And the year is not over yet. The rich programme has certainly brought us a whole lot closer to one another.

Right from the outset, science and research have played an important role in the relationships. In which areas, specifically, can they bring our countries closer together in the future?

The scientific cooperation between Israel and Germany is effectively experiencing a boom and the jubilee year has certainly strongly stimulated it. There are currently 177 collaborations between German and Israeli universities and research institutions. For example, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Free University of Berlin have set up a joint doctoral programme and agreed on a virtual campus. There we have also seen the recent launch of a joint Fraunhofer Project Centre for Cyber Security Research. The Leibniz Association, the Leopoldina and the German Aerospace Center are also at work in Israel. In the areas of applied research and cyber-technology in particular, there is a great deal of interest on the part of the Israelis. However, we definitely should not forget the humanities, either. One outstanding feature of this year was a series of lectures on German literature held at the Hebrew University and funded by the Axel Springer Foundation, with German Nobel Prize winner Herta Müller presenting the closing lecture. That was a very special occasion.

The area of youth exchange is particularly close to your heart. Has the jubilee year been able to bring about new angles here, too?

German-Israeli student and youth exchange programmes constitute a key pillar of the stable relations between our two countries. It has even been in place ten years longer than diplomatic relations – it was back in 1955 that the first German youth groups travelled to Israel. Since then, over 600,000 young Germans and Israelis have visited each other’s countries. They have taken part in school and youth exchange programmes or in volunteer projects, and in doing so have been supported by a large number of facilitators in both countries. With such a lively exchange it is difficult to find new angles for the jubilee year, but we managed it: in 2015 we launched a German-Israeli volunteering service, which aims to help more young volunteers from Israel to come to Germany – so far the volunteer exchange has been something of a one-way street. In May 2015 the first three participants from Israel met Federal President Joachim Gauck and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Berlin. For the year 2015/2016 we expect to host up to 40 Israeli volunteers.

What will remain of the numerous exciting encounters in art, culture, business or academia? Will the jubilee year have a lasting effect on bilateral relations?

Yes it will, of that I am certain. We deliberately focused on projects that will continue to function in years to come. One example of this is our collaboration on the matter of the Bauhaus: the German government provided 2.5 million euros from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety budget to renovate the unique portfolio of Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv’s White City. However, this money will not only flow into bricks and mortar, but also into the training of Israeli craftsmen in the area of historic building renovation, so that their knowledge can be passed on to ensure the preservation of this shared heritage. A second example is the “Twilight over Berlin” exhibition: fifty masterpieces of German expressionism from Germany’s New National Gallery collection are currently on display at the Israel Museum – a beautiful symbol of the deep cultural relations between Germany and Israel. The exhibition sadly only runs until 15 January 2016, but I’m convinced that the cooperation established through this exhibition between the two museums in Berlin and Jerusalem will endure.

Almost 70% of Israelis have a positive opinion of Germany – does this survey result surprise you?

As Germans, we simply cannot overestimate the fact that 70 years after the Holocaust so many Israelis have a positive opinion of our country, the country of the perpetrators of the mass murder of Jews. That is testimony to the greatness of Israel, that Israelis are able to trust us despite the monstrous crimes of the past. In order to gain such trust in today’s Germany, it was and is essential that we Germans take responsibility for the darkest chapter in our past and stand up for Israel’s right to exist and its own security. Nowadays you can hear Hebrew spoken on the streets of Berlin ever more frequently. This level of popularity is something we didn’t expect just a few years ago, and I hope it will continue to grow. Here in Tel Aviv, however, you can also see that this enthusiasm is mutual. Last year, over 150,000 Germans chose Israel as their holiday destination.