Menorah from iconic photo returns to Germany for Hanukkah

A Hanukkah menorah captured in an iconic photograph symbolizing the defiance of Jews against the Nazis was lit in the German capital on Monday night.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier joined in the lighting of the nine-branched menorah, which belonged to the Posners, a German Jewish family.

He said the ceremony marking the second night of Hanukkah at Berlin's Bellevue palace filled him with "deep gratitude and humility and above all, happiness."

Menorah captured iconic photo

In 1931, Rabbi Akiva Posner's wife Rachel Posner, took a picture of the candelabrum sitting on a window ledge of their home in Kiel opposite the Nazi party's regional headquarters.

At the time, a large swastika flag hung from the facade of the Nazi building.

On the back of the snapshot Rachel wrote an inscription: "The flag says 'death to Judaism', the light says 'Judaism will live for ever'."

When fleeing to Palestine in 1933 the family took their menorah with them. 

Descendants brought the menorah back to Germany on a trip sponsored by the German Friends of Yad Vashem, a grassroots Holocaust remembrance group.

Yehuda Mansbach, the couple's grandson, wept openly after lighting the two candles to mark the holiday.

"It honors our country that you, as descendants of Holocaust survivors, have taken the trouble and - as I know - also the pain to come to Germany for the first time after the Shoah," Steinmeier said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.

He added there were now menorahs glowing in "tens of thousands of windows" across Germany.

Steinmeier pledges to fight antisemitism

Steinmeier pledged on Monday to combat a resurgence of antisemitism.

"This light is a strong societal symbol against hatred," he said, symbols that were "bitterly necessary" due to "growing anti-Semitism".

"Each of us must stand up against every form of antisemitism," he said.

"No one must look away. And our state, our authorities must be vigilant, and relentless in prosecuting crimes."

Germany in May reported a new record in the number of politically motivated crimes last year, including a nearly 29% jump in antisemitic offences to 3,027. The vast majority — 2,552 — were attributed to the far-right scene.

Also on Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz celebrated Hanukkah for what he said was the first time with children, at a Jewish school in Berlin that is also hosting young refugees from Ukraine.

Scholz noted that Germany's Jewish community with about 200,000 members was the "third largest in Europe" — a fact he also described as a "miracle".

lo/es (AFP, dpa)