2023-07-19 16:31:39
Another story about cultural appropriation. But this time without colorful feather headdresses and hoofbeats, at least not in the literal sense. In a sprawling text on Zeit Online, the journalist Fabian Wolff ponders more than openly admits that he has acquired a Jewish identity. Only now, a few years after his mother’s death, does he claim to have found out that, as his mother told him, his grandmother wasn’t Jewish at all.
The wordy confession of an appropriated family legend – the name Binjamin Wilkomirski immediately comes to mind. It was the pseudonym of a Swiss who had falsely presented himself as a Holocaust survivor. Since then, the subject of Wilkomirski syndrome has been debated as to whether it is a form of identity fraud or whether the author himself was the victim of false memories.
The case of Fabian Wolff has probably caused quite a stir in the last few days because as an author he has not exactly squeamishly intervened in the debates on BDS, criticism of Israel, etc. He has repeatedly marked his speaker position, for example in an essay on Zeit Online: “I am a Jew in Germany. To quote Maxim Biller, the tough dog: Someone like me is not intended in this country, still or again, depending on the case.”
Ad | Scroll to read more
The “tough dog” Maxim Biller
When criticized, he backed down. He accused the author Jens Balzer of having anti-Semitic motives after he had dealt extensively with the strategies of the boycott organization BDS. In his most recent pamphlet, he quotes the “tough dog Maxim Biller” again, this time self-pityingly, in the knowledge that he will probably have to say goodbye to his role as a victim. The Jüdische Allgemeine reports that the admission of camouflage was by no means voluntary. Many knew that Wolff’s exposure was imminent.
The case history points beyond the family trials and tribulations to the imbalance in identity-political debates, in which origin and authenticity are given special importance. This applies even to critical interventions. There was constant talk on social media that Fabian Wolff came from the so-called GDR aristocracy. In fact, in his text he talks a lot about his mother, who is a communist. The word party career is mentioned, although it was not important.
#Fabian #Wolff #acquired #Jewish #identity #farewell #role #victim