De-Integrate!: A Jewish Survival Guide for the 21st Century
Max Czollek's De-Integrate! is a polemical, often humorous examination of Jewish life in contemporary Germany that speaks to the position of minorities the world over. Rooted in sociological theory, the book offers an engaging and approachable critique of Germany's much-lauded traditions of memory culture and Vergangenheitsbewältigung--its "successful" negotiation of its Nazi past.
Although modern Reunified Germany presents itself as having overcome historical trauma and integrated its now diverse, multicultural society, Czollek argues that this public image is merely a "Theater of Integration" showcasing those minoritized stories to bolster Germany's positive self-image, while sidelining the true potential of the country's radical diversity. Czollek posits that today's German minorities must embrace their differences and "de-integrate" from mainstream society in order to counter the rise of rightwing nationalism.
On the one hand a stirring look at integration, belonging, and cultural diversity, and on the other a passionate denunciation of bigotry and virulent nationalism, De-Integrate! speaks across cultural, racial, and national divisions and points to a livelier future for all of us.
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Praise for De-Integrate!
"The continuing influence of the past on the present--and what Czollek sees as Germany's collective reluctance to acknowledge it--informs his latest book, De-Integrate!, a collection of politically charged essays and historical reflections that came out in August 2018 and is still making waves in the country. In it, he argues that Germany, eager to shed its past, isn't reckoning with the rise of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism. And with the book's title, he is calling on people who have been ostracized or singled out to stop trying to fit in and embrace their 'otherness' so Germany can become a truly multicultural, pluralistic society."
--Valeriya Safronova, The New York Times
"This 31-year-old author writes scathingly and entertainingly, he provokes and puzzles. De-Integrate! is an important contribution to the sometimes hysterical debate on integration"
--Manfred Koch, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
"De-Integrate! is a well-researched, stringently argued, sometimes even funny polemic, which has come at just the right time."
--Ulrich Gutmair, taz
"An important book."
--Literatur Spiegel
"Unapologetic and pugnacious, loud and sexy."
--Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"Sharp-tongued and entertaining, provocative and irritating."
--Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag
"A renunciation (...) of the German self-adulation as world champions when it comes to a culture of remembrance."
--Die Zeit
