Jews and Germans: an outdated binary? Jews, love, and relationships in contemporary Germany

This paper analyzes the seemingly outdated binary Jews and Germans on the level of power relations and lived experiences. By analyzing an in-depth interview, it shows how the violent past of National Socialism and the Shoah reaches into the present and into love relationships. The case study illustrates that the categories 'Jews' and 'German' are needed as analytical tools to understand these aftermaths. In conclusion, the contribution argues that while the categories can be appropriated and lived in an agentic way, the binary is useful to capture and analyze positionalities and power relations.