Mark Dainow in an interview

April 2025:
Since February, Mark Dainow has succeeded Nora Goldenbogen sel. A. as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony. The 76-year-old former graduate engineer (two hours younger than the state of Israel) was born in Minsk. His family emigrated to Israel in 1972 and a year later moved to the Federal Republic of Germany. He has been a board member of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Hesse since 1994 and was elected to the Presidium of the Central Council of Jews in Germany in 2010. We asked Mr Dainow for an interview:

We look forward to working with you. What is your personal relationship with the Free State of Saxony?
Mark Dainow: As a Jew who lives in Germany and knows the history of this country very well, I see Saxony as a place of potential. On the one hand, it is a place where right-wing pressure and anti-Semitism have long been blatant problems. In the 2025 federal election, the AFD was once again the strongest party in Saxony. On the other hand, Jewish life is becoming more and more noticeable here; there are vibrant Jewish communities in Leipzig, Chemnitz and Dresden. It is important to me personally that there is more room for Jewish issues in Saxony and that the Jewish religion can be practised freely. As a young man, I was a member of the Zionist movement "Let my people go" in the former USSR. Even then I was in favour of a freer Jewish life. The debate about the opening of a Jewish museum in Saxony was very important to me. The fact that there is now a Saxon theme year on Jewish culture is a decisive step.

What experiences do you associate with Jewish community life in Saxony?
MD: Cultural offerings that I have come across and that show that Jewish community life is definitely present in Saxony. I'm thinking of community choirs in Chemnitz and Dresden, religious services via streaming services, Jewish sports clubs in Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig. And I'm thinking of Rabbi Zsolt Balla, who, as rabbi of the Jewish Religious Community in Leipzig and as state rabbi of Saxony, has repeatedly championed community life in Saxony and positioned Judaism more strongly in the Free State of Saxony. He is also a federal military rabbi and was instrumental in the establishment of Jewish military chaplaincy in the Bundeswehr.

What are your hopes for the Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony?
MD: To send a signal that Jewish culture and Jewish life also play a major role in Saxony. To give people access to Jewish culture so that they can get an open, unprejudiced picture and enter into dialogue with one another.

They moved to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1973 and come from the Soviet Union. The majority of Jews living in Germany today immigrated to Germany from the Soviet Union after 1990, including in Saxony. How much does this group characterise Jewish life in Germany?
MD: Since the end of the GDR and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Germany's Jewish community has grown considerably due to the immigration of so-called contingent refugees. This changed community life. It promoted secularisation, for example, but also the pluralisation of Judaism in Germany. What I am particularly pleased about today is that the younger generation can no longer see where their family comes from. Integration has been largely successful - which is very fortunate.

At the Central Council of Jews, you are responsible for the Jewish communities in eastern Germany. Do the communities in the east have different challenges but also advantages compared to the communities in western Germany?
MD: Definitely. The communities in the east are much more sparsely staffed. Some of them lack rabbis and several positions are unfilled. This makes it more difficult to attract new members and retain current ones. However, a lot is happening in East Germany and the government's willingness to promote Jewish life is growing. The Jewish community in Chemnitz organised the 33rd Jewish Culture Days in 2024 together with the "Days of Jewish Culture Chemnitz" association, the Jewish community in Dresden is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the reopening of its synagogue in 2026 and the synagogue in Görlitz, which was severely damaged during the pogrom night in 1938, was reopened in 2021 after years of restoration work. This all contributes to a greater visibility of Jewish life in public spaces in eastern Germany.

Is there a Yiddish word that you particularly like?
MD: Tacheles, a word for fact(s). Recognising these is important.

And a word from the Saxon dialect?
MD: Eiforbibbsch - (Saxon expression of astonishment).