Between Cologne and Tel Aviv

Docu­men­ta­ry
´30, ZDF/3sat, 2004

Sharon Aron­of is twel­ve years old and lives tog­e­ther with her mother Ruthi Aron­of-Gün­ther in Colo­gne. Both are acti­ve mem­bers of the Jewish com­mu­ni­ty. Her mater­nal fami­ly are tra­di­tio­nal Ger­man Jews who retur­ned from Isra­el to Ger­ma­ny after the Second World War to par­ti­ci­pa­te in the recon­struc­tion of the Jewish com­mu­nities. Sharon sees herself as a “echt Köl­sches Mäd­chen” (a real Girl from Colo­gne) and at the same time as a “real Jewish” girl. Their nati­ve lan­guages ​​are Ger­man and Hebrew, their home­land is Ger­ma­ny, their home is Juda­ism and the land of their faith is Isra­el. She goes the­re several times a year becau­se her father lives near Tel Aviv. While Sharon used to be cer­tain that she would like to live in Isra­el later, today she belie­ves she has found her place in her favo­ri­te ger­man city, Colo­gne. But then her mother dies sud­den­ly and unex­pec­ted and ever­ything changes…

Kat­ja Dureg­ger accom­pa­nied Sharon for several weeks in 2003 while pre­pa­ring for her Bat Mitz­vah, the cere­mo­ny to cele­bra­te her reli­gious matu­ri­ty, and to a visit to her father in Isra­el. The film is a sen­si­ti­ve por­trait of a girl who belongs to the so-cal­led “fourth genera­ti­on” — perhaps the first that could make Jewish life in Ger­ma­ny ordi­na­ry again.

“Bet­ween Colo­gne and Tel Aviv” is a con­tri­bu­ti­on for the 3sat docu­men­ta­ry seri­es “Frem­de Kin­der”, which is dedi­ca­ted to boys and girls up to 14 years from all coun­tries of the world in their often dif­fi­cult life situa­tions, and gives them a voice.

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