A lot of us have recently become more interested in our non-British recent ancestors, since Fuxit. With a view to getting an EU passport, of course. My grandad said he was Irish, although he didn’t sound very Irish. My missus seems to have a more legitimate claim to Frenchness, although we might wait until Sunday before exploring that option, in case it turns out to be a jumping out of the poêle into the feu situation. Also, if we get passports, can the kids? That would be the whole point.
For the British descendents of Jews who fled Nazi Germany, it is an altogether bigger, more complex decision, as explored in British Jews, German Passports (BBC1). The numbers aren’t massive – about 800 applications from British Jews for German citizenship since the Effing-endum, although that’s a big jump from the 20 or so a year previously. Obviously, the surrounding issues are many, as this thoughtful, poignant, moving documentary, and its three subjects, explore.
For Baroness Julia Neuberger it’s about tackling questions of identity. She believes that modern Jews can overcome the horrors of the past and forge new links with Germany. The country’s recent attitudes and actions – not least Angela Merkel’s welcoming of 1 million migrants – have made the decision easier for her. Now she wants to reclaim what was taken away from her mother.
For Robert Voss, who – as deputy lieutenant of Hertfordshire – is often involved in awarding British citizenship to new arrivals – getting dual German citizenship could be “an insurance policy”, he says. “In case, heaven forbid, something should happen in future.”
God, that’s worrying, even that he’s thinking like that. His parents escaped from Nazi Germany, his grandparents didn’t get out and he doesn’t even know what happened to them, or to the pretty little girl in a photograph, on the back of which is written: “Richard’s [his father’s] little cousin Carla, killed by the Nazis.”
So Robert goes to Germany, and finds out what happened to them. There are tears, of course – his, mine and anyone watching. And a beautiful Jewish prayer, from a British rabbi who now lives in Germany, at the place where little Carla spent her last night in Germany before being deported to a death camp.
Meanwhile, Hilary Freeman, agony aunt at the Jewish Chronicle, travels to the land of her ancestors for the first time. She digs away at the past and clears the tangled ivy away from the grave of her great grandmother Hedwig, who died, not at the hands of the Nazis as most of her family did, but of a broken heart. Because, Hilary has been told, of what was happening in her country, and because her teenage son – Hilary’s grandfather – had escaped to England.
Hilary’s mother can’t understand her daughter’s wish to become German. But it’s less about being German and more about continuing to be European. She’s going ahead. As is Julia. But Robert, despite being moved by new Germany and by new Germans, feels he can’t let go of the past; it’s as if he is still in mourning. His application is on hold for now.
Of course, this is about much more than passports, convenience and queues in airports. It’s about, if not forgiveness, then at least some kind of reconciliation.
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There is a lot of compressing going on in Great British Menu (BBC2), which returns for a 12th series. For her starter, Selin is compressing and pickling cucumber, then compressing and searing watermelon. For Mike’s starter, he’s compressing his courgettes, in an attempt to impress judge Angela Hartnett. I didn’t know about compressing food before. Is this the new sous vide? It seems to be a way of extracting more flavour out of something. I need to get involved: can I have a compressor for Christmas, please?
There is a tennis theme in this series, which is celebrating 140 years of the Wimbledon Championships. So Selin’s dish is called Queue Cumber … because there’s a queue at Wimbledon, and cucumber sandwiches. Mike is serving his Summer Meadow courgette dish inside models of television sets, I think because people watch Wimbledon on television.
What will there be to look forward to? Lendl Soup? Eggs Easy Sharapova? McEnroe Cheese? Serena Schnitzel? More Meatballs Please? Or a dish of pheasant, wild mushroom and crushed potato: game, cep and mash …
