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Dear reader,
Thank you for reading A Death in Jerusalem. I hope you enjoyed it. I would like to tell you how I came to write this book and provide more historical details of the fascinating time in which this novel is set.
On January 7, 2020, I watched footage from Washington, DC, where the day before a group of protesters had stormed the Capitol Building as part of a demonstration against the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States.
With amazement, I watched history repeat itself. I was at the time busy writing the early chapters of A Death in Jerusalem, which begins with the storming of the Knesset in January 1952.
Long before beginning A Death in Jerusalem, I knew that I would write an Adam Lapid novel set in that time. I knew that Adam, a Holocaust survivor who lost his family in Auschwitz, would be incensed by Israel's intention to negotiate with Germany for reparations.
The political struggle over negotiations with Germany, which peaked in the violent demonstration outside the Knesset, was one of the most volatile moments in Israeli history, a time in which the country appeared on the verge of coming apart at the seams. Menachem Begin's fiery speech, parts of which I literally translated from Hebrew and included in this novel, might easily have served as a declaration of civil war. It is only by luck, or providence, that Israel avoided such a fate.
The issue of reparations arose much earlier. Even before Israeli independence, various Jewish organizations considered the matter, and Israeli officials discussed it as early as 1949. Many favored reparations but rejected any direct contact with Germany; Israel's government voted against direct negotiations in 1950 and again in 1951. Instead, Israel tried working through the western Allied powers, mainly the Americans, who at the time occupied West Germany.
This approach failed utterly. Western powers, wishing to prop West Germany as a bulwark against communism, were reluctant to place further financial obligations upon it. To get reparations, the government of David Ben-Gurion would have to deal with the Germans directly. Israel's dire economic situation forced Ben-Gurion's hand, and Israel and Germany commenced secret discussions in 1951.
These discussions bore fruit. In September 1951, West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer gave a historic speech in the West German parliament, the Bundestag. Adenauer declared that indescribable crimes against Jews had been committed in the name of the German people, and that while only a minority of Germans participated in these crimes and most abhorred them, these crimes demanded material reparations. He said Germany was willing to resolve the issue with Jewish and Israeli representatives.
In December 1951, the Israeli government voted in favor of direct negotiations with Germany on the matter of reparations. Public opposition was fierce and widespread. Things reached a boiling point in January 1952, when the matter was laid before the Knesset, which is when this novel begins.
As I wrote in the novel, the Knesset approved direct negotiations with Germany. These negotiations culminated in an agreement in which Germany agreed to give Israel three billion German marks over a ten-year period, which would be used to procure German goods and products. These reparations were to compensate Israel as the representative of the Jewish people and a country where many Holocaust survivors settled after World War II.
This agreement had wide-ranging effects on Israel's economy and German-Israeli relations. German reparations helped Israel avert financial catastrophe and brought about years of robust economic development. Israel and West German cooperation deepened across many spheres, and full diplomatic relations were established in 1965. The Israeli public's boycott of Germany has withered with time, and today the two countries enjoy close economic and diplomatic relations.
The aftermath of the violent demonstration described in this book was as Shmuel Birnbaum predicted. David Ben-Gurion proved magnanimous in victory. Herut was not outlawed, and none of the demonstrators who were arrested that day was ever charged with a crime. All were released in the following weeks and months.
Menachem Begin, who a few months before the demonstration was on the cusp of retiring from politics, continued serving as the leader of Herut. In 1977, he became Israel's sixth prime minister and later was awarded the Noble Prize for Peace for signing Israel's peace agreement with Egypt. No one in 1952 would have imagined such an outcome for Begin.
David Ben-Gurion continued serving as Israel's prime minister until 1963 (with a short interlude in 1954-1955). Ben-Gurion used to say that he didn't do what the people wanted, but what he thought the people needed. In 1952, he did just that.
A Death in Jerusalem is the first Adam Lapid novel set primarily in Israel's capital. Researching how Jerusalem was in 1952 was both illuminating and fascinating. Apart from historical accounts of the city and its landmarks, my main source of information was my mother-in-law, Froumit Tandet, to whom this novel is dedicated.
Froumit was born a few months after the events of this novel and grew up in West Jerusalem. She described to me in detail the tenor of Jerusalem's streets and its people. She lived in a building just behind Frumin House and remembers seeing members of Knesset arrive for work. Menachem Begin, she told me, pinched her cheek once on his way into the Knesset chamber.
Dear reader, I hope that you enjoyed A Death in Jerusalem. If so, I'd appreciate it if you took a moment to write a review on whatever website you use to purchase or review books. Thank you.
As for the future of Adam Lapid, I've already begun writing the next book in the series, and plan to write more after that.
If you're a member of a book club and wish to discuss A Death in Jerusalem, you will find suggested discussion questions after this author's note.
As always, if you have any questions or feedback, please write me at Jonathan@JonathanDunsky.com. I invite you to join my author's page at Facebook.com/JonathanDunskyBooks. To join my newsletter and get notified about sales, new releases, and general news, and to get one of my short stories for free, please go here: JonathanDunsky.com/free.
Before we part, I’d like to say a big thank you to Otilia Rossetti and Jeannie Blau for their kind help in the editing process of this novel. I would also like to thank Stacey Levy for her generosity and support.
That's it from me, dear reader. Until the next book, I bid you farewell.
Jonathan Dunsky
Israel, February 2022
1. Do you think Israel made the right decision to negotiate with Germany for reparations for the Holocaust? Discuss the moral, financial, and historical arguments and implications.
2. Discuss David Ben-Gurion's decision to not prosecute the demonstrators? Did he make the right call?
3. Shmuel Birnbaum tells Adam Lapid that loving your country even when it does things you detest is as good a definition of a patriot as he has ever heard. Do you agree with this statement? If not, suggest another.
4. Ben-Gurion pushed for negotiations with Germany despite fervent public opposition. When should a leader do not what the people want but what he thinks they need? Can you give other examples of such decisions?
5. Discuss the character of Menachem Begin. On the one hand, the leader of the Irgun and the catalyst of the storming of the Knesset; on the other, a man of peace who signed Israel's peace agreement with Egypt. How did A Death in Jerusalem change your view of Begin, if at all?
6. Between 1949-1967, Jerusalem was a divided city, with access to Judaism's holiest sites blocked to Israeli Jews. How did the descriptions of a divided Jerusalem make you feel? Have they influenced your opinion of the current status of the city?
7. Several characters in this novel resort to vigilantism. When do you think vigilantism is warranted and just? Where do you draw the line?
8. Apart from Adam Lapid, who was your favorite character in A Death in Jerusalem, and why?
9. Ben-Gurion ordered the police defending the Knesset to refrain, at all costs, from using their firearms. Discuss this order by Ben-Gurion. How might history have changed if not for this order?
10. Discuss the topic of reparations. Can they ever resolve a historic wrong? Can they be a means for reconciliation and greater understanding between former persecutors and victims?
11. Today, Israel and Germany enjoy close relations. How do you feel about this? What lessons can be applied from this historical development to other conflicts?
