By Annerose Lopez

Dear Friends, we wanted to share with you this great article from the Jüdische Allgemeine Zeitung (Jewish German Newspaper) about the Maccabi Games taking place in Berlin (July27 - Aug5). Indeed a grandiose and significant event, as Germany is hosting the games for the first time in history.

We took the liberty to roughly translate portions of the article and include a few pictures. Credit for the original text, publication and pictures go to the reporter Ayala Goldmann and the Jüdische Allgemeine newspaper.

The 14th European Maccabi Games were officially opened in the Berlin Waldbühne on Tuesday night. More than 2100 athletes from 38 countries covered by their national flags were welcomed by Ola-waves and enthusiastic applause as they entered the amphitheater.

A total of about 10,000 guests came to the Waldbühne, including the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, and the Israeli ambassador Yakov Hadas-Handelsman. Many people watched the events in live stream.

The Israeli delegation was welcomed first into the stadium. The German delegation was the last one to enter, and they were greeted with extra jubilation. With 365 athletes, it represents the largest team. Indeed, it was a counterpoint to the events of almost 80 years ago, when in 1936 the Nazis staged the opening of the Summer Olympics. The Nazis misused the spirit of the Olympics to internationally represent their regime in good light. However, many Jewish athletes were excluded from participating during the games. On Tuesday evening the German Maccabi athletes demonstrated their pride in a Germany that has long since changed: They threw black, red and yellow T-shirts into the crowd, and the black-red-gold national flag was attached to balloons that arose in the cloudy but rainless sky.

German President Joachim Gauck, as the host, gave the welcoming speech, and said that they are "great, indeed historical significance." Gauck stressed: "What a symbol to gather here of all places, on this site, in the shadow of the Olympic Stadium..."

Alon Meyer, President of Maccabi Germany spoke after President Gauck. He stressed that this is a "great, filled by emotions and associated with a lot of hope" event. While German Jewish athletes had been ashamed to carry the German flag during their first participation to the Maccabi Games 1969 in Israel, it is perceived today as "the greatest honor ever." The German society is doing a lot so "that we again feel we Jews in Germany are safe and at home."

The Jewish Central Council President Josef Schuster said, "Today a dream comes true! 70 years after the Shoah, and nearly 80 years after the Olympic Games, as Hitler, right here, dazzled the world with a perfect propaganda show, and only 40 kilometers away from here where the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was built, just as a few decades later, we are here! (...) Where the Nazis dreamed of a Jew-free Europe, we make reality of our Jewish dream."