Resurrecting a Lost World of German-Jewish Winemakers
As the daughter of a refugee, Ruth learned early on that food and wine traditions are deep repositories for memory, identity and emotion.
Heinrich Levy, Ruth’s paternal grandfather, was a Jewish winemaker in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a time when Jews played a prominent role in the trade before their persecution and exclusion by the Nazis.
Drawing on her father’s written memories of the family business, Ruth took a deep dive to write about a world which seemed to have vanished, decimated by the Holocaust. She did not imagine the impact her story would have in Germany, and the historical resurrection and healing it would lead to.
Further reading and links:
> The Vanished Cellar: Ruth’s article she wrote about that journey
> Landau Symposium on the contribution of Jewish wine merchants to Palatinate wine culture
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