The Integration Department of the Jewish Community of Berlin was established in 1998 in order to better handle the increasing workload resulting from the influx of new Jewish immigrants from around the world. Its primary tasks: providing vocational, socio-political, economic and language education for new arrivals, most of them from the former Soviet Union.

The Jewish Community of Berlin had already begun to work on intensive integration projects with new immigrants from around the world in the early 1990s. By 2008, about 80 percent of the community’s members between the ages of 15 and 90 were of foreign background; about 50 percent of the newcomers are unable to communicate in German.

The Jewish community has developed and coordinated several projects geared at better integrating newcomers, and supports various activities, such as: workshops, trainings, certifications, acclimatisation programmes, informational fairs, religious instruction, seminars and courses. The goal is to support new immigrants as they integrate within German society and find a new cultural identity. The reduction of prejudices and promotion of intercultural understanding are two interlocking functions that underlie all work of the integration office.

Emphasis and purpose of our work:

Target groups:

Members of the Jewish community and their families are our primary target group.

• To help immigrants integrate through informing them about their new surroundings and especially through language instruction, a basic step in the process of social integration and in gaining employment. The department also assists in the reorienting process and with routine tasks of everyday life.
• To help all those who have been searching for work, especially those who are particularly difficult to place, and to help them enhance their employability. This includes counselling all those who have shown an interest in finding work, whatever their age, and finding ways to motivate them during the job-search.
• To impart knowledge about German-Jewish and Russian-Jewish history and culture.
• To build bridges between German- and Russian-speaking community members.

A. Help desk

Clarification of civil status:

1.  Petitioning authorities to grant permanent residency

2.  Submitting citizenship applications for members of the community during their naturalisation process.

3.  Providing initial consultation to facilitate immigration (or moves within Germany) for families seeking to be reunited with relatives.

4.  Answering queries regarding the trading in of passports by community members who come from countries that once were within the former Soviet Union.

5.  Legal counselling.

B. Job placement
Employment integration; job-exchange network (“Jobbörse”)

The community is able to assist in the search for employment through its job-exchange network (Jobbörse).

Members who are unemployed are treated like clients. There are no waiting lines: Appointments for meetings, which may involve comprehensive counselling, can be made by telephone.

Job-hunters are given the option of working with professional recruiters. We are best able to help our clients when they show motivation and flexibility. In order to make the process run smoothly, we maintain equally close contact with both the job-hunters and potential employers. Our methods have proven successful.

1. Guiding community members towards

• Vocational training
• Re-training/advanced training/certification
• Work
• Internships
• 1-euro-jobs in cooperation with the state employment office

2. Assistance in the job application procedure

• Application materials
• Cover letter
• Curriculum vitae
• Pro-active applications
• Interviewing process

3. Online job search

C. Facilitating events
Informational events focusing on the current labour market

• Informational events
• Job and vocational training fairs
• Work-relevant activities
• Business start-up seminars

D. Integration service/projects
Social integration – “Integrathek”

1. Thematic informational events:

• Immigration law
• Labour market situation
• Education and incentives

2. Literacy promotion

3. Introduction to Jewish life

Teatime with community rabbis, seminars and events under the rubric of an “Introduction to Jewish Traditions, Culture and History” are organised for Jewish immigrants.

4. Educational measures

• Mobile phone instruction for seniors
• Computer courses – beginning and advanced
• Laptop instruction for seniors

5. Intercultural dialogue

• Events/commemorative evenings/intercultural meetings
• Conversational café “Emi Grant”

6. Legal counselling

E. Coordination desk
Coordination of non-profit associations and clubs in the Jewish community

• Science Society (Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft)
• Veterans club (Club der Kriegsveteranen)
• Senior club: “Massoret”
• Club of Jews from the Caucasus: “Yad Achim”
• Veterans’ choir
• Literature and theatre group

Coming soon:

The following programmes are in the works:

• Stress-prevention training
• Meeting place for Russian- and Hebrew-speaking Jewish immigrants
• Seniors travel club, “Tarbut & Massorti”
• Competitions for people with knowledge of Jewish tradition
• An array of pilot and model projects aimed at better integrating established and recent immigrants into the work force and society, enhancing their language training and religious knowledge.

Networking/Cooperation partners:

• DaimlerChrysler AG, Berlin branch
• Berliner Volksbank AG
• Deutsche Bank
• Best Western Hotel President
• Bristol Hotel Kempinski
• Kaufhof department store
• Kosmetikinstitut Berlin
• JobCenter Tempelhof-Schöneberg
• GSUB
• SPI Service Konsult Berlin
• Grone-Schule Berlin
• BfÜ e.V.
• EUROPANORAT GmbH
• IPSER Employment Agency
• Handels- und Finanzakademie GmbH
• Seminarzentrum Göttingen GmbH&Co. KG
• Deutsche Direkt Marketing Akademie
• GFS Wirtschaftsschule
• Seminarzentrum Göttingen GmbH
• Initiative Selbständiger Immigrantinnen e.V.
• Südost Europa Kultur e.V.
• Berliner Gesellschaft für Koordination Zusammenarbeit mbH
• Akate e.V.
• IHK Berlin
• ZWST, Jewish communities of Munich, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt/Main and Stettin
• Internationale Vereine
• A&QUA GmbH
• Schildkröte GmbH
• Kreativhaus e.V.
• BIQ GmbH
• BEQUIT
• Forum Arbeit & Projekte e.V.
•  AIZ GmbH
• Trias GmbH
• Zukunftsbau GmbH
• Sozialarbeit.com.e.V.
• Care Family e.V.
• Projektagentur des Vereins Freunde der Domäne Dahlem E.V
• Comhard gGmbH and many more.

Indicators/evaluations for each of the above-mentioned goals

• Press documentation
• Statistics on group strength and size as well as programme success
• Progress reports
• Photo archive
• Website
• Analysis and forecasts 

Ms Eleonora Shakhnikova
Integration Department

• “Intensive Preparation for German Tests” workshop (a requirement for citizenship)
•  “Corresponding with Authorities” workshop
• Integration measures for Jewish immigrants to promote knowledge about political structures and cultural life in Germany – “social studies/geography/culture”

• Stress-prevention training
• Meeting place for Russian- and Hebrew-speaking Jewish immigrants
• Seniors travel club, “Tarbut & Massorti”
• Competitions for people with knowledge of Jewish tradition
• An array of pilot and model projects aimed at better integrating established and recent immigrants into the work force and society, enhancing their language training and religious knowledge.

“Promoting contact and dialogue” is the motto of the Integration Department ’s “Integrathek” – an initiative whose purpose is to educate people on the different approaches, history and culture of German- and Russian-speaking Jews.

The Integrathek organises regular seminars and events on “Jewish tradition and history” – giving participants opportunities to learn much about their heritage. This programme is open to community members and to members of the public who have shown keen interest, whether continual or only sporadic, in learning more about traditional and modern Jewry/Judaism, sharing ideas with others, or discussing a particular theme. This includes communication with the public at large, mastery of the German and Russian languages, becoming familiar with and grappling with historical, political, cultural and economic themes as well as gaining a deeper insight into the culture of the Jewish people. We offer the following programmes: Jewish cooking class, Hebrew for beginners and travel bugs, conversation (Hebrew/German), events/commemorative evenings/concerts. We are very proud of the 400 programmes that our department has pulled off successfully.