Mark Zaurov, Deaf Jewish activist from Hamburg

Miss-Delectable

New Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Messages
17,160
Reaction score
7
hagalil.com - rundschau

Mark Zaurov, an activist for Deaf Jews, spoke last week at two British venues. An expert on the history of Deaf Jews in Germany, Zaurov addressed the issue of links between anti-Semitism and audism, or prejudice against the Deaf...

by Toby Axelrod

Author of "Deaf Jews: A double cultural minority," Zaurov, 35, was born profoundly deaf - as was his older sister - to hearing parents. The family moved from Moscow to Israel in the 1970s, and settled in Germany in 1981. Zaurov - president of the Association of Deaf Jews and Descendants in Germany - is a PhD candidate in sign language, media and literature at the university of Hamburg.

In 2006, he organized an entire conference focusing on Nazi persecution of Deaf Jews and non-Jews, at the Humboldt University in Berlin. It was held under the auspices of the international Conference on the History of the Deaf, and drew hundreds of Deaf to the German capital. Among the guests were Deaf Jews who had fled Nazi Germany for Israel, and Deaf non-Jews who spoke about their ostracization and forced sterilization in the state of the so-called "master race."

Zaurov said he is now fighting to have Deaf Jews recognized as a special interest group by World Federation of the Deaf. One of his greatest frustrations is, he said, that Jewish organizations in Germany have not been supportive of his work in general.
 
Back
Top