Unpacking the Jewish History of German Beer

Oktoberfest and German beer are often seen as quintessentially German traditions but their story is also deeply Jewish. This class explores the Jewish entrepreneurs, hop merchants, industrial innovators, and artists who helped shape Germany’s beer culture from the early modern period through the 20th century. We’ll trace how Jewish families transformed brewing and distribution, popularized the decorated beer stein, and built major breweries such as Löwenbräu, before Nazi “Aryanization” violently erased much of their presence. Through this overlooked history, we will consider how culture, commerce, migration, and memory are poured into even the most familiar traditions. This class is based on Yardena's 2017 article "Oktoberfest Was Invented by Jews".

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Yardena Schwartz is an award-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated producer, and bestselling author of Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine that Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict, which is now in development as a feature film. Her reporting from four continents has appeared in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Review of Books, The Economist, Time, National Geographic, and Foreign Policy. Based in Israel from 2013-2023, Yardena previously worked at NBC News and MSNBC. She graduated with honors from Columbia Journalism School in 2011, received an Emmy nomination for her work at MSNBC in 2013, and the Religion News Association award for excellence in magazine reporting in 2016. Yardena now lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her husband and children.