Transcending Dystopia tells the story of the remarkable revival of Jewish music in postwar and Cold War Germany. Covering a wide spectrum of musical activities and geographies across the country, this book provides a panoramic view on how music contributed to transformations within and beyond Jewish communities after the Holocaust.

On Transliteration and Translation, Spelling, and Names, Acknowledgements, Prologue: Moving Toward Silence, Introduction: Against All Odds--The Jewish Gemeinde as Sonic Community in an Age of Mobility, Part I: After the Rupture--The Interregnum and the Culture of Rebirth, Chapter 1: In the Midst of Rubble: Rebuilding a Musical Life in Berlin, Chapter 2: Out of the Depths: The Case of Munich and the South, Chapter 3: Communal Encounters--Frankfurt am Main and the North, Chapter 4: Remnants in the Soviet and French Zones and Beyond, Chapter 5: Remembering the Holocaust: Mourning and Celebration, Chapter 6: Disseminating Survival: Jews, Music, and the Media, Chapter 7: The End of Dystopia?, Part II: Music in Motion: The Jewish Communities in West Germany, Chapter 8: Returning and Leaving: Frankfurt in Flux, Chapter 9: Rebuilding with or without Organ, Chapter 10: Cantors on the Move, Chapter 11: Regenerating a Choral Music Culture, Chapter 12: Music in Social Life, Part III: The Presence of Absence: Jewish (Heritage) Music in East Germany, Chapter 13: Dystopia under Communism: The Communities in the Crossfire of Politics, Chapter 14: Werner Sander and the Formation of the Leipziger Synagogalchor, Chapter 15: Facing Cultural Stagnation: Musical Life after Sander, Chapter 16: Making Antifascist Politics Visible--Jewish Heritage Music and Cold War Politics, Chapter 17: The Leipziger Synagogalchor in the Service of State Propaganda, Chapter 18: Jewish Culture in Public Diplomacy, Memory Politics, and the Curious Case of Halle, Chapter 19: Projecting Utopia: Jewish Heritage Music Abroad, Chapter 20: The Politics of Commemoration and Reorientation, Part IV: Music as Vortex in Jewish Berlin, Chapter 21: The Establishment of the Judische Gemeinde von Gross-Berlin, Chapter 22: The Anniversary Year of 1971 and the Dawn of Detente, Chapter 23: The Rise of the Judische Gemeinde zu Berlin, Chapter 24: Deterioration and Recovery: The Judische Gemeinde Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR, Chapter 25: Toward a New Communal Future: Parallel Sound Worlds and Rapprochement $ $ $