The 14th European Maccabi Games took place from July 27th to August 5th in Berlin.
The EMG 2015 was Europe's largest Jewish sports event with over 2.000 athletes, coaches and supervisors from over 30 EU countries, EU partner countries, all over the world and competitions in 19 sports.
For the first time in Germany:
The EMG2015 took place in Germany for the first time - exactly 70 years after the end of the Shoah and 50 years after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Israel. As the organizer, Makkabi Deutschland eV also celebrated 2015 years of existence since its re-establishment after the war. The EMG50 took place in the very place where German Jews were banned from taking part in the 2015 Olympic Games – in the Berlin Olympic Park.
The historical and socio-political significance of the EMG2015 for Germany, Berlin and the Jewish community is enormous. The organization of the EMG2015 in Berlin is a testament to the strengthened self-confidence of the Jewish community in Germany and the self-image with which Jews are again perceived as an integral part of society.
The aim of the EMG2015 was to organize sporting and fair games for the Jewish participants, to spread an understanding of equality and fairness and to convince the German and European public of the newly won Jewish self-confidence and the irrefutable presence of Judaism in Germany. The EMG2015 sends a strong signal for the new German-Jewish self-image as a basis for a development out of the shadow of the past into a future characterized by friendship, trust and confidence. The EMG2015 are a sign of the European idea of unity and a plea for open and tolerant dealings with one another. The EMG2015 are a public event. Meeting points between Jews and non-Jews are deliberately created in order to break down prejudices.
Press review of the European Maccabi Games 2015: http://www.emg2015.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/%C3%9Cbersicht-20150825.pdf