20 Facts About Deborah Feldman

Deborah Feldman is an American-born German writer living in Berlin.

Deborah Feldman has written that her father was mentally impaired, and that her paternal family had arranged a marriage for him to her mother, whom Feldman described as an intelligent woman who was an outsider to the community because she was of German Jewish origin.

Deborah Feldman's mother was born in Manchester to refugees from Germany, and upon researching her mother's family, Feldman discovered that one of her mother's grandfathers was of non-Jewish German ancestry on his father's side and had attempted to integrate fully into Gentile society.

Deborah Feldman was raised by her grandparents, both Holocaust survivors, after her mother left the community and came out as lesbian, and her mentally impaired father was unable to raise her on his own.

Deborah Feldman entered an arranged marriage at the age of 17, and became a mother at 19.

Deborah Feldman began to speak out and "open my mind".

Deborah Feldman began to wear jeans and high heels, breaking the strict Hasidic dress code.

Deborah Feldman lived for two months with friends, and consulted with lawyers to make sure she did not lose custody of her son.

In 2014, Deborah Feldman moved to Berlin, settling in the Neukolln district, where she continued to work as a writer.

Deborah Feldman's first visit to the city had been deeply unsettling, given her family history and Berlin's Nazi past.

Deborah Feldman quickly adapted to speaking and writing in German, due to its similarity with Yiddish, a West Germanic language.

Deborah Feldman has said that "one of the biggest draws of being in Germany is the fact that the language is so similar to my mother language [Yiddish] that I feel a sense of familiarity, and that is powerful".

Deborah Feldman has said that "I see Berlin as the capital of the West; to me, it's a city where everyone can find a home, where everyone can find freedom, it's the last bastion against oppression".

Deborah Feldman started blogging, and in 2012, she published her autobiography, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, which became a bestseller and was translated into 30 languages, into Hebrew in 2013.

Deborah Feldman's books have been translated into German and well received by German critics, which led to her appearing on various talk shows on German TV.

Deborah Feldman said that writing in German was freeing because she could use her broader vocabulary of Yiddish terms that a German readership could understand.

Deborah Feldman characterized her writing style as old-fashioned, owing to the 18th-century version of Yiddish she grew up with.

In November 2023, Deborah Feldman appeared along with German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck on the talk show Markus Lanz, where they debated the German response to the Gaza war.

Deborah Feldman said that the only lesson from the Holocaust must be the unconditional defense of human rights for all.

Deborah Feldman criticized the postponed award ceremony for the Palestinian author Adania Shibli and her novel Minor Detail at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2023 and signed the open letter from 1200 intellectuals against it.