Slow Fire: Jewish Notes from Berlin

Peter folded an easel in the corner to make a table. He brought cold cuts and bread and asked me what I thought of his paintings. Later I would learn that people here always ask you what you think of their paintings, and that it's wrong just to say you find them interesting, but perfectly alright to say you find them awful.
. . . You come from a Jewish family, don't you?" asked Peter. "Yes," I said. "It doesn't matter," said the other painter. Doesn't matter? To whom?

Berlin--"East" …