“Zwei im andern Land” A utopian moon journey in response to anti-Semitic threats
“You can only be safe from antisemitism on the moon.” – This statement by Hannah Arendt from 1941 was anticipated by the Berlin rabbi Martin Salomonski in his science fiction novel Two in Another Land as early as 1933: In it, Jews emigrate to the moon in search of a safe place. On Tuesday, November 4, 2025, at 6:00 PM, Alexander Fromm, editor of the new edition (Vergangenheitsverlag 2021), will read from this literary rediscovery and discuss it in a conversation with museum educator Astrid Birth.
Martin Salomonski sets his science fiction novel in 1953: Underground “lightning trains” speed from Alex to Zoo Station, while hardly any Jews remain in the city. Young parents Mica and Victor are searching for a safe home for their Jewish family. They decide on the moon. What if the Jews leave Earth and fly to the moon?
Two in Another Land was first published in 1934 in the Jewish-Liberal Newspaper. Ostensibly conceived as an entertaining and adventurous serialized novel, Salomonski’s book is a powerful allegory that addresses the fundamental problems facing Judaism during the rise of National Socialism. At the same time, the novel reflects the resilient imagination of its creator and thus fits into the event series “Shifting Grounds” of the German Emigration Center and the Heinrich Böll Foundation Bremen, which presents concrete examples of resistant thinking and action in art and culture.
The novel also literarily connects to one of the central exhibits of the current special exhibition at the German Emigration Center titled TEMPTATION OF OUTER SPACE: EMIGRATING TO THE MOON, MARS, VENUS?, namely a small pencil drawing by Petr Ginz, which he created in the Theresienstadt ghetto. It depicts the moon as a fortress – a place of safety to which the young man dreams of escaping from persecution and threat on Earth.
The year 1953, in which Salomonski’s novel takes place, was not experienced by either Petr Ginz or Martin Salomonski. Both were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.
About Martin SalomonskiDr. Martin Salomonski (1881–1944) was a rabbi, religious educator, and author. From 1910 to 1925, he served as a rabbi in Frankfurt (Oder), and then in Berlin, where he worked at the Neue Synagogue on Oranienburger Straße and in the Liberal Synagogue Community on Schönhauser Allee. During World War I, he served as a field rabbi in the German Army and was awarded the Iron Cross in 1917. Salomonski was deeply committed to the social life of the Jewish community, established retirement homes, and supported needy community members as the head of the welfare organization. In addition to his religious activities, he published literary works, including the Berlin novel Die geborene Tugendreich (1928) and the utopian future novel Zwei im andern Land (1933). Even after 1933, Salomonski remained in Berlin until he was deported to Theresienstadt in 1942 with his two youngest children. In 1944, he and his son were taken to Auschwitz and murdered there; his daughter died in Theresienstadt in April 1945.
About “Shifting Grounds”The event is part of the series “Shifting Grounds” by the German Emigration Center in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Bremen. This series presents examples from art and culture that are resistant and gives them a platform. The series will continue in 2026. Shifting Grounds is funded by the Dieckell Foundation.
Admission is free. Due to limited seating, registration is requested at Tel. 0471-90 22 00 or veranstaltungen@dah-bremerhaven.de