A menorah that was captured in a poignant Nazi-era photograph has been returned to Germany after almost 90 years and lit at a Berlin Hanukkah ceremony.

Iconic menorah returns to Germany

A menorah from a well-known Nazi-era photograph has been returned to Germany for a Hanukkah ceremony. In 1931, Rachel Posner took a picture of a menorah on her windowsill; outside in the distance a swastika flag flew on the facade of a Nazi building in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. Since World War II, Posner’s picture has come to embody the looming mood in Germany as the Nazi Party began their rise to power.

On the back of the picture, Posner wrote, “The flag says "death to Judaism", the light says "Judaism will live forever."" Posner and her husband, Rabbi Akiva Posner, fled Germany in 1933 and took the menorah with them. Now, almost 90 years later, it has been returned to Germany for a Hanukkah ceremony.

Germany’s president lights candle in menorah ceremony

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended a ceremony on Monday evening at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, helping to light a candle on the menorah to mark the second evening of Hanukkah.

Yehunda Mansbach, the Posners' grandson, was also in attendance and placed candles in the menorah, which was brought back to Germany on a journey sponsored by Yad Vashem, a group for Holocaust remembrance.

In a speech, Steinmeier said, "It honours our country that you, as descendants of Holocaust survivors, have taken the trouble and - as I know - also the pain to come to Germany for the first time after the Shoah," choosing the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.

The president added that today there were menorahs glowing in "tens of thousands of windows" across Germany. Hanukkah festivities began on Sunday evening and will end on December 26.