The menorah that features in one of the most iconic photos of the Nazi era returned to Germany on Monday, nearly a century after the photographer's family fled the country.

In 1931, amid the Nazi's rise to power, the wife of a rabbi, Rachel Posner, photographed their menorah in the northern port city of Kiel, Germany, opposite the regional Nazi headquarters.

In the now-historic photograph, the family's menorah is seen on the windowsill in the foreground, and outside the window is a large swastika flag hanging on the building's facade.

On the back of the photograph, Rachel wrote: “The flag says ‘death to Judaism,’ the light says ‘Judaism will live forever.'”

91 years later, the couple's grandchildren returned to Germany from their home in Israel and joined German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the lighting of the menorah on the second night of Chanukah.

Mansbach-Menorah-Image-1-640x400

Rachel Posner's iconic photograph of the family menorah with the Nazi swastika in the background, taken in the German city of Kiel in 1933

The photograph symbolised the rising threat to the Jews of Europe as an openly antisemitic party was coming to power, and also the resilience of the Jewish people, of whom six million would be murdered in the Holocaust.

The lighting of the menorah took place at Berlin's Bellevue Palace, and President Steinmeier said that it filled him with “deep gratitude and humility and above all, happiness.”

The grandson of Rachel Posner and her husband, Rabbi Akiva Posner, burst into tears after lighting the two candles on the second night of the Festival of Lights.

Yehuda Mansbach described the rebirth of Jewish life in Germany as a "miracle", adding that menorahs now stand in “tens of thousands of windows” across the country that once attempted to exterminate Judaism altogether.

GettyImages-1245729204

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (C) and his wife Elke Buedenbender (L) watch as Yehuda Mansbach, a relative of the Jewish Posner family, lights a candle on the menorah that the family rescued from Germany, during celebrations of the Jewish festival of lights Hanukkah at the Bellevue presidential palace in Berlin on December 19, 2022 (Photo by John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)

According to AFP, he said: "This light is a strong societal symbol against hatred", and added that the symbols that were “bitterly necessary” due to “growing antisemitism.”

“Each of us must stand up against every form of antisemitism. No one must look away. And our state, our authorities must be vigilant, and relentless in prosecuting crimes.”

In May, Germany reported a 29 per cent rise in antisemitic hate crimes, with the vast majority attributed to a growing right-wing movement.

The Posners’ granddaughter, Nava Gilo, 68, told AFP that it was "complicated" to be in Germany, adding: “We came because it is an educational mission for us. We are very glad that we came, to meet all the good people. Many people in Germany, like us, want to make sure that something like the Holocaust never happens again.”

GettyImages-1245729372

Yehuda Mansbach, a relative of the Jewish Posner family, in tears after lighting a candle on the menorah that the family rescued from Germany (Photo by John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)

In 1933, two years after the photograph was taken and a matter of months after the Nazis took power, the Posners fled with their three children Avraham Chaim, Tova and Shulamit to build a new life in Palestine.

The family menorah was later loaned to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem on the condition that the family could use it during Chanukah each year.

This week was the first time that the menorah was returned to Germany on a trip sponsored by grassroots remembrance group German Friends of Yad Vashem. It was displayed in a local museum in Kiel before the family brought it to Berlin.

Rachel's iconic photograph was seen around the world for the first time in the 1970s when a museum in Kiel put out a call for any relics or artifacts relating to Jewish life in the city before the Holocaust.

The photograph continues to serve as a reminder of the horrors about to befall the Jews of Europe, but also the light of Judaism and the will of the Jewish people to survive.