Academic conferences organized or co-organized by the IGdJ bring together researchers from different levels of qualification and disciplines for international exchange.
International Conference, 18–20 November 2024
The international conference “Revisiting Jewish Feminism. The Jüdischer Frauenbund, a Contemporary Perspective on its 120th Jubilee” took place from 18 to 20 March 2024 the Jewish Museum Frankfurt. The conference was organized by Dr. Irene Aue-Ben David (LBI Jerusalem), Professor Abigail Gillman (Boston University), Dr. Anna-Dorothea Ludewig (MMZ Potsdam), Dr. Natalie Naimark-Goldberg and Dr. Kim Wünschmann (IGdJ). It took place in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, the Goethe University Frankfurt, the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the WAG.
In 1904, Bertha Pappenheim, Henriette May and Sidonie Werner founded the League of Jewish Women (JFB). The JFB campaigned for women's suffrage and professional qualifications for women and fought against the trafficking of girls. In 1938, the Nazis forced its dissolution. The 120th anniversary of its founding provided an opportunity to discuss new research in the field of women's and gender history as well as cultural, media and social history.
A special event on the program was the inter-generational roundtable discussion on Jewish feminism, which showed that the fight for women's rights remains urgent to this day. Dr. Véronique Sina chaired the discussion between Sabena Donath, Rabbi Prof. Dr. Elisa Klapheck, Cornelia Maimon Levi und Hanna Veiler. The panel discussed female representation in Judaism, the commitment of Jewish women in social, political and cultural work as well as experiences of interfaith and international cooperation, but also the lack of female solidarity, both historically and currently.
The conference programme can be found here.
Recordings of selected conference papers can be viewed here.
Photo: Rafael Herlich
Am 24. und 25. September 2024 fand die Abschlusskonferenz des BMBF-Verbundprojektes Antisemitismus in pädagogischen Kontexten. Religiös codierte Differenzkonstruktionen in der frühen und mittleren Kindheit (RelcoDiff) in Frankfurt a.M. statt. Die Abschlusstagung wurde gemeinsam vom IGdJ, der AWR und der Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt a.M. organisiert.
In Kooperation mit dem Projektpraxispartner, der Bildungsstätte Anne Frank, wurde die Tagung mit einer von Dr. Karen Körber moderierten Podiumsdiskussion eröffnet, die sich mit den Folgen des 7. Oktobers für jüdische und staatliche Schulen befasste und den Umgang mit Antisemitismus in der schulischen Bildungsarbeit diskutierte. Die folgende Präsentation der wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse nutzte Dr. Karen Körber, um als Verbundleiterin des Projekts auf Dimensionen von Antisemitismus in der postmigrantischen Gesellschaft aufmerksam zu machen, der bereits in der präventiven Arbeit mit Kindern in den verschiedenen Bildungseinrichtungen zu einer Herausforderung wird. Ein Befund, der sich in den anschließenden Vorträgen der drei Teilprojekte, die sich auf die Analyse des konfessionsübergreifenden Religionsunterrichts für alle an Hamburger Grundschulen (Akademie der Weltreligionen, Universität Hamburg), die Erfahrungen an jüdischen Grundschulen (Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden, Hamburg) und die Beobachtungen in Kindertagesstätten (Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt a. M.) fokussierten, eindrücklich bestätigte und in den Kommentaren und Diskussionsbeiträgen von geladenen Expertinnen aus den Bereichen der Antisemitismusforschung, der jüdischen Bildung und der Bildungspraxis erweitert und vertieft wurde.
Die erfolgreiche Tagung wurde mit dem Desiderat weiterführender Forschung, Vernetzung sowie dem Bedarf nach Transfermöglichkeiten und Handlungsempfehlungen (insbesondere im Bereich der Lehrkräfteausbildung, Unterrichtsmaterialien, digitale politische Bildung/Social Media) beschlossen.
Das Programm der Konferenz finden Sie hier
Mehr über das Projekt „Antisemitismus in pädagogischen Kontexten – Religiös codierte Differenzkonstruktionen in der frühen und mittleren Kindheit“
On June 26 and 27, 2024, the international workshop “Constructions of Jewish Cultural Heritage in Literary Texts on Architecture, City and Space” took place at the Warburg-Haus of the University of Hamburg. The workshop was organized by the Institute for the History of the German Jews in cooperation with the Bet Tfila – Research Unit for Jewish Architecture at the TU Braunschweig. In a thematic introduction and 13 contributions, academics from various disciplines explored the connection between architecture and literature against the background of Jewish cultural heritage negotiation processes.
The relationship between built architecture and its literary representation in the medium of text is currently enjoying increased academic interest. In the Jewish context, the descriptions of the architecture, furnishings, and rooms produced after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE can be seen as prominent reference point that illustrates this interaction between architecture and text. Nevertheless, beyond these early religious references, there are numerous examples in the various Jewish literatures of all periods that represent the relationships between built and imagined architecture as well as the significance of urban and spatial experience for literary texts. The perception and function of the relationship between text and (built) space changes in line with historical precedents, opening up a complex and exciting space for negotiation.
The understanding of the meaning of architecture, space, and city articulated in the texts was examined using different methodological approaches and questions. Various text genres, from novels to dramatic texts, as well as a wide range of places, spaces, and landscapes, from utopian village settlements to soccer stadiums and synagogues, formed the basis of the contributions. These were linked by the question of the specific semiotic systems, narratives, motifs, and symbols that are used for the literary construction of Jewish identities and Jewish heritage.
The workshop was organized as part of the DFG-funded project “Constructions of Jewish Cultural Heritage in Theoretical-Critical and Literary Texts on Architecture and Space,” which the two project partners are conducting in the context of the DFG Priority Program 2357 “Jewish Cultural Heritage”.
The workshop "The Space of the Museum" focussed on the complex challenges of the museum presentation and representation of "Jewishness". On the initiative of this year's Fellow Prof. Yaniv Feller (IGdJ/University of Florida) and in cooperation with Dr Kim Wünschmann and Dr Björn Siegel (both IGdJ), the workshop questioned the role of museums and focused both on the architecture of the buildings and the messages they convey in stone, as well as on the various narratives that are shown in temporary and permanent exhibitions in the buildings themselves.
The discussions showed how complex the challenges are in this regard, which curatorial decisions are made how and when, and which needs are brought to museums by an urban society and its communities. The keynote speech by Prof. Yaniv Feller and the comments by Dr Anna von Villiez (Memorial and Educational Site Israelite Girls' School, Adult Education Centre Hamburg) and Jana C. Reimer (Museum am Rotherbaum - Cultures and Arts of the World - MARKK) showed the possibilities of combining methodological-theoretical and practice-oriented approaches and discussed the different layers of perception and attributions of "Jewishness" as well as the limits of what is feasible. This also provided a link to many contemporary issues facing museums - including those in Hamburg - when redesigning a permanent exhibition or implementing a temporary exhibition, as demonstrated by the presentation by Prof Bettina Probst and Dr Kerstin Petermann (MHG), among others.
The workshop was generously supported by the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS.
Am 30. November 2023 fand im Rahmen des bundesweiten BMBF-Forschungsnetzwerk Antisemitismus im 21. Jahrhundert (FonA21) am Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden der ExpertInnenworkshop „Jüdische Bildung und Antisemitismusprävention – Praxisperspektiven auf staatliche und jüdische Schulen in Deutschland“ statt.
Dr. Karen Körber und Susanna Kunze, M.A. organisierten den Workshop in Kooperation mit der Akademie der Weltreligionen (AWR), der sich an die Praxispartnerinnen und -partner des Forschungsverbunds „Antisemitismus in pädagogischen Kontexten – Religiös codierte Differenzkonstruktionen in der frühen und mittleren Kindheit“ richtete, so dass eine möglichst große Reichweite und Vernetzung in öffentliche Schulen und in jüdische Schulen hinein gewonnen und ein gemeinsamer Austausch mit AkteurInnen und ExpertInnen aus beiden Feldern erreicht werden konnte. Da der Workshop nach dem 7. Oktober stattfand, wurden erste Eindrücke und Erfahrungen unserer Praxispartnerinnen und -partner in der Folge dieses Ereignisses in Deutschland aufgenommen und deren Desiderate für künftige Forschung und Transfer geäußert. Ziel des Workshops war die Reflexion von Forschungsergebnissen des Verbunds sowie das Anliegen, die Bedarfe jüdischer (Grund-)Schulen sowie Pädagoginnen und Pädagogen (z.B. Unterrichtsmaterialien, Fortbildungsangebote, Lehrer- und Lehrerinnenausbildung) sowie die Bedarfe staatlicher Grundschulen für eine Weiterentwicklung von (religiöser) Bildung und für Maßnahmen zur Antisemitismusprävention zu evaluieren und in diesem Bereich tätige Akteurinnen und Akteure miteinander zu vernetzen.
Das Programm des Workshops finden Sie hier.
Mehr über das Projekt „Antisemitismus in pädagogischen Kontexten – Religiös codierte Differenzkonstruktionen in der frühen und mittleren Kindheit“
International Conference at Warburg-Haus Hamburg, 27–29 March 2023
The international conference “Experiences of Violence and Notions of Temporality in Jewish History“ took place from 27 to 29 March 2023 at Warburg-Haus Hamburg and was organized by Monica Rüthers, Ilay Halpern (both Universität Hamburg) and Kim Wünschmann (IGdJ). Over 30 scholars from different academic disciplines discussed practices and experiences of anti-Jewish violence with a special focus on the analytical category of temporality. The key note lecture entitled „A Time to Live and a Time to Die, A Time to Remember and a Time to Forget: Temporality and Violence in the Modern Jewish Experience“ was delivered by Elissa Bemporad (City University New York).
Timing and escalation of violent acts such as pogroms were highly ritualized. Religious holidays or the state of war were predictable time frames for the perpetration of violent acts, which Jewish communities anticipated and remembered in specific ways. Conference delegates discussed various modes of anticipating anti-Jewish violence and actions that resulted from these anticipation. The processing, interpretation and narration of experiences of violence were another key theme. The conference fruitfully explored synergies and intersection between new research on anti-Jewish pogroms, Holocaust studies, Eastern European history and Jewish studies.
The conference was based on the work of the organizers as members of the research unit “GewaltZeiten / Times of Violence: Temporality in Violent Undertakings”, funded by the State Research Program of the City of Hamburg (LFF), in which scholars from Universität Hamburg, the Institute for the History of the German Jews and the Helmut Schmidt University of the Bundeswehr cooperate.
The conference report, composed by Katja Grosse-Sommer, has been published on HSozKult. The programme can be found here.
Under the title "German-Jewish History and Present", the IGdJ in November 2022 is examining the major challenges and different perspectives on Jewish history after 1945. With a multi-disciplinary perspective, the conference, which is being organized by Karen Körber and Björn Siegel and financially supported by the Zeit-Stiftung and the Carlebach Arbeitskreis at the University of Hamburg, aims to open up new approaches to post-1945 history and reveal different answers to the questions of belonging, religiosity, coming to terms with the past and the culture of remembrance. The conference will show what the adjective pairing "German-Jewish" can mean, which mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion come into play here and how history, literature, architecture etc. can contribute to answering these questions. The opening lecture will be given by Prof. Dr. Anthony D. Kauders (University of Keele/Great Britain) on 9.11.2022 in the reading room of the IGdJ (start: 18:00).