Chair: Dr. Svenja Bethke (Leo Baeck Institute London)

Commentators:

Respondent: Elisabeth Wagner

This online event will be held in English.

What role did Jewish survivors in the German Democratic Republic play in the cultural debate on the Holocaust and National Socialism? How could Jewish experiences of persecution and antifascist convictions be negotiated and articulated in the face of history, politics, and state- imposed acts of remembrance? Drawing on personal documents and works by authors like Arnold Zweig and neglected historian Helmut Eschwege, the talk explores these questions and shows Jewish and, in some cases, non-Jewish actors’ motivations and options for action. In doing so, the talk examines the tension between…

Once the driving force of antisemitism worldwide, Nazi Germany waged war against Jews everywhere, radicalising antisemitism in word and deed. After 1945, Germany was pacified by the Allies, and open antisemitism became the antithesis of the new democratic Staatsräson. Yet today, antisemitism has returned – from the far right, parts of the radical left, Islamist movements, and the centre of society. This lecture examines the German case in a global context and asks whether the postwar Staatsräson – the commitment to Jewish life and Israel’s security – can hold, and what this means for…