This is the keynote speech for the Crossing Borders conference. To book tickets for the main conference, please visit https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/crossing-borders-2026
Conferences
Add the LBI events stream to your calendar:
Professor Eva Kovacs
5:30pm, 14 April 2026 - 07:00 PM
9:00am, 14 April 2026 - 05:00 PM
How do diaries, letters, memoirs, autobiographies capture the lived experiences of migration, exile, multilingualism, & cultural transition?
Crossing Borders brings together researchers exploring how life-writing and ego-documents (diaries, letters, memoirs, autobiographies) capture the lived experiences of migration, exile, multilingualism, and cultural transition. The conference highlights how personal narratives illuminate transnational movement, identity formation, and encounters across borders, languages, and empires.
Topics addressed across the programme…
7:00pm, 19 March 2026 - 08:00 PM
This online roundtable brought together scholars and practitioners to examine the Kindertransport through archival research, personal testimony, and reflective practice. Exploring sources ranged from international archives to refugees’ own words, the discussion considered how the Kindertransport has been remembered, interpreted, and mobilised in British culture, and why it continues to matter today.
Speakers:
9:00am, 7 January 2026
Eighth international multidisciplinary conference, to be held at Birkbeck, University of London, and The Wiener Holocaust Library, London, 7-9 January 2026
The conference will be held in-person only, with no opportunity to attend virtually.
This conference is planned as a follow-up to the seven successful conferences, which took place at Imperial War Museum London in 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015 and at Birkbeck, University of London, and The Wiener Holocaust Library in 2018 and 2023. It will continue to build on areas previously…
4:00pm, 12 September 2024
‘From Weimar to Hope – the Feuchtwangers in the Interwar Period.’
The Leo Baeck Institute London was pleased to have jointly organized the eleventh biennial meeting of the International Feuchtwanger Society (IFS), which took place from September 12-14, 2024, at Senate House.
The conference focused on Britain, the British Commonwealth, and the British Mandate of Palestine as hubs and transit points for Jews, intellectuals, artists, and political opponents of the National Socialist regime during the interwar and postwar years.
Professor Atina Grossmann
10:30am, 18 July 2024
The LBI London hosted a successful one-day workshop in collaboration with the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism (BISA) on July 18, 2024, at Birkbeck, University of London.
Titled Jewish Refugees in the British Empire, 1933–1948, the event, led by Professor Atina Grossmann (The Cooper Union), fostered interdisciplinary dialogue and scholarly exchange on the experiences of Jewish refugees in the British Empire before, during, and after the Holocaust.
10:00am, 17 October 2022
The conference A New Look at German-Jewish History through Photography focuses on the pre-digital age and approaches photography as a means for the historian to explore German-Jewish visual narratives of belonging in the context of both public and private visual language. The event is organised in collaboration with the German Historical Institute London and the Koebner-Minerva Center for German History (Israel). It is part of the Leo Baeck Institute London’s emerging research field Jewish Visual History…
9:00am, 4 May 2021
International Digital Workshop | Lichtenberg-Kolleg Göttingen & Leo Baeck Institute London
ABSTRACT
9:00am, 5 November 2019
Art History as an academic discipline in Britain is commonly regarded as a German import. Before the 1930s, British art writing was the domain of the amateur and connoisseur. This only changed radically with the influx of émigré scholars – most of them of German-Jewish descent – to Britain after 1933. These highly skilled professional art historians played a pivotal role in developing the research and teaching programmes of both the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes.
2:00am, 6 June 2019
New Perspectives in the History of German Judaism, Fascism, and Sexuality
Conference Berlin, 6 to 9 June 2019
On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Professor George L. Mosse three generations of historians will gather to commemorate and analyze his ongoing influence in European, Jewish, and Gender history, as well as the continued resonance of the Mosse family legacy in Berlin.
2:00am, 27 May 2019
International Conference in partnership with the Lichtenberg-Kolleg, Georg August Universität Göttingen and the Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden (IGdJ).
2:00am, 24 August 2017
The LBI London, in cooperation with LBI New York and with the Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences, is holding a workshop at the Center for Jewish History, New York, 24 August 2017.
1:30pm, 16 November 2016
The LBI PhD Colloquium took place in the library of the Leo Baeck Institute on the 16th of November at 1:30pm. Our PhD students presented their work in the presence of Prof Steven Aschheim (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) whose insightful comments led to many very interesting discussions. To view the program and participants click here.
10:00am, 10 July 2016
The Leo Baeck Institute is happy to announce its second workshop of the Leo Baeck Fellowship Programme 2015/16 from 10th - 13th July 2016 in Freudental, Germany.
The Leo Baeck Fellowship is an international fellowship programme aimed at PhD candidates researching the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. Every year, in cooperation with the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Leo Baeck Institute London offers to up to twelve doctoral candidates the opportunity to spend a year working on research at the location of their…
4:00pm, 6 April 2016
International conference at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB), Center for the History of Emotions in Berlin organized by MPIB, Center for Research on Antisemitism in Berlin and the Leo Baeck Institute London.
Berlin, 16-18 April 2012
10:00am, 8 May 2015
Exile in the Spotlight—LBI Conference on Émigré Theatre Giant Kurt Hirschfeld
An International Conference
10:00am, 23 April 2015
Doctoral Network in Jewish History: Basel, Manchester and QMUL
At the School of History, QMUL, 23 April 2015
Venue: The Leo Baeck Institute Library, Arts Two, Second Floor
Hosted by Professor Miri Rubin (QMUL), with Distinguished Guest Professor Erik Petry (Basel) Programme
10.00 Coffee and Welcome
10:00am, 14 September 2014
An International Conference
14-15 September 2014
Undisciplined: German Jewish Studies Today
The Leo Baeck Institute London
11:00am, 7 July 2014
ONE-DAY WORKSHOP
The Rescue of Jews in Western Europe during the Holocaust: The Local, the National and the Transnational
Monday 7th July 2014
Queen Mary, University of London (Arts Two, Room 3.20)
2:45pm, 11 May 2014
We are happy to announce the upcoming conference under the title Jews on the Move: Particularist Universality in Modern Cosmopolitanist Thought
This conference is organized by Prof Sander Gilman (Emory University) and Dr Cathy Gelbin (University of Manchester) in cooperation with the LBI London and will be held at Lecture Room 217, 2nd Floor, Arts Two Building, Queen Mary, University of London, on 11th and 12th May 2014. Please see below for further details of this event.
Jews on the Move: Particularist Universality in Modern…
11:00am, 25 June 2013
The Leo Baeck Institute London is happy to announce a symposium under the title ‘Forward from the Past’ The Kindertransport from a Contemporary Perspective to be held on the occasion of the 75 anniversary of the Kindertransport, to commemorate this historical event and to explore its fascinating aftermath.
3:00pm, 6 June 2012
10:00am, 26 May 2011
University of Fribourg, 16 –18 May 2011
An international conference organised by the Department of Historical Sciences, University of Fribourg and the Leo Baeck Institute London.
You can download the leaflet here.
9:30am, 23 November 2010
Woburn House Conference Centre, 23rd November 2010
A Conference organised by the Leo Baeck Institute London. This conference will discuss ideas of German-Jewish scholars and scientists who were forced to leave Germany in the 1930s and settled in the UK. The central questions are What was the impact of the British context on these individuals? What impact did these thinkers have on British intellectual life? What impact did they have on German academia after World War II?
The conference is held at the Woburn House Conference Centre, 20 Tavistock Square…
9:30am, 10 November 2010
This international conference aims to make a major contribution to the study of nationalism and anti-Semitism in an English-language and German context between 1871 and 1945. The event will be a major step forward in encouraging interdisciplinary exchange between scholars working in the fields of discourse analysis, political science and historiography. The conference will also provide an opportunity to found an international Historical Discourse Working Group. This interdisciplinary study network will continue to meet regularly after the conference.
Keynote Speakers:…
10:00am, 26 July 2010
26-27 July 2010 at the German Historical Institute London
International Conference organised by the German Historical Institute London and the Leo Baeck Institute London
2:30pm, 4 June 2010
4 June 2010, 13.30-16.30 UCL Department of German
Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations
10:00am, 17 May 2009
Berlin, 17–19 May 2009
The conference is a joint project of the Foundation «Remembrance, Responsibility and Future» (Stif- tung «Verantwortung, Erinnerung und Zukunft»), the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Leo Baeck Institute London.
The conference is part of the Leo Baeck Fellowship Programme. The former fellows Dr Nitzan Lebovic (Tel Aviv University) and Dr Mirjam Wenzel (Jewish Museum Berlin) initiated this conference. We are very grateful to The Foundation «Remembrance, Responsibility and…
3:00pm, 11 March 2009
Jerusalem, 11-12 March 2009
The conference was organized by the Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in cooperation with the School of History at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Centre for German-Jewish Studies at the University of Sussex, the Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung and the Leo Baeck Institute London.
Wednesday, March 11Welcome and refreshments Opening and Greetings
Chair: Steven Aschheim (Director, The Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center, The…
9:00am, 2 November 2008
International Conference held at the University of Manchester, 2-3 November, 2008
Hosted by the Jewish Studies Centre, Manchester University, with
support from the Leo Baeck Institute, London, and the British
Sociological Association Theory Study Group
Including a public lecture by Moishe Postone, Chicago, ‘History, the
Holocaust and the Left’, on Sunday, November 2, 5pm
Speakers from Canada, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Poland,
Switzerland, UK and USA include: Robert Fine, Richard H. King, Roland
…
10:00am, 28 April 2008
London, 28-29 April 2008, at the Wiener Library
An international conference organised by the LBI London and the Wiener Library as a contribution to the European Network for Research into Historical and Current Antisemitism
The conference looked at theories of antisemitism and antisemitic legacies in modern cultural and political theories. We assessed the state of the art in modern theories of antisemitism and examined problematic legacies that partly fostered these theories; we also discussed praxis oriented approaches of dealing with antisemitism in a number of European…
10:00am, 23 October 2006
Zurich, Theater Stadelhofen, 23-24 October 2006
International Conference of the LBI London and Jerusalem, and the Hermann Cohen Archive
10:00am, 29 January 2006
29 January 2006, Jerusalem
This was the fourth workshop held within the framework of the Leo Baeck Institute London programme in the history of German-Jewish contributions to science, and the second held jointly with the Sidney M. Edelstein Center at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
8:30pm, 11 July 2005
Zurich, Theater Stadelhofen, 11-12 July 2005
LBI London und LBI Jerusalem
The conference is supported by: Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich (ICZ), Jüdische Liberale Gemeinde Or Chadasch, Zürich (ILG) Posen Foundation, Luzern Saly Mayer Memorial Stiftung, Zürich Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund (SIG)
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Leo Baeck Institute, the LBI London and the LBI Jersualem organised a joint international conference entitled ‘Switzerland and Jewish history in German-speaking …
11:00am, 15 May 2005
International Conference on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Leo Baeck Institute
Jerusalem, 15-18 May 2005
LBI Jerusalem
Programme Sunday, 15 MayOpening Session Chair: Michael Meyer (International Chairman LBI)
Greetings Zwi Bacharach (Chairman LBI Jerusalem) Judge Izhak Englard Michael Heyd (Chairman Israel Historical Society)
Keynote Steven Aschheim Icons Beyond their Borders: The German-Jewish Intellectual Legacy at the Beginning of the Twenty First Century…
9:00am, 23 January 2005
London, Sunday, 23 January 2005
European Network for Research into Historical and Current Antisemitism in cooperation with the Centre for German-Jewish Studies at Sussex University Workshop organised by Raphael Gross (Director of the Leo Baeck Institute London and the Centre for German-Jewish Studies at Sussex University) Ben Barkow (Director of the Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library, London) No single methodology has been successful in fully accounting for the complex historical phenomenon of antisemitism.
9:00am, 13 December 2004
Brighton, 13-14 December 2004
Leo Baeck Institute London Bucerius Institute Centre for German-Jewish Studies
Organised by: Yfaat Weiss (Director of the Bucerius Institute for Research of Contemporary German History and Society, Haifa) Raphael Gross (Director of the Leo Baeck Institute, London and the Centre for German-Jewish Studies, University of Sussex)
11:00am, 4 October 2004
There is a widely-held belief that most achievements in science and the humanities have little or no relationship to the characteristics of particular social groups. That is, scientific accomplishments are “impersonal.” Thus “Jewishness” does not affect any scientific or scholarly methods or practice. However, some facts appear to challenge this view: for instance above-average representation of Jews in the sciences and the humanities when compared to their numbers in the general population and their exceptionally strong contribution to particular disciplines. To give but one example: in…
10:30am, 1 June 2003
Haifa, 1 June 2003
Leo Baeck Institute London Bucerius Center for Research of German Contemporary History and Society (University of Haifa)
10:00am, 25 September 2002
London, 25-27 September 2002
Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies
Institute of Germanic Studies (University of London)
German Historical Institute
Leo Baeck Institute London
Programme
Wednesday, 25 SeptemberProfessor Rüdiger Görner (IGS)
Professor J. M. Ritchie (Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies
Introduction
Deborah Vietor-Engländer (Darmstadt)
Hermynia zur Mühlen and the BBC
Ruth Longdin (New South Wales)
Ilse Barea, Mararet Rink and the BBC
10:00am, 3 July 2002
Hamburg, 3-6 July 2002
Leo Baeck Institut London Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung in cooperation with the Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst
Programme
Wednesday, 3 July
Prof Jan Philip Reemtsma (Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung)
Prof Peter Pulzer (All Souls College Oxford - Leo Baeck Institute London)
Begrüßung Prof Gesine Schwan (Frankfurt/Oder)
Wussten sie nicht, was sie tun? Die Deutschen in der Zeit des …
10:00am, 13 May 2002
A Seminar in Honour of Julius Carlebach
Brighton, 13 May 2002
Sussex Centre for German-Jewish Studies Leo Baeck Institute London
Monday, 13 May 2002
Professor Peter Pulzer (Oxford)
Introduction
John A. S. Grenville (Birmingham)
The Jews in Hamburg in Prosperity and Adversity
Dr Henri Soussan (Sussex)
The Rabbinical Tradition of Hamburg, Altona and Wandsbek
Professor William Outhwaite (Sussex)
Introduction
Andreas Braemer…
1:00am, 9 September 2001 - 12:59am, 13 September 2001
After two successful conferences at Clare College, Cambridge, which have resulted in the conference volumes Second Chance (1988) and Two Nations (1997), published in our Schriftenreihe in 1991 and 1999, we held a third Cambridge conference from 9-13 September 2001. The conference volume Towards Normality? Acculturation and Modern German Jewry, dedicated to the memory of Werner E. Mosse, has been published in 2003 in the Schriftenreihe.
The conference was organised by
Professor Andreas Gotzmann, University of Erfurt …
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