Staging Jewishness
Artist Talk with the Photographer Frédéric Brenner (video recording available)
“[It] felt like stumbling into a piece of street theater, a drama of redemption fit for one of the city’s famous opera houses, part morality play, part masquerade, part theater of memory—all performed above an abyss. […] Jewishness is being staged and celebrated everywhere, from theater to klezmer to Jewish cooking, but this “Jewish revival” often feels less like an act of healing than some novel form of disfigurement.”
– Frédéric Brenner in his essay on the exhibition ZERHEILT: HEALED TO PIECES
recording available
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)
Video recording from 2 March 2022; Jewish Museum Berlin 2022
In this artist talk, the photographer Frédéric Brenner will speak with the historian Daniel Schönpflug about how to contextualize his work ZERHEILT: HEALED TO PIECES, which is currently on display at the Jewish Museum Berlin. Does the photographic essay fit within a practice of staging Jewishness? Or are the photographs an echo of a farewell, perhaps an expression of a new beginning? Are Jews already losing their symbolic function for Germans?
In his photographic essay ZERHEILT, the internationally renowned photographer Frédéric Brenner explores Berlin as a site of various stagings of Jewishness. The exhibition offers fragmentary glimpses of life in this city that are replete with paradoxes, dissonances, gaps, and opposing narratives between grappling with the past and the desire for redemption.
Frédéric Brenner
Frédéric Brenner is known for his photographic investigations of longing, belonging, and exclusion. In his works, he creates a visual memory of contemporary Jewish people.
Daniel Schönpflug
Daniel Schönpflug is a professor of contemporary history at the Freie Universität Berlin and the academic coordinator at the Wissenschaftskollegs zu Berlin (Berlin Institute for Advanced Study).
Frédéric Brenner; photo: Ali Ghandtschi
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Exhibition Frédéric Brenner – ZERHEILT: HEALED TO PIECES: Features & Programs
- Exhibition Webpage
- Frédéric Brenner – ZERHEILT: HEALED TO PIECES: 3 Sep 2021 to 24 Apr 2022
- Publications
- Frédéric Brenner: ZERHEILT: HEALED TO PIECES: 2021, publication accompanying the exhibition
- Accompanying Events
- Hevrutah: Zerheilen – Healing to Pieces: Invitation to learn together
- See also
- Frédéric Brenner, photographer
- Digital Content
- Without the Leaves, I Would Not Have Started: Essay by Frédéric Brenner on ZERHEILT: HEALED TO PIECES, 2021
- Current page: Staging Jewishness: Video recording of the artist talk with Frédéric Brenner, 2022
- ZERHEILT: HEALED TO PIECES – The Subjects Pose with Their Portraits: Photos and interviews about Jewish life in Berlin, 2021/22
- Hevrutah on Memory/Place: Video recording, with Yemima Hadad, Netanel Olhoeft, Dekel Peretz, and Barbara Steiner, 2021, in German with English subtitles
- Hevrutah on Otherness/Responsibility: Video recording, with Liad Hussein Kantorowicz, Benyamin Reich, Irene Runge, and Adam Joachim Goldmann, 2021, in German with English subtitles
- Hevrutah on Homeland/Diaspora: Video recording, with Akiva Weingarten, Sonia Simmenauer, Elad Lapidot, and Aviva Ronnefeld, 2022, in German with English subtitles
Video Recordings: Watch Past Museum Events (83)
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Watch Past Museum Events
We film select events, such as conferences, panel discussions, book presentations, and our lecture series.
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Joshua Cohen in Conversation on Inventories: The Legacy of Salman Schocken
Part of the exhibition program
Discussion
20 May 2025 -
Paradoxes of Democracy
Panel discussion on the relation of the constitution and its protection by the intelligence service
Discussion
4 Mar 2025 -
Happy Birthday, Hans Rosenthal!
Celebrating the 100th birthday of an icon
Event
2 Apr 2025 -
In Two Worlds
Conversation with Eyewitness Jack Weil from Amsterdam (in German)
Eyewitness Talk
10 Mar 2025 -
Life and Trajectory of a Jewish Family from Baden
Conversation with Contemporary Witness Kurt Salomon Maier (in German)
Eyewitness Talk
28 Oct 2024 -
KOLOT – קולות – Voices
Perspectives on October 7 (in German)
Discussion
9 Oct 2024 -
Hidden in Enschede
Conversation with Contemporary Witness Herbert Zwartz (in German)
Eyewitness Talk
16 Apr 2024 -
Tolerance of Ambiguity and Antisemitism
Lecture by Ilka Quindeau as part of the series Where Does the Truth Lie? On the Tolerance of Ambiguity by Natan Sznaider (in German)
Lecture/Discussion
13 May 2024 -
Tolerance of Ambiguity and the Jewish Perspective
Opening of the lecture series Where Does the Truth Lie? On the Tolerance of Ambiguity by Natan Sznaider (in German)
Lecture/Discussion
10 Apr 2024 -
The Dream of a Jewish-Arab Orient
Lecture by Sebastian Schirrmeister on the writer M. Y. Ben-Gavriêl, part 5 of the Lecture Series The Imagined Orient, in German
Lecture/Discussion
14 Feb 2024 -
A Time Machine Made of Glass – E.M. Lilien’s View of the Hebrew Orient in Moses (Design for a Glass Window)
Lecture by Shelley Harten, part 4 of the Lecture Series The Imagined Orient, in German
Lecture/Discussion
23 Jan 2024 -
From Yeshiva to Cairo: How Gustav Weil became a Pioneer in the Study of the Qur’an
Lecture by Susannah Heschel, part 3 of the Lecture Series The Imagined Orient
Lecture/Discussion
13 Dec 2023 -
Approaching the “Orient” through pictures – the Life and Work of Jewish photographer Hermann Burchardt.
Lecture by Stefan Litt, part 2 of the Lecture Series The Imagined Orient, in German
Lecture/Discussion
8 Nov 2023 -
“Orient” – A Magic Word? On the German-Jewish History of a Term
Lecture by Kathrin Wittler, Part 1 of the Lecture Series The Imagined Orient, in German
Lecture/Discussion
9 Oct 2023 -
Boychiks in Berlin!
An evening of comedy with YidLife Crisis
Event
15 Jun 2023 -
Theodor Herzl. Statesman Without a State
Lecture and Discussion with Derek Penslar on the Occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Establishment of Israel, in German
Lecture/Discussion
31 May 2023 -
I'm Writing You From Berlin. An Evening with the Lasker-Wallfisch Family
Anita Lasker Wallfisch and Raphael Wallfisch join Maya Lasker-Wallfisch in an evening of music and conversation
Reading/Discussion
7 Feb 2023 -
Vanishing Points of Memory. On the Holocaust and Colonialism in the Present Day
A conversation with Natan Sznaider and René Aguigah, in German
Discussion
31 Jan 2023 -
Reconciliation with Evil: Story of a Survival
Book Presentation with Leon Weintraub, in German
Reading/Discussion
27 Oct 2022 -
Albert Einstein, Hans Kaufmann and Zionism
An unknown letter
Symposium
12 Sep 2022 -
Read the Signs
An evening to mark the 70th anniversary of the Night of Murdered Poets, in Yiddish and German
Reading/Discussion
14 Aug 2022 -
Symposium on the 70th Anniversary of the Night of Murdered Poets
Part of the Summer Program for Yiddish Language and Literature, in Yiddish, English and German
Symposium
14 Aug 2022 -
Mendelssohn Discourses: Media Revolution – Publicity, Celebrity, A Flood of Images
Caspar Battegay and Shmuel Feiner talk with curator Inka Bertz and Frederek Musall.
Panel Discussion
5 Jul 2022 -
Mendelssohn Discourses: Enlightenment – Fake News, Sentimentality, Reason
Philosophers Carolin Emcke and Hannah Peaceman in conversation with Frederek Musall and the curators Inka Bertz and Thomas Lackmann, in German
Panel Discussion
4 May 2022 -
Emancipation and Law
On the history of jurisprudence and Jewish equal rights – book launch and panel discussion, in German
Reading/Discussion
26 Apr 2022 -
“Ich kämpfe gegen alles, was mich niederdrücken will“ (I Fight Against Everything that Tries to Oppress Me)
The diary of Jewish communist resistance fighter Karl Neuhof and correspondence with his family, in German
Reading/Discussion
11 Apr 2022 -
Rafi, Judenbub. Die Rückkehr der Seligmanns nach Deutschland
Book presentation and discussion with Rafael Seligmann, publicist, political scientist and historian, and Hetty Berg, director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, in German
Reading/Discussion
24 Mar 2022 -
Staging Jewishness
Artist talk with the photographer Frédéric Brenner
Artist Talk
2 Mar 2022 -
“The Lonely Living Stars”
Concert for the Memorial Day of the Victims of National Socialism, in German
Concert
27 Jan 2022 -
Shtetl Berlin All-Star Concert
Hanukkah 2021: Candle lighting with Yiddish songs, instrumental music and dance
Concert
2 Dec 2021 -
Iber der grenets / Crossing the Border: Yiddish Literature and Culture Today
Presentation of an extensive collection of Yiddish short stories, in German and Yiddish
Reading/Discussion
20 Nov 2021 -
Jews Don’t Count?
Book launch and talk with the author David Baddiel, Sascha Chaimowicz, Marina Chernivsky and Daniel Donskoy, moderated by Jo Frank
Reading/Discussion
26 Oct 2021 -
Is anyone still waiting for the Messiah? – Jewish and Christian Views
With Prof. Christoph Markschies (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Prof. Daniel Krochmalnik (University of Potsdam), in German
Discussion
24 Aug 2021 -
Yael Bartana – Redemption Now
Digital opening event with Yael Bartana, Hetty Berg, Shelley Harten and Gregor Lersch
Language: mainly in English, with brief sections in GermanExhibition Opening
3 Jun 2021 -
The 2nd DAGESH Art Award goes to Talya Feldman
& Opening of the Installation The Violence We Have Witnessed Carries a Weight on Our Hearts Language: English and German
Exhibition Opening
20 May 2021 -
In Celebration of Daniel Libeskind’s 75th birthday
with Daniel Libeskind, JMB Director Hetty Berg, and film director Axel Fuhrmann, moderated by Sonja Marx of Saarland Broadcasting
Discussion
4 May 2021 -
Shtetl Berlin All-Star Concert
Hanukkah 2020: Candle lighting with Yiddish songs, instrumental music and dance
Concert
12 Dec 2020 -
Shared History
Virtual Conference on 1,700 years of Jewish life in German-speaking lands, in German
Conference
7–9 Dec 2020 -
Conversation with the Artist Wendy Ewald
With Wendy Ewald and Gregor H. Lersch as part of the exhibition This Place
Artist Talk
5 Mar 2020 -
The Last Veit Simons from Berlin
One of Berlin’s oldest Jewish families in a transnational story of class, gender, and sexuality
With: Anna Hájková and Maria von der Heydt
Language: German, no subtitlesReading/Discussion
11 Dec 2019 -
Conversation with the Artist Thomas Struth
With Thomas Struth (photographer) and Theresia Ziehe (curator of photography), related to the exhibition This Place, in German
Artist Talk
5 Dec 2019 -
About a Tea Bowl
Discussion with brief presentations about interwoven experiences of post-Soviet Jewish migration, in German
Lecture/Discussion
27 Nov 2019 -
Ruth Wodak: Swing to the right?!
Ruth Wodak traces how a new “normality to the right” is establishing itself in many European countries, in German
W. Michael Blumenthal Lecture
17 October 2019 -
Karl M. von der Heyden: From Berlin to New York
In his book Karl M. von der Heyden describes his experiences as a child and youth in war-torn Germany and his journey to the USA, where he rose to the boardrooms of Pepsi and Dreamworks, in German
Reading/Discussion
29 Aug 2019 -
“To Know One Religion Is to Know None”
W. Michael Blumenthal Fellow Walid Abdelgawad talks about reflections on Islam and Judaism in the writings of German-speaking Jewish orientalists between 1833 and 1955, in German
Lecture/Discussion
28 Aug 2019 -
Museums, Religion, and the Work of Reconciliation and Remembrance
with the curators Jisgang Nika Collision (Haida Gwaii Museum, Haida Nation & Canada) and Léontine Meijer-van Mensch (Saxonian State Ethnographic Collections)
Lecture/Discussion
9 May 2019 -
Access Barriers. Critical Perspectives on Racism in Schools and Curatorial Practices
Keynote by Bonita Bennett (District Six Museum, Cape Town) at the conference Access Barriers on museums as places of social change.
Lecture/Discussion
20 Mar 2019 -
The Laskers from Breslau (Wrocław) – A Family Reunion in Music and Words
Cellist and contemporary witness Anita Lasker Wallfisch shares the stage with three generations of her family for the first time
Reading/Concert
27 Jan 2019 -
Happy Birthday, Academy Programs!
Welcoming Remarks and Introducing the Academy Programs | Discussion with Performance: Archive of Life. Memory in a Society Shaped by Migration | Panel Discussion: Jewish Fathers – Jewish Children? | Panel Discussion: A Pre-fascist Era? | Reception: 5 Years – 5 Friends – 5 Gifts
Video Recording
2 Dec 2018 -
Polish Perspectives on '68: March Protests
In Poland, the student protests were co-opted by an antisemitic rampage that resulted in 13,000 Jews being forced to leave the country, in German and Polish
Event
22 Nov 2018 -
Living with Islamophobia
The international conference Living with Islamophobia considered how cultural and religious affiliations are constructed and invited experts to enter into discussion.
Conference
11 + 12 Oct 2018 -
Michael Sfard: The Jerusalem Dispute. The Fight for Human Rights in Israeli Courts
Lecture by Michael Sfard, one of Israel’s leading human rights lawyers
Lecture/Discussion
6 Sep 2018 -
Imported Antisemitism?
Is Antisemitism increasing with the number of refugees from Arab countries? We discuss with political, academic, and practical experts which manifestations of antisemitism among Arab migrants and Muslims in Germany exist, in German
Lecture/Discussion
30 Aug 2018 -
Seyla Benhabib: The Global Refugee Crisis and the Challenge to Liberal Democracies
Seyla Benhabib (Yale University) discusses the challenges migration poses to liberal democracies
Lecture/Discussion
26 Jun 2018 -
Stolen Judaica. Provenance Research in Israel and Germany
In this symposium, research that explores the origins of Jewish ceremonial objects exclusively in Israel and Germany, took center stage for the first time, in German and English
Conference
18/19 Jun 2018 -
Ongoing Struggles. Anti-Discrimination Work during the Rise of the Far Right
Opening Session of the academic conference, including Imani Perry's keynote “What Lies Underneath: Difficult Histories and the Resurgence of The Far Right”
Conference
7 Jun 2018 -
Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem
Author Menachem Klein in Conversation with Cilly Kugelmann
Reading/Discussion
8 May 2018 -
What is the Relationship Between Antisemitism and Islamophobia?
Lectures by David Feldman and Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, in German and English
Lecture/Discussion
20 Mar 2018 -
The Book of Numbers
Reading and talk with the author Joshua Cohen and literary scholar Jan Wilm, in English and German
Reading/Discussion
12 Feb 2018 -
New Judaism – Alliances in Postmigrant Society
Discussion on concepts of being Jewish within the third generation of Jews in Germany, in German and English
Lecture/Discussion
16 Nov 2017 -
Jews in Muslim Majority Countries
International conference for scholars from different continents and academic disciplines, who discuss questions of culture, identity and memory of Jewish life in Arab and Muslim majority countries.
Conference
24 to 27 Oct 2017 -
Future Memories
Discussion on the Importance of Minority Perspectives for European Societies’ Commemorative Cultures, in German and English
Lecture/Discussion
26 Sep 2017 -
Luther, Rosenzweig, and the Script
Book presentation and discussion with Micha Brumlik, Walter Homolka, Christoph Kasten, Irmela von der Lühe, and Gesine Palmer , in German
Reading/Discussion
18 Sep 2017 -
Between the Lines
An evening with Israeli and German poets, in Hebrew and German
Reading/Discussion
9 Sep 2017 -
Religion. Fashion. Empowerment.
Discussion with Reina Lewis and Meriem Lebdiri, in English and German
Lecture/Discussion
29 Jun 2017 -
José Casanova: Secularisation or the Return of Religion?
Discussion on the Relationship Between Religion and Secularity in European Societies, in German
Lecture/Discussion
16 Mar 2017 -
Jews in North Africa During the Second World War
Theme day with lectures by Michel Abitbol, Eric Salerno, Patrick Bernhard, Haim Saadoun, and panel discussion
Language: German, English, and FrenchLecture/Discussion
26 Jan 2017 -
Sites of Memory: Lost and Entangled Narratives
With: Dr. Rosa Fava, Juliane Jurewicz, Prof. Dr. Iman Attia, Olga Gerstenberger, Ozan Keskinkiliç, Anita Awosusi, Ilona Lagrene, Prof. Dr. Michael Rothberg, and Serpil Polat
Language: German and English, no subtitlesConference
16 Sep 2016 -
Time of Crisis
With: Dan Diner, Adam Michnik, Dietmar Herz, Étienne François, and Hans Kundnani
Language: German, no subtitlesDiscussion
7 Sep 2016 -
Antisemitism in the Arabic World – Facts and Myths
With: Michael Kiefer and Omar Kamil
Language: German, no subtitlesLecture/Discussion
26 Apr 2016 -
Post-migrant Society?!
International conference from 12 to 14 November 2015
Recording of the opening event
Language: German and English, no subtitlesConference
12–14 Nov 2015 -
On Life – Working with People Traumatized by the Shoah
With: Giselle Cycowicz, Martin Auerbach and David Becker and Volker Beck
Language: German, no subtitlesLecture/Discussion
1 Oct 2015 -
Kill Me a Son!
Recording of the opening event
With: Prof. Dr. Peter Schäfer and Prof. Dr. Angelika Neuwirth
Language: German, no subtitlesSymposium
3–4 Sep 2015 -
A Shared View of Europe – Jewish and Muslim Experiences as Reflected in Public Controversies
Panel discussion
With: Prof. Nilüfer Göle, Shai Lavi and Gökçe Yurdakul
Language: English, no subtitlesPanel Discussion
19 Jan 2015 -
Contemporary Jewish life in a global modernity
International conference
Recording of the presentation “Future of European Jewry”
With: Dr. Karen Körber and Dr. Diana Pinto
Language: English, no subtitlesConference
11–12 Dec 2014 -
Snip it?!
Presentation of a study followed by a discussion, in German
With: Professor Kerem Öktem, Mounir Azzaoui, Dr. des. Alexander Hasgall, and Dr. des. Hannah C. Tzuberi.Lecture/Discussion
4 Dec 2014 -
A Rebbe for the World
On the 20th Yahrzeit of Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Introductions by Cilly Kugelmann and Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal and lecture by Joseph Telushkin, in German and English
Lecture/Discussion
1 Jul 2014 -
Concepts of Citizenship and Participation in European Comparison
Recording of the keynote by Prof. Dr. Rainer Bauböck and the followed panel discussion
With: Prof. Dr. Rainer Bauböck, Dr. Manuela Bojadžijev, Josip Juratovic and Dr. Monika Lüke
Language: German, no subtitlesConference
7–8 Apr 2014 -
Art and Culture in the Terezín Ghetto
In four lectures, the symposium explores the history of Theresienstadt, the “ghetto of exceptions,” from four different angles.
With: Wolfgang Benz, Anna Hájková and Hanno Loewy
Language: German, no subtitles
Conference
2 Mar 2014 -
The Connected Audience
Conference from 27 February 2014 to 28 February 2014
With: John H. Falk
Language: English, no subtitlesConference
27 Feb 2014 -
Is Higher Education a Safeguard Against Racism and Antisemitism?
Presentation of a study followed by panel discussion
With: Wassilis Kassis, Charlotte Schallié, Iman Attia, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum and Andreas Zick
Language: German, no subtitlesLecture/Discussion
20 Feb 2014 -
“What do we mean when we say ‘antisemitism’?”
Keynote lecture, opening the conference Antisemitism in Europe Today: the Phenomena, the Conflicts With: Brian Klug, in English
Lecture/Discussion
8 Nov 2013 -
Circumcision: Identity Politics and / or Health Issue?
With: Sander L. Gilman, in Englisch
Lecture/Discussion
8 May 2013
