Shared History
Conference on 1,700 Years of Jewish Life in German-speaking Lands (video recordings available, in German)
In 2021, Germany will celebrate 1,700 years of Jewish life in German-speaking lands, and the Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin (LBI) is marking the occasion by launching its “Shared History Project.” As the name suggests, the lives of Jews have always been tightly interwoven with the history of the regions and countries where they lived. But to what extent can we truly speak of shared experiences during the past 17 centuries in Central Europe? What forms have the social, economic, and scientific exchange between the Jewish minority and Christian majority taken?
The international conference by the LBI in cooperation with the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (BpB) will investigate these questions in several interdisciplinary panels. The conference will foreground the diversity and multiplicity of voices within and among the Jewish communities in German-speaking lands over the centuries. It will also tackle the dominant themes of Jewish life and explore their enduring relevance to the present-life as a minority; social inclusion and exclusion; persecution, flight, and exile; acculturation; and questions of group and individual identity and place in society.
Program
Mon 7 Dec 2020
4.30 pm |
Images and objects from a shared history in the collections of the Jewish Museum BerlinChair: Aubrey Pomerance |
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6 pm |
Key note discussion: Jewish Life today – A multitude of voicesModerated by Dr. Josef Joffe (Die Zeit), speaking with Hetty Berg (Jewish Museum Berlin) and Max Czollek |
Tue 8 Dec 2020
1.30 pm |
The search for belonging: The ongoing struggles for minority identityChair: Hannah Dannel (Zentralrat der Juden) |
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3 pm |
Migration: From Refugees to CitizensChair: Prof. Dr. David Sorkin (Yale University) |
4.30 pm |
A rupture in History: Talking about the HolocaustChair: Prof. Dr. Deborah Dwork (Graduate Center—CUNY) |
5.30 pm |
Virtual Coffee Break: Break out room for discussions |
6 pm |
Flight: Exile in Modern TimesChair: Dr. Simone Blaschka (Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven) |
Wed 9 Dec 2020
2.30 pm |
Memory and commemoration: Historical narratives of minorities within discourse of the majority societyChair: Dr. Andreas Eberhardt (Alfred Landecker Stiftung) |
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4 pm |
Withstanding the pressure: Resilience and self-assertion in times of discriminationChair: Prof. Dr. Miriam Rürup (Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden) |
5.30 pm |
Shared spheres and cultural exchange – Acceptance as challenge and opportunityChair: Dr. Aya Elyada (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) |
6.30 pm |
Virtual Coffee Break: Break out room for discussion |
7 pm |
Final Discussion: “Shared” History? Reflections on a complex interplay |
Conference Program as PDF
Download (PDF / 1.4 MB / in English and German / not accessible)Video Recordings: Watch Past Museum Events (75)