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Déjà-vu? A New Search for Old Answers

Online Lecture and Discussion with Ofer Waldman and Eva Illouz

In the fourth event of Déjà-vu? A New Search for Old Answers, Ofer Waldman talks to the French-Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz about the writer Jean Améry. His essays My Jewishness (original title Mein Judentum, 1978), The Limits of Solidarity (original title Grenzen der Solidarität, 1977) and those on the new antisemitism from 1969–1976 were republished in German and French in 2024. Améry, born in Vienna in 1912, describes his existential connection to Israel. The former Resistance fighter, concentration camp prisoner and Auschwitz survivor also discusses how left-wing anti-Zionism as “respectable antisemitism” separates him from the new left. Eva Illouz, who also wrote the foreword for the new French edition, uses Améry’s analyses to discuss the tensions of Jewish existence in the present, for which neither Zionism nor the political left or right can serve as orientation, a way out or consolation. According to Illouz, Améry demonstrates an “orphaned” Jewish consciousness.

Thu 16 Oct 2025, 7 pm

Where

online

The digital lecture series examines Jewish intellectuals of the nineteenth and early twentieth century and asks what long-overlooked answers their work might offer to the current challenges of Jewish life in Germany.

We invite four intellectuals from the social sciences and literature to answer the question: Which historic texts do they return to for answers to pressing present-day questions? And how do they read these texts?

Eva Illouz

Eva Illouz is Director of the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris. Her research interests include the sociology of culture, emotions and capitalism, in particular the impact of consumer culture and mass media on emotional patterns. Illouz is the author of 17 books on topics as diverse as romantic love, the emergence of psychological culture in the 20th century, the happiness industry and the impact of technology and modernity on emotions. Her books have been translated into 23 languages and her work has won numerous international awards. Illouz publishes regularly in , Süddeutsche Zeitung, Haaretz, El País and other media.

A short-haired woman wearing a black turtleneck sweater with a gold necklace stands in front of a light-colored stone wall with ivy vines and looks into the camera.

 Eva Illouz; photo: Corinna Kern/laif/Suhrkamp Verlag

Ofer Waldman

Since summer 2025 Ofer Waldman is head of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s office in Tel Aviv. Born in Jerusalem, he moved to Berlin in 1999 as a member of Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and  played among others in the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Nuremberg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Waldman received his doctorate from the Free University of Berlin (German Studies) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Jewish History). He is a freelance author and journalist. In 2021, he and Noam Brusilovsky won the ARD German Radio Play Award for the radio play Adolf Eichmann: Ein Hörprozess (roughly: Adolf Eichmann: An Audio Trial) (RBB/DLF). His literary debut, Singularkollektiv. Erzählungen (Singular Collective: Stories), was published by Wallstein Verlag in 2023, and in 2024 Suhrkamp published his correspondence with Sasha Marianna Salzmann about the world after 7 October under the title Gleichzeit (roughly: Sametime). His new book Verkämpftes Land. Beobachtungen (roughly: A country torn apart. Observations) was just published with Wallstein.

A man with dark hair looks friendly into the camera.

Ofer Waldman; photo: Bernd Brundert

Digital Events: Our Netiquette

Time and again, opinions are radicalized and conflicts are fueled in virtual spaces. The anonymity of communication makes it easy to forget that verbal or written attacks can be hurtful to those affected. The Jewish Museum Berlin strives to be a discrimination-free space. Please adhere to the following principles:

  • Depending on the format, you can participate with questions and discussion contributions in writing or orally.
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  • Speakers and participants should be treated as individuals with personal opinions, not primarily as representatives of a national, ethnic, religious, or cultural group.
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  • In the event of repeated violations of netiquette, we reserve the right to exclude you from the event.

Recording (including screenshots) and distributing the event or parts thereof, including the materials used, is not permitted. We record the event.

Das Aufzeichnen (auch durch Screenshots) und Verbreiten der Veranstaltung oder Teilen davon, einschließlich der verwendeten Materialien, ist unzulässig. We will record the event and make it available online afterwards. For more details, please refer to our privacy policy.

Updated on 14 April 2025

Purple-blue graphic with the inscription “Digital Lecture Series”

Digital Lecture Series
Déjà-vu? A New Search for Old Answers

We would like to thank the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung for supporting the Digital Lecture Series.

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Where, when, what?

  • Entry fee

    Free of charge
    Register for this event

  • Language English (Microsoft Teams offers the possibility of live subtitling or translation into different languages, information on this will follow in the event.)

    Please note The Lecture will be recorded and hosted on our website later on.

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