Media Library

What do you think about Jesus? Judaism, Islam, and Christianity

With Israel Yuval (Hebrew University in Jerusalem) and Maha El Kaisy-Friemuth (Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), in German and English

Lecture Series
18 Feb 2020

The Last Veit Simons from Berlin

Anna Hájková and Maria von der Heydt trace the lives of one of Berlin’s oldest and best-known Jewish families in a transnational story of class, gender, and sexuality, in German

Reading/Discussion
11 Dec 2019

About a Tea Bowl

27 November 2019
Discussion with brief presentations about interwoven experiences of post-Soviet Jewish migration (in German)

Conversation with the Artist Thomas Struth

5 December 2019
Photographer Thomas Struth and Theresia Ziehe, curator of photography at the Jewish Museum Berlin, talk about the process of creating the collective photography exhibition This Place.

Judaism and Islam – The History of Theological Relations

With Lukas Mühlethaler (Free University Berlin) and Imam Abdullah Antepli (Duke University, USA), in German and English

Lecture Series
21 Nov 2019

Mono or Poly? Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism

With Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein (Elijah Interfaith Institute) and Reza Shah-Kazemi (Institute of Ismaili Studies in London)

Lecture Series
4 Feb 2020

17 October 2019
Ruth Wodak traces how a new “normality to the right” is establishing itself in many European countries (in German)

Zvi Aviram: Brushes with Death

16 September 2019
Zvi Aviram was born in January 1927 in Berlin as Heinz Abrahamsohn. From age 14, he had to perform forced labor in the arms industry. During the so-called factory operation on 27 February 1943, his parents were arrested and deported and he himself went into illegality.

Karl M. von der Heyden: From Berlin to New York

29 August 2019
In his book From Berlin to New York, 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 began studying at Duke University in 1957 and rose to the boardrooms of Pepsi and Dreamworks.

Sally Perel:
Hitlerjunge Salomon

12 June 2019
Sally Perel was born in Peine in April 1925. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union he pretended to be a Volksdeutscher and called himself Josef Perjell.
In 1990, his memoirs were published and were filmed in the same year under the title Hitlerjunge Salomon.

“To Know One Religion Is to Know None”

28 August 2019
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)
Video: in German; no subtitles

Do You Believe in Miracles?

13 June 2019
Many people are skeptical of miracle stories found in Jewish and Muslim Scripture, or reject them entirely. For others, as believers, they are objective accounts of the facts and proof of God’s existence. Is it possible to believe in miracles in this day and age? A discussion with James A. Diamond, the expert in Jewish philosophy, and Umeyye Isra Yazicioglu, a scholar of religion.

Museums, Religion, and the Work of Reconciliation and Remembrance

9 May 2019
Museums are called on to deal critically and transparently with the often invisible colonial history of their collections. The curators Jisgang Nika Collision (Haida Gwaii Museum, Haida Nation & Canada) and Léontine Meijer-van Mensch (Saxonian State Ethnographic Collections) discussed this topic.

Humanity: Between Destiny and Free Will

30 April 2019
New findings in psychology, neurology, and genetics have been increasingly casting doubt on humans’ capacity to make conscious decisions. This comes down to whether humans are responsible for their own actions. Is our free will really just an illusion? A discussion with Alan Mittleman (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) and Martin Mahmud Kellner (Institute of Islamic Theology, Osnabrück).

Access Barriers. Critical Perspectives on Racism in Schools and Curatorial Practices

20 March 2019
The conference explored discriminatory access barriers in schools and questioned the museum practices of collecting, organizing and exhibiting from critical perspectives on racism. In her keynote, Bonita Bennett (District Six Museum, Cape Town) considered museums as places of social change.

How Much God Is in the Holy Scriptures?

5 March 2019
How can belief in the divine revelation of Scripture be reconciled with historical textual research? A discussion between Benjamin Sommer, an expert in modern Jewish theology, and Ghassan el Masri, researcher on the Koran in the context of the Arabic literature of his time.

God, Darwin, and Evolution

31 January 2019
Natan Slifkin ( Biblical Museum of Natural History, Israel) and Fatimah Jackson (Howard University, USA) discuss how Jewish and Islamic theologians treat evolutionary biology.

The Laskers from Breslau (Wrocław) – A Family Reunion in Music and Words

27 January 2019
Cellist and contemporary witness Anita Lasker Wallfisch shares the stage with three generations of her family for the first time.
Marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp on 27 January 1945, they read letters from the family written between 1942 and 1952 and play works by Beethoven, Schubert, Bloch, and others.

27 Jan 2019

Happy Birthday, Academy Programs!

2 December 2018
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

Peter Neuhof: A Youth in the Shadow of the Persecution

3 December 2018
Peter Neuhof speaks about his memories and experiences in an interview with Aubrey Pomerance, head of the archive. His parents were active members of the German Communist Party (KPD) and were arrested in 1943. Peter was able to remain in the parental home.

Polish Perspectives on '68: March Protests

22 November 2018
This event for the “'68 Now” series discusses (in German and Polish) the events of 1968 from the Polish perspective. In Poland, the student protests were co-opted by an antisemitic rampage that resulted in 13,000 Jews being forced to leave the country.

Science in the Light of Faith

20 November 2018
Geoffrey A. Mitelman and Ahmad S. Dallal discuss how Jewish and Islamic theologians have reflected for centuries on the conflicting powers of God and his revelation and human reason.

Living with Islamophobia

11 and 12 October 2018
The international conference “Living with Islamophobia” considered how cultural and religious affiliations are constructed and invited experts to enter into discussion.

Michael Sfard:
The Jerusalem Dispute. The Fight for Human Rights in Israeli Courts

6 September 2018
Lecture by Michael Sfard, one of Israel’s leading human rights lawyers

Imported Antisemitism?

30 August 2018
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).

Seyla Benhabib: The Global Refugee Crisis and the Challenge to Liberal Democracies

26 June 2018
Seyla Benhabib (Yale University) discusses the challenges migration poses to liberal democracies.

Hanni Levy:
Surviving in Berlin

25 June 2018
Hanni Levy describes her wartime memories and experiences. Hanni Levy, born in 1924, survived the Nazi era in hiding in Berlin with the help of courageous friends.

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.

Conference
18/19 Jun 2018

My God, Your God, No God

14 June 2018
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights

Ongoing Struggles. Anti-Discrimination Work during the Rise of the Far Right

7 June 2018
Opening Session of the academic conference
Including Imani Perry's keynote »What Lies Underneath: Difficult Histories and the Resurgence of The Far Right«

Anita Lasker Wallfisch: Auschwitz Never Left Me

28 May 2018
Born in Breslau in 1925, Anita Lasker Wallfisch studied cello in Berlin from 1938. In 1942, Anita’s parents were deported to Izbica and murdered, and in 1943 Anita and her sister Renate were deported to Ausschwitz.

Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem

8 May 2018
Author Menachem Klein in Conversation with Cilly Kugelmann

Equal before God and Humans?

3 May 2018
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights

How Much Criticism Do Judaism and Islam Tolerate?

12 April 2018
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights

Margot Friedländer: Try to Make Your Life

9 April 2018
Margot Friedländer was born in 1921 in Berlin and has had close ties with the museum for many years. She reads from her memoir, which takes its title from her mother’s last message to her: Try to Make Your Life.

What is the Relationship Between Antisemitism and Islamophobia?

20 March 2018
Lectures by David Feldman and Stefanie Schüler-Springorum

The Right to Life

8 March 2018
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights

The Book of Numbers

12 February 2018
Reading and Talk with the Author Joshua Cohen and Literary Scholar Jan Wilm

Walter Frankenstein: Not with Us

31 January 2018
Born in 1924 in West Prussia, Walter Frankenstein lived in Berlin from 1936. When deportation threatened, he went into hiding with his wife and their five-week-old son. The family managed to survive with the help of friends.

“And the day will come ...”

11 January 2018
Eyewitness Horst Selbiger in Conversation with Léontine Meijer-van Mensch

Human Rights Treaties and How They are Received

25 January 2018
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights

Kurt Roberg: A Visa Or Your Life

4 December 2017
Born in Celle in 1924, 14-year-old Kurt Roberg fled alone after the 1938 November pogrom to the Netherlands, where he was to finish school. He finally reaches his family in New York via Berlin and Lisbon in 1941.
Language: German

Human Rights and Religions – A Contradiction?

23 November 2017
Part of our lecture series Jewish and Islamic Perspectives on Human Rights

New Judaism – Alliances in Postmigrant Society

16 November 2017
Discussion on concepts of being Jewish within the third generation of Jews in Germany (in German and English)

Jews in Muslim Majority Countries

24 to 27 October 2017
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.

Henry Wuga: A Nuremberger from Glasgow

23 October 2017
Henry Wuga was born to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father in Nuremberg in 1924. In 1938, his parents were able to send him to Scotland with a children’s transport and later in 1947, he could bring his mother, who had survived in hiding, to his home in Glasgow.
Language: German

Future Memories

26 September 2017
Discussion on the Importance of Minority Perspectives for European Societies’ Commemorative Cultures (in German and English)

Luther, Rosenzweig, and the Script

18 September 2017
Book Presentation and Discussion (in German)

Between the Lines

9 September 2017
An Evening with Israeli and German Poets (in Hebrew and German)

Religion. Fashion. Empowerment.

29 June 2017
Discussion with Reina Lewis and Meriem Lebdiri (in German and English)

Sexual Ethics: Sexuality, Lust, Eroticism, and God

16 May 2017
Panel discussion with David Biale and Kecia Ali (in German and English)

Military Ethics: The (Religious) Laws Silent Beneath the Weapons?

6 April 2017
Panel discussion with Michael Broyde and Asma Afsaruddin (in German and English)

The Boundaries of Life - Bioethical Challenges

23 February 2017
Panel discussion with Laurie Zoloth and Ilhan Ilkilic (in German and English)

Jews in North Africa During the Second World War

26 Januar 2017
Theme day with lectures by Michel Abitbol, Eric Salerno, Patrick Bernhard, Haim Saadoun, and panel discussion
Language: German, English, and French

Business Ethics – Is Capitalism Kosher/Halal?

8 December 2016
Panel discussion with Nathan Lee Kaplan and Idris Nassery
Language: German, no subtitles

"Nothing can Hurt Those who Already Died Once" - Discussion with Contemporary Witness Marko Feingold

Event on 10 November 2016
With: Marko Feingold, Peter Schäfer, Uwe Neumärker
Language: German, no subtitles

Social Ethics – On Fair Social Order

Panel discussion on 26 October 2016
With: Micha Brumlik and Ingrid Mattson
Language: German and English, no subtitles

Sites of Memory: Lost and Entangled Narratives

Conference on 16 September 2016
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 subtitles

TIME OF CRISIS

Panel discussion on 7 September 2016
With: Dan Diner, Adam Michnik, Dietmar Herz, Étienne François, and Hans Kundnani
Language: German, no subtitles

Organic Meets Kosher and Halal

Dialogical lecture on 1 June 2016
With: Shai Lavi and Sarra Tlili
Language: English, no subtitles

Antisemitism in the Arabic World – Facts and Myths

Panel discussion on 26 April 2016
With: Michael Kiefer and Omar Kamil
Language: German, no subtitles

Feminist Approaches to Judaism and Islam

Panel discussion on 14 April 2016
With: Judith Plaskow and Ziba Mir-Hosseini
Language: English, no subtitles

"Mich hat Auschwitz nie verlassen" (Auschwitz has never left me)

Event on 1 March 2016
With: Renate Lasker-Harpprecht and Anita Lasker Wallfisch
Language: German, no subtitles

Becoming a Jew, Becoming a Muslim

Panel discussion on 18 February 2016
With: Tobias Jona Simon and Esra Özyürek
Language: German and English, no subtitles

Religious Law and Secular State

Dialogical lecture on 9 December 2015
With: Ronen Reichman and Mathias Rohe
Language: German, no subtitles

Post-migrant Society?!

International conference from 12 to 14 November 2015
Recording of the opening event
Language: German and English, no subtitles

What Does Diaspora Mean for Jews and Muslims?

Dialogical lecture on 29 October 2015
With: Michael L. Satlow and Sarah Albrecht
Language: German and English, no subtitles

On Life – Working with People Traumatized by the Shoah

Panel discussion on 1 October 2015
With: Giselle Cycowicz, Martin Auerbach and David Becker and Volker Beck
Language: German, no subtitles

Kill Me a Son!

Symposium from 3 September 2015 to 4 September 2015
Recording of the opening event
With: Prof. Dr. Peter Schäfer and Prof. Dr. Angelika Neuwirth
Language: German, no subtitles

A Shared View of Europe – Jewish and Muslim Experiences as Reflected in Public Controversies

Panel discussion on 19 January 2015
With: Prof. Nilüfer Göle, Shai Lavi and Gökçe Yurdakul
Language: German, no subtitles

Contemporary Jewish life in a global modernity

International conference from 11 December 2014 to 12 December 2014
Recording of the presentation "Future of European Jewry"
With: Dr. Karen Körber and Dr. Diana Pinto
Language: English, no subtitles

Snip it?!

Presentation of a study followed by a discussion on 4 December 2014
With: Professor Kerem Öktem, Mounir Azzaoui, Dr. des. Alexander Hasgall, and Dr. des. Hannah C. Tzuberi.

Concepts of Citizenship and Participation in European Comparison

Symposium from 7 April 2014 to 8 April 2014
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 subtitles

Art and Culture in the Terezín Ghetto

Symposium on 2 March 2014
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

The Connected Audience

Conference from 27 February 2014 to 28 February 2014
With: John H. Falk
Language: English, no subtitles

Is Higher Education a Safeguard Against Racism and Antisemitism?

Presentation of a study followed by panel discussion on 20 February 2014
With: Wassilis Kassis, Charlotte Schallié, Iman Attia, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum and Andreas Zick
Language: German, no subtitles

"What do we mean when we say 'antisemitism'?"

Keynote lecture on 8 November 2013
Opening of the conference Antisemitism in Europe Today: the Phenomena, the Conflicts
With: Brian Klug
Language: English

Circumcision: Identity Politics and / or Health Issue?

Talk on 8 May 2013
With: Sander L. Gilman
in Englisch

World History in Berlin

30 October 2019
Lectures and discussion about the Humboldt brothers and the jewish enlightenment (in German)

Antisemitism Today – A Challenge for School and Society

21 February 2019
Talk by Juliane Wetzel as part of the symposium Actively Countering Antisemitism and Exclusion (in German)

Katharina Galor: The Temple Mount

9 January 2019
Archaeologist Katharina Galor talks about the historical and archaeological heritage of Jerusalem’s most controversial site – the Temple Mount (Har haBait). She presents various research initiatives and highlights the role of religiously or politically motivated agendas in the research process.

Assaf Gavron:
Achtzehn Hiebe (Eighteen Blows)

28 July 2018
Reading and Discussion
Achtzehn Hiebe is a novel of love and a detective story, a piece of contemporary history, and a journey through Israel of today. The Israeli author Assaf Gavron presents his new novel with the actor Golo Euler and the journalist Ulrich Gutmair (taz).

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.

Conference
18/19 Jun 2018

Rechavia – Grunewald in the Orient

28 February 2018
Reading with Thomas Sparr on German-Jewish Jerusalem (in German)

A Canon of Jewish Renaissance

22 February 2018
Bernhard Jensen, author of the first monograph about the Soncino Society in conversation with publisher Thedel von Wallmoden (in German)

Jerusalem for Cowards

19 February 2018
Discussion with filmmakers Dalia Castel and Orit Nahmias following the screening of Jerusalem for Cowards (in German and English)

Who is carrying the Menorah?

8 February 2018
Talk by Steven Fine on Jewish Counter-Histories of the Arch of Titus Spoils Panel

The Many Deaths of Jew Süss

22 January 2018
Reading with Yair Mintzker on Joseph Süß Oppenheimer – Jew Süss

Germanija. How I Became an Adult and a Jew in Germany

19 October 2017
Reading and discussion on Dmitrij Belkin's narrative that also throws light on immigration today.

IN-/EXCLUSIONS and Self-Empowerment in the Cultural Business

12 October 2017
With Max Czollek, Dan Thy Nguyen, Sandrine Micossé-Aikins, and Mutlu Ergün-Hamaz (in German)

Volk, Volksgemeinschaft, AfD (People, National Community, AfD)

10 October 2017
Book presentation and discussion with Alexander Häusler and the author Michael Wildt (in German)

Incredibly Clever

5 August 2017
Iris Berben reads Paula Buber (in German and English)

Before the After Party

15 July 2017
Reading and talk with the author Molly Antopol, translator Patricia Klobusiczky and actor Katharina Marie Schubert (in German and English).

Yousef Abad

6 July 2017
Eliz Sanasarian and Elham Rokni on video art by Elham Rokni and the situation of Jews in Iran from the 1979 revolution to today.

The New Völkerwanderung
Book Presentation by Asfa Wossen Asserate

3 July 2017
Asfa-Wossen Asserate presents his latest book Die neue Völkerwanderung (The New Völkerwanderung) on the grievances of the EU’s Africa policy.

Peter Schäfer – "Two gods in heaven. Concepts of god in the ancient Jewish world"

12 June 2017
Peter Schäfer and Michael Wolffsohn on monotheism in Judaism and Christianity and concepts of a second god.

With Karamba to the Bundestag
My Journey from Senegal to the German Parliament

1 June 2017
Karamba Diaby tells of his birth country Senegal, of life in the GDR, his work in the Bundestag, and of his vision of an open and future-oriented society (in German).

Ariel Sabar
My Father’s Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq

11 May 2017
Reading and talk with the writer Ariel Sabar on the story of his father Yona Sabar, professor of the Neo-Aramaic language, and the Kurdish-Jewish history.

The Dress of the Unfaithful Wife
Artist Talk and Discussion on Women and Sexuality in Judaism

9 May 2017
Talk with Andi LaVine Arnovitz, Amy K. Milligan, Professor for Jewish Studies and Women's Studies, and Emily D. Bilski, art historian, on the role of women in religious Judaism.

Israelis in Germany
Ideological Debates and Changing Identities

4 May 2017
Talk and Slideshow with Dr. Dani Kranz and Katja Harbi from the University of Wuppertal on Israeli Jews in today's Germany (in German).

Im/Possibilities
Perspectives on Refugee Participation

29 March 2017
Conference on the situation for refugees in Europe and Germany. Recording of the opening event with a talk by Gurminder K Bhambra, Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, UK, followed by a panel discussion (in German and English).

Our Father: A Sinti Family Recounts

23 March 2017
Conversation and reading with the German-Sinti civil rights activist and author Anita Awosusi and her daughter Tayo Onutor about their family’s history (in German).

Europe Against the Jews. 1880-1945

22 February 2017
Historian Götz Aly and Daniel Cohn-Bendit discuss antisemitism in Eastern and Western Europe from 1880 to the present (in German).

The Acid Test
How Fear of Foreigners is Threatening our Democracy

16 February 2017
The Islamic studies and education scholar Lamya Kaddor reads from her book and discusses integration with Minister of State Aydan Özoğuz and Andreas Zick (in German).

Gottes Körper (God's Body)

13 February 2017
Christoph Markschies in conversation with Peter Schäfer about Christian conceptions of God and their roots in other ancient religions (in German).

All Sorts of Stories

21 November 2016
The actor Johanna Wokalek reads from Bertha Pappenheim’s German translation of the Maase book, a collection of Yiddish stories, fairy tales, and legends (in German).

Joshua Cohen:
You want a golem?

17 November 2016
Reading and conversation with Joshua Cohen and Caspar Battegay about the golem myth in the age of automation.

A Jew in Neukölln – My Path to Coexistence of Religions

19 October 2016
The theology student and writer Ármin Langer reads from his book and talks about Jewish life in Neukölln (in German).

The Clay Giant's Alive!

8 October 2016
Anke Kuhl reads from her comic about two kids and their golem, with musical accompaniment by the cellist Martin Klenk (in German).

Reading with Christian Berkel: Tevye the Dairyman

9 July 2016
To mark the 100th anniversary of Sholem Alejchem’s death, the actor Christian Berkel will read from the new translation of the book Tevye the Dairyman

Herzl reloaded – It’s No Fairytale

7 July 2016
Staged reading. Doron Rabinovici, writer and historian, and Natan Sznaider, sociologist, have a fictional email correspondence with Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism (in German).

Ludwig Haas – A Left-liberal Campaigner for Peace and Democracy

9 June 2016
Symposium with Evening Lecture by Gerhart Baum on the liberal Campaigner Ludwig Haas (1875-1930) and "Perspectives of Left-wing Liberalism Today".

The Holocaust and the Problem of Visual Representation

30 May 2016
Talk with artist and exhibition curator Peter Weibel about Boris Lurie and visual representation of the Holocaust (in German).

Helga Krohn: Bruno Asch

19 May 2016
Reading and talk with Helga Krohn on the local politician and socialist Bruno Asch.

Angst ums Abendland (Fears For the West)
Book Presentation with Daniel Bax

6 April 2016
Talk with Daniel Bax and Gideon Botsch on Right-wing populist parties, anti-Muslim sentiments, flight and asylum (in German).

Prize for Understanding and Tolerance

14 November 2015
Acceptance speech by the 2015 award winner: W. Michael Blumenthal, Founding Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin (in German).

Béla Guttmann - The World History of Football in one Person

4 August 2015
The writer Detlev Claussen presents his book about the Hungarian-Jewish soccer coach Béla Guttmann (in German).

Attempts to Describe Anti-Semitism

22 April 2015
Book presentation and discussion on the history of antisemitism research before 1944 with Hans-Joachim Hahn, Olaf Kistenmacher, Dr. Werner Treß, and Franziska Krah (in German).

From a Berlin Farce to a Story of Success

2 March 2015
The writer Daniel Bussenius talks with Inka Bertz and Heinrich Wefing, reporter from Die Zeit, about the museum’s development from 1971 to 2001 (in German).

The Realignment of "Education after Auschwitz" in Immigration Society

27 January 2015
Book presentation and panel discussion with the author Rosa Fava, Angela Kühner (University of Frankfurt), Selman Erkovan, history teacher in training, and Marco Kühnert, a guide at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, Hamburg (in German).

The Book of Job. Aesthetics, Ethics, Hermeneutics

21 January 2015
The editors of a volume of essays about the Book of Job, Leora Batnitzky (Princeton) and Ilana Pardes (Jerusalem), in conversation with Vivian Liska (in German and English).

What’s your "Heimat"?

14 November 2014
W. Michael Blumenthal, Founding Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, and Monika Grütters, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, talk about culture, religion, and being at home in a foreign place (in German).

Zimzum. God and the creation of the world

30 October 2014
Author Christoph Schulte talks with Micha Brumlik and Vivian Liska about his book on the notion of zimzum (tzimtzum) in Jewish mysticism (in German).

Hebrew Worlds – On the Presence of Ancient Texts in Modern Ivrith

27 October 2014
Anne Birkenhauer, a translator and the August Wilhelm Schlegel Guest Professor of the German Translation Fund and the FU Berlin, gives her inaugural lecture (in German).

Forgotten Soldiers?

3 September 2014
Historian Tim Grady presents his research on the commemoration of German-Jewish soldiers from the First World War.

The pictures are among us

7 April 2014
Presentation of a book about the treatment and business of art stolen by the Nazis and the Gurlitt case with the writer Stefan Koldehoff and Michael Naumann (in German).

Modernized, then Tolerated?

10 October 2013
Panel discussion with Micha Brumlik, Petra Bahr, Kadir Sanci, and Thomas Bauer about religion and navigating between tradition and adaptation (in German).

1933: Denial, Opposition, and Protest

8 August 2013
Talk by Wolf Gruner about his research into German Jews’ responses to Nazi persecution (in German).

Peter Schäfer: The Origins of Jewish Mysticism

25 June 2012
Panel discussion between the author Peter Schäfer, Christoph Markschies, and Micha Brumlik about Schäfer’s book on the history of early Jewish mysticism (in German).

The History of Jews and Dönme in Turkey

31 January 2011
The Turkish studies scholar Corry Guttstadt and the historian Marc Baer discuss the history of Jews and Dönme (converts) in Turkey (in German).

Perrine Simon-Nahum: Jews in France Today

29 November 2010
Talk by Perrine Simon-Nahum about her book on the circumstances of Jews in France, both past and present.

W. Michael Blumenthal: Around the World in Eighty Years. My Life

30 September 2010
W. Michael Blumenthal, Founding Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, presents his memoir (in German).

Jewish Youth Movement in Germany

22 May 2010
German-language talk by Ulrike Pilarczyk and panel discussion with Micha Brumlik, Hans Jakob Ginsburg, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, and Moshe Zuckermann about the history of the Zionist youth movement in Germany (in German).

Dialogues on Jewish Present: On the Question of Redemption – Messianism and the End of Days

10 December 2009
Reading and discussion with Moshe Idel, Elliot R. Wolfson, and Micha Brumlik about the Messianic promise of redemption and its relevance in the twenty-first century.

Walther Rathenau's Life: Text and Context

15 October 2009
Talk by Shulamit Volkov about the life of the writer, politician, and industrialist Walther Rathenau (in German).

Migrants Moving History

25 October 2008
Talk by Saskia Sassen about immigration, diversity, and future prospects for dealing with history and citizenship in multiethnic societies.

Self Displaced Person. Peter Szondi's Problematic Judaism

3 December 2007
Talk by Andreas Isenschchmid about the life and work of the literary scholar Peter Szondi (in German).

Painted in words. The portrait of a lost time

10 October 2007
Reading and conversation with the artist Samuel Bak about his family’s story and his survival as a child in German-occupied Vilnius (in German).

A synagogue curtain at the Brandenburg Cathedral Chapter

23 November 2006
Talk by Vera Bendt about a synagogue curtain that was discovered at the Brandenburg Cathedral Chapter, where it had been listed in records as an altar curtain (in German).

Exile in Shanghai

Conversation between W. Michael Blumenthal and Horst Eisfelder about the time they both spent in Shanghai, where 18,000 Jews from Germany had taken refuge (in German).

14 Nov 2006

The place of psychoanalysis in the history of the Jews

30 May 2005
Talk by Eli Zaretsky about the influence of psychoanalysis on Judaism and the place of psychoanalysis in Jewish history.

Breaking Ground

25 January 2005
In conversation with Susanne Weingarten, Daniel Libeskind presents his autobiography Breaking Ground: Adventures in Life and Architecture.

The Fragile Foundation: The Quest for German-Jewish “Normalcy”

30 September 2003
Salomon Korn reads essays from his book about Jewish life in Germany, Jewish culture and remembrance, architecture, and politics (in German).

Times of Commemoration: On Jewish Histories and Others

24 June 2003
Book presentation by the historian Dan Diner about remembering the twentieth century as an era of violence, forced displacement, and genocide (in German).