The Jewish Museum Berlin is the only institution in the world that owns all the Soncino Society’s publications. In 2016, the museum made the unique collection accessible via the library's online catalog.
In the first monograph, Bernhard Jensen provides an overview of all the Soncino Society’s publications, which he sees as voices of an era that at the same time meant the end of German Jewry.
Past event
Where
Old Building, level 2, Great Hall
Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin
Audio recording of the event A Canon of Jewish Renaissance (in German), 22 February 2018; Jewish Museum Berlin 2018
The Soncino Society
Inspired by Zionism, the Jewish Renaissance developed into a Jewish cultural self-awareness beyond religion and assimilation at the end of the 19th century. The Soncino Society was founded in 1924 as an offshoot of this movement, absorbing the impulses of the German book art movement and transferring it to Jewish book culture. It addressed Orthodox, Liberal, and Zionist Jews and with 650 members soon became one of the largest bibliophilic associations in the Weimar Republic.
Up until its dissolution in 1937, it had published over a hundred publications from the Hebrew Bible to modern literature.
Bernhard Jensen
Born in 1968, Bernhard Jensen was awarded a doctorate in philosophy in 2001 and has been working as a librarian at the Jewish Museum Berlin since 2004.
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Audio Recordings: Listen to Past Museum Events (64)
Listen to Past Museum Events
Lectures, book presentations, theatrical readings, panel discussions, and award ceremonies
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World History in Berlin
The Humboldt Brothers and the Jewish Enlightenment
With: Uta Lohmann, Sebastian Panwitz, and Conrad Wiedemann, Humboldt researchers
Language: GermanLecture/Discussion
30 Oct 2019 -
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 Jan 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 GermanyIn 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
Reading and discussion on Dmitrij Belkin's narrative that also throws light on immigration today.
19 Oct 2017 -
IN-/EXCLUSIONS and Self-Empowerment in the Cultural Business
With Max Czollek, Dan Thy Nguyen, Sandrine Micossé-Aikins, and Mutlu Ergün-Hamaz (in German)
12 Oct 2017 -
Volk, Volksgemeinschaft, AfD (People, National Community, AfD)
Book presentation and discussion with Alexander Häusler and the author Michael Wildt (in German)
10 Oct 2017 -
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
Eliz Sanasarian and Elham Rokni on video art by Elham Rokni and the situation of Jews in Iran from the 1979 revolution to today.
6 Jul 2017 -
The New Völkerwanderung
Book Presentation by Asfa Wossen Asserate3 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
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).
1 Jun 2017 -
Ariel Sabar: My Father’s Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq
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.
11 May 2017 -
The Dress of the Unfaithful Wife
Artist Talk and Discussion on Women and Sexuality in Judaism9 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 IdentitiesTalk and Slideshow with Dr. Dani Kranz and Katja Harbi from the University of Wuppertal on Israeli Jews in today's Germany (in German).
4 May 2017 -
Im/Possibilities – Perspectives on Refugee Participation
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).
29 Mar 2017 -
Our Father: A Sinti Family Recounts
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).
23 Mar 2017 -
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 DemocracyThe 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).
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Gottes Körper (God's Body)
Christoph Markschies in conversation with Peter Schäfer about Christian conceptions of God and their roots in other ancient religions, in German
13 Feb 2017 -
All Sorts of Stories
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
21 Nov 2016 -
Joshua Cohen: You want a golem?
Reading and conversation with Joshua Cohen and Caspar Battegay about the golem myth in the age of automation.
17 Nov 2016 -
A Jew in Neukölln – My Path to Coexistence of Religions
The theology student and writer Ármin Langer reads from his book and talks about Jewish life in Neukölln, in German
19 Oct 2016 -
The Clay Giant's Alive!
Anke Kuhl reads from her comic about two kids and their golem, with musical accompaniment by the cellist Martin Klenk, in German
8 Oct 2016 -
Reading with Christian Berkel: Tevye the Dairyman
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
9 Jul 2016 -
Herzl reloaded – It’s No Fairytale
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
Reading/Discussion
7 Jul 2016 -
Ludwig Haas – A Left-liberal Campaigner for Peace and Democracy
Symposium with Evening Lecture by Gerhart Baum on the liberal Campaigner Ludwig Haas (1875–1930) and Perspectives of Left-wing Liberalism Today.
9 Jun 2016 -
The Holocaust and the Problem of Visual Representation
Talk with artist and exhibition curator Peter Weibel about Boris Lurie and visual representation of the Holocaust, in German
Lecture/Discussion
30 May 2016 -
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 BaxTalk with Daniel Bax and Gideon Botsch on Right-wing populist parties, anti-Muslim sentiments, flight and asylum (in German).
6 Apr 2016 -
Béla Guttmann - The World History of Football in one Person
The writer Detlev Claussen presents his book about the Hungarian-Jewish soccer coach Béla Guttmann, in German
4 Aug 2015 -
Attempts to Describe Anti-Semitism
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).
Reading/Discussion
22 Apr 2015 -
From a Berlin Farce to a Story of Success
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
2 Mar 2015 -
The Realignment of “Education after Auschwitz” in Immigration Society
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
27 Jan 2015 -
The Book of Job. Aesthetics, Ethics, Hermeneutics
The editors of a volume of essays about the Book of Job, Leora Batnitzky (Princeton) and Ilana Pardes (Jerusalem), in conversation with Vivian Liska
Language: in German and EnglishReading/Discussion
21 Jan 2015 -
What’s your "Heimat"?
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
14 Nov 2014 -
Zimzum. God and the creation of the world
Author Christoph Schulte talks with Micha Brumlik and Vivian Liska about his book on the notion of zimzum (tzimtzum) in Jewish mysticism
Language: GermanReading/Discussion
30 Oct 2014 -
Hebrew Worlds – On the Presence of Ancient Texts in Modern Ivrith
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).
Lecture/Discussion
27 Oct 2014 -
Forgotten Soldiers?
Historian Tim Grady presents his research on the commemoration of German-Jewish soldiers from the First World War.
3 Sep 2014 -
Modernized, then Tolerated?
Micha Brumlik, Petra Bahr, Kadir Sanci, and Thomas Bauer about religion and navigating between tradition and adaptation, in German
Discussion
10 Oct 2013 -
1933: Denial, Opposition, and Protest
Wolf Gruner about his research into German Jews’ responses to Nazi persecution, in German
Lecture/Discussion
8 Aug 2013 -
Peter Schäfer: The Origins of Jewish Mysticism
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
Reading/Discussion
25 Jun 2012 -
The History of Jews and Dönme in Turkey
The Turkish studies scholar Corry Guttstadt and the historian Marc Baer discuss the history of Jews and Dönme (converts) in Turkey, in German
Lecture/Discussion
31 Jan 2011 -
Perrine Simon-Nahum: Jews in France Today
Talk by Perrine Simon-Nahum about her book on the circumstances of Jews in France, both past and present.
Lecture/Discussion
29 Nov 2010 -
W. Michael Blumenthal: Around the World in Eighty Years. My Life
W. Michael Blumenthal, Founding Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, presents his memoir, in German
Reading/Discussion
30 Sept 2010 -
Jewish Youth Movement in Germany
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
22 May 2010 -
Dialogues on Jewish Present: On the Question of Redemption – Messianism and the End of Days
with Moshe Idel, Elliot R. Wolfson, and Micha Brumlik about the Messianic promise of redemption and its relevance in the twenty-first century, in English
Reading/Discussion
10 Dec 2009 -
Walther Rathenau’s Life: Text and Context
Talk by Shulamit Volkov about the life of the writer, politician, and industrialist Walther Rathenau, in German
Lecture/Discussion
15 Oct 2009 -
Migrants Moving History
Saskia Sassen about immigration, diversity, and future prospects for dealing with history and citizenship in multiethnic societies.
Lecture/Discussion
25 Oct 2008 -
Self Displaced Person. Peter Szondi’s Problematic Judaism
Talk by Andreas Isenschchmid about the life and work of the literary scholar Peter Szondi, in German
3 Dec 2007 -
Painted in words. The portrait of a lost time
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
10 Oct 2007 -
A synagogue curtain at the Brandenburg Cathedral Chapter
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
23 Nov 2006 -
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
Talk by Eli Zaretsky about the influence of psychoanalysis on Judaism and the place of psychoanalysis in Jewish history
Lecture/Discussion
30 May 2005 -
Breaking Ground: Adventures in Life and Architecture
In conversation with Susanne Weingarten, Daniel Libeskind presents his autobiography, in English
Reading/Discussion
25 Jan 2005 -
The Fragile Foundation: The Quest for German-Jewish “Normalcy”
Salomon Korn reads essays from his book about Jewish life in Germany, Jewish culture and remembrance, architecture, and politics, in German
Reading/Discussion
30 Sep 2003 -
Times of Commemoration: On Jewish Histories and Others
Book presentation by the historian Dan Diner about remembering the twentieth century as an era of violence, forced displacement, and genocide (in German).
Reading/Discussion
24 Jun 2003