Areas

Research at the MMZ focuses on social challenges that the Jewish minority has faced and continues to face, as well as on comparative socio-historical issues, socio-cultural aspects and the history of ideas. The view of European-Jewish studies is extremely broad, which is why the topics cover a broad variety of different areas such as Jewish regional studies, German-German perspectives on contemporary Jewish history, but also studies on Zionism and Israel, and even in a sense as a „counterpart“ the research on right-wing extremism and antisemitism.

European Jewish History

Modern Jewish history in Europe stands for cultural diversity and an unprecedented social advancement within the bourgeois society as well as for a religious plurality and differentiation of Jewish self-understandings that developed at about the same time. In the same way, however, Jewish history has always stood for a history of marginalization, although by no means exclusively. The projects at the MMZ are based on an understanding of Jewish history that aims to counteract the widespread equation of Jewish history with a passive history of persecution. The historical reconstruction as well as the analysis of the conditions of European Jewish existence from the early modern period to the post-war period, with an obvious focus on the German Democratic Republic, are part of the Centers‘ research focus.

Religion and Knowledge

The history of Jewish religion, which goes back more than six millennia, not only forms the foundation of its present-day religious trends, but also an elementary basis of Jewish knowledge. The horizon of Jewish knowledge, however, also points beyond the narrower understanding of its purely religious references and encompasses a broad spectrum of topics and questions that have emerged at the latest since the philosophy of Spinoza and Moses Mendelssohn, the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskala) in the 18th century and its further development in the science of Judaism since the 19th century. Their reconstruction in philosophical-hermeneutical and knowledge-historical terms belongs to the field of activity of the research area Religion and Knowledge at the MMZ. In this context, Jewish studies are understood as scholarly research on the Jewish religion.

Culture and Language

The manifold forms of expression of Jewish cultural heritage can be found in literature and music as well as in the visual and performing arts. The projects of the department "Culture and Language" at the MMZ contribute to their systematic and exemplary research, using philological and cultural scientific approaches as well as those of art history.

Regional and Local History (Jewish Brandenburg)

Jewish life in Brandenburg can be traced back to the 13th century. Its diverse and eventful history is the subject of the research area of Jewish regional history at the MMZ. In addition to the processes of change in their social and legal situation, we are particularly interested in the local traces of Jewish life. This does not only concern the research of the written tradition of Jewish communities, but especially the finding, identification and preservation of their material cultures from synagogues, on Jewish cemeteries up to personal objects of everyday life. Another focus lies on the research and documentation of former Jewish schools and Hakhshara training centers in Brandenburg as well as on memorial culture.

Israel, Zionism and Diaspora

In researching the history of the State of Israel, the history of Zionism also plays an important role as a basis for understanding Israel's present. Hence, the research projects of the MMZ deal with the historical analysis of Zionist culture - always with a specifically German-Jewish perspective. Thus, an examination of the significance of the Diaspora is also part of this research context. And this in a double understanding: the Diaspora in a Zionist reading as the Jewish existence outside of Zion on the one hand and the emergence of a German-Jewish Diaspora outside Germany as a result of emigration and expulsion from Germany on the other.

Society and the Present

The sociological study of current developments in Jewish life is the focus of the research in this field. The incoming Jewish migration since the 1990s and the transformation processes in the local Jewish communities are just as much of interest as empirical studies on the demographics and social background of those immigrant Jews as well as their self-understanding as Jews. One research focus is always on their relations to the non-Jewish majority societies, the continuing role of antisemitism, but also the manifold interdependencies in social coexistence.

Antisemitism and Right-Wing Extremism

The topics of antisemitism and right-wing extremism in history and the present as well as the confrontation of democratic and civil society to defend against these tendencies are dealt with in particular by the Emil Julius Gumbel Research Department (EJGF) at the Moses Mendelssohn Center.

Based on an interdisciplinary cultural and social science approach, the EJGF is dedicated to research on the phenomena of antisemitism, right-wing extremism and right-wing radicalism, racism and xenophobia, as well as other related tendencies.

Special attention is paid to the actors - individuals, parties and associations, small groups and networks, publishers, magazines and media, etc. - and their actions - from everyday discrimination to the production of ideology and propaganda, from marches and graffiti to desecration of cemeteries and memorials, from acts of violence to targeted terrorist murder.

Antisemitism and right-wing extremism are not only evaluated as attitudes and ideologies or as behavioral patterns, but as historically evolved political movements oriented towards the development of political or cultural influence. Therefore, at the EJGF not only the present of antisemitism and right-wing extremism is researched, but also their historical developments.

One focus of the studies is on right-wing extremist phenomena and actors in the state of Brandenburg and the East German states. This regional dimension of right-wing extremism is continuously monitored, documented and analyzed.

Knowledge Transfer and Outreach

The MMZ sees itself at the nexus between the university, educational institutions such as highschools and institutions of adult education, and an interested general public. In this area of work, academic outreach programs are developed based on the institutes‘ own work, which are intended to convey academic research findings from the fields of Jewish minority research, regional history as well as research on antisemitism. These programs are developed in close cooperation with local educational institutions and are aimed at multipliers and schools.

Digital Humanities

In the age of global networking and digitization, scholarly services are becoming increasingly important for raising the profile not only of smaller institutions. The MMZ sees itself not only as a service provider, but also as an active player in the field of  "Jewish Digital History" closely connected to the local Potsdam DH network. The central project is the MMZ-based portal Jewish History online, which is being developed together with Dr. Anna Menny from the Institute for the History of German Jews in Hamburg. In this portal, various historically based online offerings will be incorporated in a modular fashion and at the same time linked hypertextually (e.g., via overarching search functions).