Current Projects

Weimar's Republicans: German Jews in Democratic and Pacifist Organizations of the Interwar Period (1918 -1933)

Bearbeiter: Lutz Fiedler

 „Der Saal ist gut gefüllt, allerdings nur ein Prozent des deutschen Volkes vertreten – das jüdische“, notierte der Journalist Ernst Feder anlässlich einer Veranstaltung der Deutschen Liga für Menschenrechte in den letzten Jahren der Weimarer Republik. Mochte der 1914 als „Bund Neues Vaterland“ gegründete Zusammenschluss auch keine jüdische Organisation sein, so war die Deutsche Liga für Menschenrechte dennoch eine Vereinigung, die mit ihrem pazifistischen, demokratischen und universalistischen Selbstverständnis ein Anlaufpunkt von einer Vielzahl deutscher Jüdinnen und Juden wurde: Albert Einstein, Stefan Zweig, Kurt Tucholsky und Berthold Jacob, aber auch Ernst Julius Gumbel und Ernst Feder. Zusammen mit der Geschichte des parallel aktiven Republikanischen Richterbundes mit dem manche Personalunion bestand, soll die Rekonstruktion des Wirkens der Deutschen Liga für Menschenrechte als ein neuer Zugang zur Geschichte der Weimarer Republik und dem gemeinsamen Engagement deutscher Juden und Nichtjuden um ihren demokratischen Charakter.

Max Brod's Late Years (1939-1968): Departure into Exile

Researcher: Anna-Dorothea Ludewig
Duration: 2020-2023
Supported by travel funds of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation

The life and work of Max Brod (1884-1968) marks various cornerstones of European-Jewish cultural history in the 20th century: On top of his contributions to literature and music – areas he was extremely successfully in as an author, critic, and mentor – he became known as a composer, politician (Zionist), and dramaturge. Brod spent more than five decades in his birthcity Prague, closely associated with German-speaking Habsburg culture, which was celebrated in a special way in the city on the river Vltava. Brod was a convinced pacifist and as such opposed to the First World War, fearing rightfully that it would bring the end of the multi-ethnic country. In the founding years of Czechoslovakia he also recognized that the Zionist understanding of Jewish emancipation could serve as a unique way towards recognition as a Jewish nation of itself. After the democratic system established by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938/39, Brod was forced to leave his hometown and fled to Palestine/Israel. There he worked in Tel Aviv from 1939 to 1968 as a freelance author and dramaturge at the Habimah Theater and exerted great influence on the constitution of a newly emerging Israeli national culture. He also devoted himself to the work of his friend Franz Kafka and developed a marketing strategy that continues to have an impact today on the reception of Kafkas work. These last almost three decades of his life and work have hardly been researched so far, a gap that this biographical project aims to fill.

History of the German-Jewish Diaspora

Duration: 2023-2025
Researchers: Lisa Sophie Gebhard, Miriam Rürup
Funding: Volkswagen Foundation

The book project and online database/edition History of the German-Jewish Diaspora is intended as a continuation of the acclaimed German-Jewish History in the Modern Era (ed. by Michael Brenner and Michael A. Meyer), published in five volumes by C.H.Beck. It is a project of the Wissenschaftlichen Arbeitsgemeinschaft des Leo Baeck Instituts (WAG), realized at the Moses Mendelssohn Center under the leadership of its director and spokesperson of the WAG, Prof. Dr. Miriam Rürup.

While the previous volumes dealt with Jewish life within the different German states, this volume of the Leo Baeck Institute's publication series will present a synthesis on German-Jewish history outside Germany: a history of the German-Jewish Diaspora as well as the afterlife of German-speaking Jewry after the Holocaust. The project is hybrid in nature and will be published as a book (anthology) on the one hand and as a website with a database and online edition on the other.

diaspora.juedische-geschichte-online.net/en/

Settling with RASSCO: Transfer Paths of the German Aliyah to Palestine-Eretz Israel (1933-1948)

Researchers Dr. Ines Sonder, Dr. Ing. Joachim Trezib
Duration: DFG-Grant (2016–2021), ongoing publication phase

The Rural and Suburban Settlement Company (RASSCO) had been founded by the Jewish Agency in 1934 with the aim of settling Jewish emigrants from Germany in Mandatory Palestine in so-called middle-class settlements: former academics, lawyers and merchants were thus "resettled" here as farmers. During this period, RASSCO acted within the framework of the Haavara Transfer (1933), an agreement between the Jewish Agency, the Zionist Association for Germany, and the Reich Ministry of Economics that has received criticism from various sides.

The first part of the study focuses on the institutional history of RASSCO in the context of the Haavara Transfer, as well as its efforts as the first construction company to develop a settlement model for middle-class immigrants from Germany, which was a novelty in Zionist settlement practice in Palestine at the time, as this was where immigrants invested their private capital. 

In the second part, the first four RASSCO agricultural middle-class settlements Kfar Shmaryahu (1936), Sde Warburg (1938), Shavei Zion (1938) and Beth Yizchak (1939), as well as the garden suburb Kiryat Bialik B in Haifa Bay (1936) are presented. 

Euphony: Jews, Muslims and Roma in the 21st Century Metropolises

Reflecting on Polyphonic Ideal and Social Exclusion as Challenges for European Cohesion
Researcher: Dr. Olaf Glöckner, in cooperation with the Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Jewish Literature, Prague (Charles University, main applicant, Dr. Marcela Menachem Zoufala), and the Institute of the Middle and Far East of the Jagiellonian University Krakow (Prof. Joanna Dyduch)
Duration: 2022-2024
Funding: EU program Erasmus Plus (2022-1-CZ01-KA220-HED-000089285)

Current challenges for the European Union include the inclusion of ethno-cultural minorities in socio-cultural modernization processes and the sustained strengthening of social cohesion. Ethno-cultural minorities bring a variety of resources and ideas into the process of European unification, while a variety of intercultural negotiation processes (as well as conflicts) take place in metropolitan cities/regions in particular, the perception and analysis of which is often only just in the beginning.

EUphony examines the self-image, social participation and social exclusion experiences of Jews, Muslims and Roma in European metropolises, especially in Prague, Warsaw and Berlin-Brandenburg, in a comparative analysis. With an intersectional approach, the ideas of these groups (Jews, Muslims, Roma) regarding the future of Europe are also in focus.  Integral components of the project are qualitative anthropological field research, (academic) advanced training events for students from the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany and the publication of three articles in academic journals.

The project also includes an awareness campaign on this topic in the social media (Facebook/Twitter/student podcast).

United in Diversity – An Interdisciplinary Study of Contemporary European Jewry and its Reflection

Research: Olaf Glöckner, in cooperation with the Centre for the Study of the Holocaust and Jewish Literature (Charles University Prague), the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry (Tel Aviv University) and the Comenius University Bratislava (Institute for History).
Duration: 2018-2022
Funding: EU-Programm Erasmus Plus

This interdisciplinary, international study examines at the interface of contemporary history and the present how the relationships between Jews and non-Jews are being redesigned in various countries in Central and East Central Europe, especially in metropolitan areas. The changing history of Christian-Jewish relationships is examined, as is the processing of the Second World War and the Shoah in art and literature. The empirical part, which is methodologically based on the evaluation of narrative and problem-focused interviews among Jews and non-Jews in five different countries (Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Germany), focuses on intercultural perceptions, Jewish participation in social modernization processes, Israel-Diaspora bindings and collective identity courses within and outside of religious communities.

The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000

Project Leaders: Prof. Dr. Frank Bösch (ZZF Potsdam), Prof. Dr. Gideon Botsch (MMZ Potsdam)
Duration: 2021-2027
Funding: Volkswagen Foundation; with additional support by the Hans Böckler Foundation for three doctoral students.

The research project is dedicated to the history of the radical right in both parts of Germany in the second half of the 20th century. The aim is to analyze their development comprehensively and with archival support, also on the basis of sources that have not yet been made accessible, in a contextualized manner from a contemporary historical perspective.

The focus is on the overarching question of the social practices through which the generational transformation of the radical right in Germany took place - from the actors socialized under National Socialism to the cohorts that grew up under democracy and the SED dictatorship and that have set the tone since the 1970s.

This change will be investigated in various subprojects with socio-historical approaches and actor-oriented perspectives. The focus will be on ideological and organizational formations, cultural and lifeworld practices, and, not least, forms of violence of the radical right and its relations to state and society.

https://projekt.radikale-rechte.de/

Struggling with Justice: Antisemitism as a Judicial Challenge

Sub-project: Qualitative Analysis of Jewish Communities' Handling of Criminal Antisemitic Incidents and their Perception and Handling by the Judiciary
Researchers: Dr. Olaf Glöckner, Dr. Anja Schmidt-Kleinert
Duration: 2021-2024
Funding: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. In cooperation with the University of Giessen, the University of Heidelberg, Humboldt University of Berlin and the Research and Information Center on Antisemitism (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft RIAS).

The judicial practice with regard to antisemitic incidents in Germany has hardly been scientifically examined to date. The project aims to close gaps in scientific knowledge by systematically taking stock of how the judiciary deals with antisemitism, combined with the question of the (legal) terms of antisemitism. The judicial practice is being monitored from a transdisciplinary and in particular a sociological perspective. The often neglected perspective of those individuals being involved also plays a central role. How do affected Jews experience the judicial handling of incidents they experience as antisemitic? As a result of the project, options for action are to be developed, which are prepared in communication processes in an application-oriented manner for legal training and the judiciary.

Pilot Project "Jewish Life in Potsdam"

Researcher: Ellen Fischer, Julia Kleinschmidt

The Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies is developing a pilot project on "Jewish Life in Potsdam" in cooperation with a Potsdam high school. In a six- to eight-hour project day, the students will learn about Jewish culture and religion as well as their Jewish environment. The local and regional history of Jewish life in Potsdam and Brandenburg will be explored through various sites and topics. The goal is to introduce the students to Jewish topics, which will be deepened and specialized in the coming years. At the same time, the media competence of the students will be promoted. Jewish history is not to be conveyed through the prism of National Socialist persecution, but rather as a German-Jewish history that spans centuries.

The content topics are tested in the classroom together with the high school and adapted to the needs of the students.  The educational program developed as part of the pilot project will furtheron be applicable to other Brandenburg schools.

Jewish History online

Researchers: Daniel Burckhardt, Miriam Rürup, Nina Zellerhoff in cooperation with Anna Menny (IGdJ Hamburg)
Duration: 2022-

A portal for European-Jewish history will be created at the Moses Mendelssohn Center in the upcoming years. The goal is to integrate various online projects on Jewish history, which are self-contained and yet remain independent, into a common portal in modular form. Individual projects at the MMZ can become part of the new platform as well as curated content from other online digital edition and database projects on Jewish history. The online edition Key Documents on German-Jewish History realized at the Institute for the History of German Jews will be a central module of the portal. The added value of this modular platform is, among other things, a unified search function, indexing and linking, as well as a sustainable and lasting research data management.

https://portal.jewish-history-online.net/

Hakhshara as a Place of Remembrance

Bearbeiter:innen: Miriam Rürup, Daniel Burckhardt, Nina Zellerhoff in Kooperation mit dem DFG-Projekt „Nationaljüdische Jugendkultur und zionistische Erziehung in Deutschland und Palästina zwischen den Weltkriegen“ an der TU Braunschweig und der Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas in Berlin
Laufzeit: 2022-

Mit einer selbstorganisierten, praktischen Ausbildung auf meist landwirtschaftlichen Gütern, bereiteten sich ab den 1920er-Jahren jüdische Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene auf die Auswanderung nach Palästina vor. Die meist landwirtschaftliche, gärtnerische, handwerkliche oder hauswirtschaftliche Ausbildung war Voraussetzung zur Einwanderung nach Palästina. Um die bislang verstreuten Quellen und Forschungen über die verschiedenen Orte der Hachschara, von denen sich viele im heutigen Brandenburg befanden, und deren Akteur:innen zu bündeln, entsteht eine Online-Datenbank zur Forschung, Vermittlung und Erinnerung der Hachschara. Ziel ist es, die lokale Ebene mit den transnationalen Strukturen dieser Bewegung zu verschränken.

National Socialist Book Burnings 1933

Researchers: Daniel Burckhardt, Julia Kleinschmidt, Werner Treß
Duration: 2022-2023

Based on the "Library of Burned Books" developped at the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies in 2008 and the website http://www.verbrannte-buecher.de/, the digitization project "Digital Library of Burned Books" is being created on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the student book burnings. It commemorates the beginning of the systematic persecution of Jewish, Marxist, pacifist and other politically dissenting writers immediately after the transfer of power to the National Socialists.

For the purpose of this project, the existing online content is being comprehensively revised and supplemented by a digital edition of public domain works. The representative selection initially includes 20 books from the original list of 316 titles. These publications will be made available free of charge on the website and freely reusable for download in PDF format. Short introductions briefly explain the content of the work, the historical context, and the reasons for its classification at the time as a "forbidden" or "burned" book. The books will be supplemented by short biographies of the authors.
 

Jewish [hi]stories in the GDR

Researchers: Lutz Fiedler, Miriam Rürup

For a variety of reasons, the history of Jews in the GDR has attracted a great deal of interest in recent years. The fact that the socialist polity is at least politically a closed chapter in German history may be favorable to such an inquiry. More important, however, are the historical experiences of Jews themselves, which provide a new and, in many respects, complex view of the German state. Based on the MMZ's collection of numerous interviews with Jews from the GDR, a research project will reconstruct their experiences, perspectives and self-perceptions and thus gain a new perspective on the GDR.

ArchivedMemory online

Researchers: Daniel Burckhardt, Julia Kleinschmidt, Nina Zellerhoff
Duration: 2022-2023

The original "Archive of Memory: Interviews with Survivors of the Shoah" was created in the 1990s in cooperation with the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies and the memorial site Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz.

The videographed interviews show the life stories of Jews persecuted during the Nazi era as well as the broad spectrum of Nazi persecution and the personal ways in which former victims processed their experiences. This video edition will be partially digitized for online presentation. By linking the transcripts and accompanying materials with linked open data, the integration into the portal "Jewish History online" is ensured. And it will be supplemented by educational material.

The technical and editorial experiences of the project serve at the same time as a prototype for the online presentation of further interview collections of the institute.