MODERN GERMAN-JEWISH HISTORIOGRAPHY: BETWEEN ‘USABLE PAST,’ NATIONAL NARRATIVE AND THE TRANS-NATIONAL CHALLENGE

Presenting is Guy Miron, Professor of Jewish History and Chair of the Department of History, Philosophy and Jewish Studies at the Open University of Israel.

Until the Holocaust German-Jewish history was associated with Jewish enlightenment, emancipation and assimilation, new religious movements, modern Jewish politics as well as the escalating threat of anti-Semitism. Jewish historians and intellectuals of the pre-Holocaust period, predominantly from Germany and Eastern Europe, have dealt extensively with German Jewish history as a ‘Usable Past,’ which was a major part of their coming to terms with fundamental questions of modern Jewish identity. After 1945 German-Jewish history became a topic for a Trans-national Jewish debate and was reinterpreted predominantly by scholars from Britain, Israel and the US. In addition, non-Jewish historians, mainly from Germany, started to deal with this complex history whose interpretation has also major implications for German history. The lecture will analyze these developments and their meaning.

Moderation: Ruth von Bernuth (UNC Chapel Hill, Carolina Center for Jewish Studies)

(Co-Conveners: Carolina Center for Jewish Studies and Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies at Appalachian State University and the UNC Center for European Studies)

Co-Sponsors and/or additional support provided byU.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center funding

Acknowledgement of Support: This event has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this event are the sole responsibility of The UNC Center for European Studies and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union