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In contemporary discourse around the rise in
antisemitism worldwide and antisemitism’s enduring role in antidemocratic
political movements, the experience of German-speaking Jews is a frequent
reference point. The collapse of Weimar democracy and the antisemitism of
the Nazis are indeed profoundly instructive about the danger of unchecked
hatred of Jews, but ideally the historical allusions of contemporary
pundits would not be the end of an argument, but the beginning of
historical investigations. How did German and Austrian Jews perceive
antisemitism, and how were they impacted? How did they respond, as
individuals and as communities, and how did their responses succeed or fail?
In order to contribute to this discourse, LBI is
planning a series of events that
will pair a historian and a public intellectual to examine key moments in
German-Jewish history between 1914 and 1933 – both on their own terms, and
as touchstones for understanding today’s world.
October 22 at 6:30 PM: Antisemitism as a
Pillar of Fascism with John
Ganz and Gavriel D. Rosenfeld
October 29 at 6:30 PM: "As a
Jew" – Identity, Conflict, and Politics with Emily
Tamkin and Philipp Nielsen
November 3 at 12:00 PM: Fighting Back – Jewish Responses
to Antisemitism with Michael
Brenner and Jane Eisner
WHERE: Leo Baeck Institute, 15 West 16th Street, New York
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Please note
that these events will be held in-person at the Center for Jewish History.
The events will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube.
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Antisemitism as a Pillar of Fascism
Tuesday, October 22, 6:30 PM EDT
In Person at the Center for Jewish History
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Recent years have seen an
intensification of old debates about whether fascism is a useful category
to apply to contemporary political movements centered around personality
cults, a restoration of past greatness, and disillusionment with democracy.
While no such movement has succeeded in dismantling the administrative
state or procedural democracy in the United States, some astute observers
have pointed out that the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021
rhymes historically with Hitler's failed putsch of 1923 as a premature
grasping for power by a movement that might still prevail.
Political writer John Ganz
and President of the Center for Jewish History Gavriel
D. Rosenfeld will discuss the connection between
antisemitism and fascist movements, then and now.
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"As a Jew" – Identity, Conflict, and Politics
Tuesday, October 29, 6:30 PM EDT
In Person at the Center for Jewish History
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On the eve of WWI, German Jews
had enjoyed full civil rights for at least a generation but found their
place in society was still contested. Sensing an opportunity for full
integration, many enthusiastically pledged their support to Kaiser and
Fatherland. By 1916, when Prussian military officials demanded a census of
Jewish soldiers to prove their suspicion that they were shirking combat
duty, it was clear that the Jews might be blamed for a military defeat. And
the “stab-in-the-back” myth that held Jews responsible for Germany’s
catastrophic defeat in 1918 proved one of the most enduring tropes of the
fascist movement.
Join LBI for a discussion between
historian Philipp Nielsen
and journalist and author Emily Tamkin
about how Jews have navigated reconciling Jewish individual and group
identities with participation in political life – from Weimar Germany to
present-day.
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Fighting Back – Jewish Responses to Antisemitism
Sunday, November 3, 12:00 PM EDT
In Person at the Center for Jewish History
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In 1932, Germany’s leading Jewish
civil rights organization, the Central Association of German Jews, or
Centralverein, published a brochure entitled We German Jews, 321–1932. The
dates in the title made explicit reference to the documented presence of Jews
in the Roman provinces in the Rhineland for over 16 centuries to refute the
antisemitic view that Jews were an alien presence in Germany. During the
Weimar period, We German Jews represented just one of many defenses that
Jewish groups used against antisemitism.
Join LBI when historian Michael Brenner
and journalist Jane Eisner
discuss what lessons these Jewish responses to antisemitism offer for
today’s world.
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