Podcast Jüdische Geschichte

International Conference “Jewish Immigration from Eastern Europe to Israel and Germany in the Light of the War in Ukraine (1991-2025). Narratives, Memory and Identity Formation” December 2025 in Munich.

The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has triggered one of the largest refugee crises in recent European history. Over 1.2 million Ukrainian citizens have received temporary protection in Germany, while a significant number of refugees—Jewish or of Jewish origin—have also sought refuge in Israel and received citizenship under the Law of Return. The experiences of Ukrainian Jews in the wake of the war offer an important lens through which to examine broader patterns of Jewish migration from Eastern Europe over the past four decades.

This two-day interdisciplinary conference, organized by the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Leibnitz Center for Contemporary History Potsdam and the Center for Israel Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, aims to juxtapose two pivotal periods of Jewish migration to Israel and Germany—the post-Soviet 1990s and the post-2022 Ukrainian crisis. By bringing together scholars from the humanities and social sciences, the conference seeks to enrich our understanding of the shifting meanings of Jewish belonging, displacement, and diaspora in the 21st century. Through historical, sociological, and cultural analyses, we aim to build a comparative framework for analyzing Jewish migration in the context of political rupture, memory politics, and transnational identity formation.

International Conference “Jewish Immigration from Eastern Europe to Israel and Germany in the Light of the War in Ukraine (1991-2025). Narratives, Memory and Identity Formation” December 2025 in Munich.

The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has triggered one of the largest refugee crises in recent European history. Over 1.2 million Ukrainian citizens have received temporary protection in Germany, while a significant number of refugees—Jewish or of Jewish origin—have also sought refuge in Israel and received citizenship under the Law of Return. The experiences of Ukrainian Jews in the wake of the war offer an important lens through which to examine broader patterns of Jewish migration from Eastern Europe over the past four decades.

This two-day interdisciplinary conference, organized by the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Leibnitz Center for Contemporary History Potsdam and the Center for Israel Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, aims to juxtapose two pivotal periods of Jewish migration to Israel and Germany—the post-Soviet 1990s and the post-2022 Ukrainian crisis. By bringing together scholars from the humanities and social sciences, the conference seeks to enrich our understanding of the shifting meanings of Jewish belonging, displacement, and diaspora in the 21st century. Through historical, sociological, and cultural analyses, we aim to build a comparative framework for analyzing Jewish migration in the context of political rupture, memory politics, and transnational identity formation.

International Conference “Jewish Immigration from Eastern Europe to Israel and Germany in the Light of the War in Ukraine (1991-2025). Narratives, Memory and Identity Formation” December 2025 in Munich.

The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has triggered one of the largest refugee crises in recent European history. Over 1.2 million Ukrainian citizens have received temporary protection in Germany, while a significant number of refugees—Jewish or of Jewish origin—have also sought refuge in Israel and received citizenship under the Law of Return. The experiences of Ukrainian Jews in the wake of the war offer an important lens through which to examine broader patterns of Jewish migration from Eastern Europe over the past four decades.

This two-day interdisciplinary conference, organized by the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Leibnitz Center for Contemporary History Potsdam and the Center for Israel Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, aims to juxtapose two pivotal periods of Jewish migration to Israel and Germany—the post-Soviet 1990s and the post-2022 Ukrainian crisis. By bringing together scholars from the humanities and social sciences, the conference seeks to enrich our understanding of the shifting meanings of Jewish belonging, displacement, and diaspora in the 21st century. Through historical, sociological, and cultural analyses, we aim to build a comparative framework for analyzing Jewish migration in the context of political rupture, memory politics, and transnational identity formation.

International Conference “Jewish Immigration from Eastern Europe to Israel and Germany in the Light of the War in Ukraine (1991-2025). Narratives, Memory and Identity Formation” December 2025 in Munich.

The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has triggered one of the largest refugee crises in recent European history. Over 1.2 million Ukrainian citizens have received temporary protection in Germany, while a significant number of refugees—Jewish or of Jewish origin—have also sought refuge in Israel and received citizenship under the Law of Return. The experiences of Ukrainian Jews in the wake of the war offer an important lens through which to examine broader patterns of Jewish migration from Eastern Europe over the past four decades.

This two-day interdisciplinary conference, organized by the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Leibnitz Center for Contemporary History Potsdam and the Center for Israel Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, aims to juxtapose two pivotal periods of Jewish migration to Israel and Germany—the post-Soviet 1990s and the post-2022 Ukrainian crisis. By bringing together scholars from the humanities and social sciences, the conference seeks to enrich our understanding of the shifting meanings of Jewish belonging, displacement, and diaspora in the 21st century. Through historical, sociological, and cultural analyses, we aim to build a comparative framework for analyzing Jewish migration in the context of political rupture, memory politics, and transnational identity formation.

International Conference “Jewish Immigration from Eastern Europe to Israel and Germany in the Light of the War in Ukraine (1991-2025). Narratives, Memory and Identity Formation” December 2025 in Munich.

The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has triggered one of the largest refugee crises in recent European history. Over 1.2 million Ukrainian citizens have received temporary protection in Germany, while a significant number of refugees—Jewish or of Jewish origin—have also sought refuge in Israel and received citizenship under the Law of Return. The experiences of Ukrainian Jews in the wake of the war offer an important lens through which to examine broader patterns of Jewish migration from Eastern Europe over the past four decades.

This two-day interdisciplinary conference, organized by the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Leibnitz Center for Contemporary History Potsdam and the Center for Israel Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, aims to juxtapose two pivotal periods of Jewish migration to Israel and Germany—the post-Soviet 1990s and the post-2022 Ukrainian crisis. By bringing together scholars from the humanities and social sciences, the conference seeks to enrich our understanding of the shifting meanings of Jewish belonging, displacement, and diaspora in the 21st century. Through historical, sociological, and cultural analyses, we aim to build a comparative framework for analyzing Jewish migration in the context of political rupture, memory politics, and transnational identity formation.

Modern scholarship identifies a series of “temporal turns” in Jewish studies stemming from the early 1900s, 1945, and the present notion that “time is running out.”

Homo Temporalis: German-Jewish Thinkers on Time follows thinkers who watched catastrophes unfold but imagined a new world rising from their ashes. Martin Buber, Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, and Paul Celan shaped our understanding of the Humanities by dedicating their thought to temporal concepts such as Living-presence (Erlebnis), Now-time, Natality, and Breath-turn. Their message was a necessary one for those interested in the modern study of religion, critical thinking, political thought, and post-1945 literature.

They all shared a deep understanding of time as the most important component of modern life and “ontological egalitarianism.”

Modern scholarship identifies a series of “temporal turns” in Jewish studies stemming from the early 1900s, 1945, and the present notion that “time is running out.”

Homo Temporalis: German-Jewish Thinkers on Time follows thinkers who watched catastrophes unfold but imagined a new world rising from their ashes. Martin Buber, Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, and Paul Celan shaped our understanding of the Humanities by dedicating their thought to temporal concepts such as Living-presence (Erlebnis), Now-time, Natality, and Breath-turn. Their message was a necessary one for those interested in the modern study of religion, critical thinking, political thought, and post-1945 literature.

They all shared a deep understanding of time as the most important component of modern life and “ontological egalitarianism.”

Wie können wir ein hebräisches Gebet ins Deutsche übersetzen, wie können wir Spuren der Stimme Gottes hören, und welche Gefahren birgt die Säkularisierung der Heiligen Sprache in Palästina? Dies ist nur ein Teil der Fragen, die der junge Gershom Scholem in den Jahren 1916–1928 zu beantworten versuchte, bevor er sich dem Studium der Kabbala widmete.

In seiner kürzlich erschienenen Monografie „Fragen der Sprache in Gershom Scholems Frühen Schriften“ hat Ghilad H. Shenhav – Koordinator des Zentrums für Israel-Studien und wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl für Jüdische Geschichte und Kultur der LMU – Scholems frühe Schriften auf ihre Relevanz für aktuelle theologische, politische und genderbezogene Debatten untersucht.

Wie können wir ein hebräisches Gebet ins Deutsche übersetzen, wie können wir Spuren der Stimme Gottes hören, und welche Gefahren birgt die Säkularisierung der Heiligen Sprache in Palästina? Dies ist nur ein Teil der Fragen, die der junge Gershom Scholem in den Jahren 1916–1928 zu beantworten versuchte, bevor er sich dem Studium der Kabbala widmete.

In seiner kürzlich erschienenen Monografie „Fragen der Sprache in Gershom Scholems Frühen Schriften“ hat Ghilad H. Shenhav – Koordinator des Zentrums für Israel-Studien und wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl für Jüdische Geschichte und Kultur der LMU – Scholems frühe Schriften auf ihre Relevanz für aktuelle theologische, politische und genderbezogene Debatten untersucht.

"A New Orient" explores the history of Zionist and Israeli Oriental Studies, focusing on the transfer of knowledge about Islam, Arabic, and the Middle East from German universities to Mandatory Palestine. This migration involved scholars who arrived either as Zionists or refugees from Nazi Germany, joining the Hebrew University.

The book traces how the field shifted from a textual-philological approach in Germany to a direct, often tense, encounter with the region's realities, shaped by the growing Jewish-Arab conflict. Drawing on archival sources in multiple languages, it highlights the Orientalists' roles beyond academia, including efforts at Jewish-Arab dialogue and cooperation with diplomatic and security bodies.

This study sheds light on the entanglement of scientific research with political, social, and cultural dynamics in 20th-century Palestine and Israel, offering fresh insights into the roots of the Jewish-Arab conflict and the impact of academic knowledge on its development.