Research
12.02.2025

Conference "Jews in Polish and German Lands: Encounters, Interactions, Inspirations"

The conference, launching vol. 37 of "Polin. Studies in Polish Jewry," will take the form of two online discussions hosted in cooperation with POLIN Museum of History of Polish Jews.

  • February 12, 2025, 12-4pm GMT (online), 6-8pm GMT (in person, London)
  • Registration for online sessions is mandatory
  • Registration for sessions in London is now closed

Historians have largely tended to regard Polish Jewish history and German Jewish history, from the Middle Ages to the present, as playing out solely within national boundaries, thereby ignoring the interactions that have shaped Jewish cultural life. Geographical proximity has meant that Jews from both countries have been linked through kinship ties as well as shared economic, cultural, and linguistic realities. The complexity of this relationship and its consequences have been only partially reflected in scholarship. This volume takes a different approach, shifting the focus away from the nationally distinct to investigate instead mutual influences and interactions. Moving beyond the traditional paradigms that characterize Polish Jewry as ‘authentic’ and German Jewry as ‘modernizing’, it challenges the sharp historiographic division between these two communities and opens up a nuanced understanding of modern European Jewish history.

Programme →

Organizers:

The Institute of Jewish StudiesPOLIN Museum   Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London

The Weinfeld Institute of Jewish Studies

 

The conference is organized within the Global Education Outreach Program.

Global Education Outreach Program - logo

This program was made possible thanks to Taube Philanthropies, the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, Libitzky Family Foundation, and the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.

Logos of GEOP sponsors: Taube Philantrophies, William K. Bowes, Jr Foundation, Libitzky Family Foundation and Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.