Jewish Biographies, Leftist Politics, and the History of Emotions

Karin Auerbach of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will draw on concepts in the history of emotions to expand our understanding of Jewish involvement in leftist politics.

This talk will draw on concepts in the history of emotions to expand our understanding of Jewish involvement in leftist politics through the lens of individual and collective biographies. Reevaluating analyses of why some Jews have been drawn to Communism and other leftist political movements, the paper will ask how reconstructions of individual life paths can illuminate commonalities and variations in mindsets as well as frameworks of belonging at times of changing ideas about what binds individuals to broader political, social and cultural communities.

Lecture in English with simultaneous translation into Polish.

The lecture is part of international academic conference titled 'Biographies and Politics: The Involvement of Jews and People of Jewish Origin in Leftist Movements in 19th and 20th Century Poland'

Conference organizers

The conference is organized within the Global Education Outreach Program.

The conference was made possible thanks to the support of Taube Philanthropies, the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, and the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland. 

The conference was organized with the support of Stiftung für deutsch-polnische Zusammenarbeit.

The conference was made possible thanks to the support of the European Association for Jewish Studies.

This conference was made possible thanks to a grant from the German-Polish Science Foundation.

The conference is supported by the Gotteiner Institute for the History of the Bund and the Jewish Labor Movement at the University of Haifa.