International Affairs and the Politics of Memory. German-Jewish-Israeli Relations after the Holocaust

International Affairs and the Politics of Memory. German-Jewish-Israeli Relations after the Holocaust

Veranstalter
Dr. Amos Morris-Reich, Haifa; Dr. Jacob S. Eder, Jena; Hubert Leber, M.A., Marburg / Haifa
Veranstaltungsort
Bucerius Institute for Research of Contemporary German History and Society, University of Haifa, Israel
Ort
Haifa
Land
Israel
Vom - Bis
12.01.2014 - 14.01.2014
Website
Von
Jacob S. Eder

From January 12-14, 2014, the Bucerius Institute for Research of Contemporary German History and Society of the University of Haifa, the Jena Center Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts, and the Haifa Center for German and European Studies will hold an international conference on “International Affairs and the Politics of Memory: German-Jewish-Israeli Relations after the Holocaust”. This event is convened by Dr. Amos Morris-Reich (Haifa), Dr. Jacob S. Eder (Jena) and Hubert Leber, M.A. (Marburg/Haifa) and is dedicated to Prof. Dres. h.c. Manfred Lahnstein, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Zeit-Stiftung and former chairman of the Board of Governors, University of Haifa. Scholars from Germany, Israel, Great Britain and the USA will form eight thematic panels, to present their research on various aspects of German-Jewish-Israeli relations since 1945. The keynote lecture will be delivered by Prof. Dr. Dan Diner (Jerusalem/Leipzig).

The convenors intend for this event to engage with important historiographical and methodological debates, and to aim at a broad analysis of German-Jewish-Israeli relations that integrates the dynamics of international politics as well as the history of Holocaust memory. In doing so, the conference aspires to forge a new approach to the study of this subject, combining perspectives of political, diplomatic, transnational history, and memory studies. Relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Israel will form a key focus of this conference, complemented by an exploration into East Germany’s relationship with Israel, as well as West Germany’s relations with Jewish diaspora communities.

In addition to providing a comprehensive account of German-Jewish-Israeli relations based on representative case studies, this conference will make a number of significant methodological contributions to the fields of modern political history and the “new” diplomatic/international history. It will link the history of international relations with that of memory and employ a broad, inclusive definition of “politics” that transcends a strictly government-centered perspective, within domestic as well as foreign policy structures. Paying specific attention to intergovernmental relations in this context, the presentations also explore the role of non-governmental organizations and actors as well as their respective influences on government politics. These include political foundations, NGOs, and other actors within civil society. Thus, the conference aims to shed new light on the truly intertwined history of German-Jewish-Israeli relations after the Holocaust.

Programm

Sunday, January 12
18.00
Reception

18.30
Welcome and Introduction to the Conference
Amos Morris-Reich, University of Haifa
Jacob S. Eder, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

19.00
Keynote Address
Dan Diner, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
Language and Belonging: The German-Israeli Encounter in Luxembourg, 1952

20.00
Welcome Dinner

Monday, January 13

9.00
Panel 1: Between Governments and Societies
Fania Oz-Salzberger, University of Haifa:
Israel and Germany: Reconciliation, “Normalization”, and Universal Lessons

Lily Gardner Feldman, Johns Hopkins University:
Special Relationship, Reconciliation, Friendship, or Alliance? The Role of Memory and Interests in the German-Israeli Partnership

Katharina Konarek, University of Haifa/University of the Bundeswehr Munich:
Political Foundations and their Influence on German Foreign Policy: The Case of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, 2000–2010

10.45
Coffee Break

11.15
Panel 2: The Early Decades
Shlomo Aronson, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
David Ben-Gurion and the Federal Republic: The Domestic Israeli Scene

Jenny Hestermann, Technical University of Berlin:
Politics of Scandal? Konrad Adenauer’s Visit to Israel in 1966 and His Clash with Levi Eshkol

Kristina Meyer, Friedrich Schiller University Jena:
The SPD, the Jews, and the State of Israel, 1945–1970

13.00
Lunch Break

14.30
Panel 3: Diaspora I – American Jewry
Zohar Segev, University of Haifa:
Remembering and Rebuilding: American Jewry, Europe, and Germany in the 1940s and 1950s

Jacob S. Eder, Friedrich Schiller University Jena:
Cold War Diplomacy and Holocaust Memory: West German-American Jewish Relations in the 1980s

15.45
Coffee Break

16.15
Panel 4: Diaspora II – German Jewry
Constantin Goschler, Ruhr University Bochum:
The Securitization of German-Jewish-Israeli Relations in Postwar Germany

Tobias Freimüller, Friedrich Schiller University Jena:
Migration, Memory, and New Beginnings: The Postwar Jewish Community in Frankfurt am Main

18.00
Reception

19.00
Germany, Israel, and Global Affairs: A Personal Perspective
Manfred Lahnstein in Conversation with Fania Oz-Salzberger

Tuesday, January 14

9.00
Panel 5: Germany, Israel, and the Arab World
Carole Fink, Ohio State University:
“The Most Difficult Journey of All”: Willy Brandt’s Trip to Israel in June 1973

Hubert Leber, Philipps University of Marburg/University of Haifa:
“The Leopard that Forgot the Holocaust”? Israel, West Germany’s Arms Export Policy, and the Saudi Tank Deal Debate in 1981/82

Jan Busse, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin:
Between Historical Responsibility and Two-State Solution: Politics of Memory and the German Foreign Policy towards the Middle East Conflict, 1998–2009

10.45
Coffee Break

11.15
Panel 6: East Germany and Israel
Lorena De Vita, Aberystwyth University:
The Mistake of Dr. Seydewitz: Reflections on the East and West German Foreign Policies towards Israel in the Long 1950s

Jeffrey Herf, University of Maryland:
East Germans at War with Israel during the Cold War

Angelika Timm, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Tel Aviv:
The “Third Third”: The Approach of the East German Political Elites to Jewish and Israeli Claims

13.00
Lunch Break

14.30
Panel 7: Academic Relations I
Amos Morris-Reich, University of Haifa:
The “First Letters” of Jacob Wahrman in Historical Perspective

Dani Schrire, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
Tangled Narratives: German-Israeli Folklore Research, 1955–1970

15.45
Coffee Break

16.15
Panel 8: Academic Relations II
Ute Deichmann, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev:
The Difficult Beginnings of Israeli-German Collaboration in the Sciences: Scientific Motivations and Political Agendas

Sharon Livne, University of Haifa:
Initial Contacts in the Scientific Relations between Israel and Germany (1945–1965)

17.30
Closing Remarks
Hubert Leber, Philipps University of Marburg/University of Haifa

Kontakt

Jacob Eder

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Historisches Institut

jacob.eder@uni-jena.de


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