TITLE Simon Dubnow (1898) The Annual Conference of the Simon Dubnow Institute International Conference November 4 – 5, 2010

for Jewish and Culture at convenes international scholars specialized in the life,

work and impact of Simon Dubnow for an exchange on Historicizing the historical formation of tradition, historical theory, language, and most particularly the crisis-ridden inter- the Jewish People war period on the eve of the Catastrophe in respect to Dubnow’s diasporic self-understanding. Simon Dubnow at 150

This conference in honour of Simon Dubnow will mark the 150th anniversary of the historian’s birth. It is a

joint endeavor, bringing together the Simon Dubnow PARTICIPANTS Institute, Leipzig, The Historical Society of and Marion Aptroot (Heinrich-Heine-Universität, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Düsseldorf) | Israel Bartal (The Hebrew University, Jerusalem / The Historical Society of Israel) | Nicolas

Berg (Simon Dubnow Institute) | Michael Brenner ORGANISATION

(Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München) | Jörg Dr. Nicolas Berg Deventer (Simon Dubnow Institute) | Dan Diner (The Vicky Sorge

Hebrew University, Jerusalem / Simon Dubnow PD Dr. Susanne Zepp

Institute) | Verena Dohrn (Osteuropa-Institut der

Freien Universität ) | Jan Gerber (Simon Dubnow [email protected] Institute) | Natasha Gordinsky (Simon Dubnow www.dubnow.de Institute) | Anke Hilbrenner (Universität Bonn) | Alexis Hofmeister (Universität zu Köln) | Omar Kamil (Simon

Dubnow Institute) | Joshua Karlip ( University,

New York) | Samuel Kassow (Trinity College, Hartford) |

Dan Miron (The Hebrew University, Jerusalem / Columbia University, New York) | Gabriel Motzkin (The VENUE Hebrew University, Jerusalem / The Van Leer Jerusalem Simon Dubnow Institute for Institute) | Simon Rabinovitch (Boston University) | and Culture Anne-Christin Saß (Osteuropa-Institut der Freien at Leipzig University Universität Berlin) | Robert Seltzer (Hunter College, Goldschmidtstraße 28 New York) | Ruth Wisse (Harvard University, Cambridge, 04103 Leipzig Mass.) | Susanne Zepp (Simon Dubnow Institute) | Sächsisches Staatsministerium The Historical Society Hans-Böckler-Stiftung In Cooperation with The Historical Society of Israel and Steven Zipperstein (Stanford University) für Wissenschaft und Kunst of Israel The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

Wednesday, November 3 15:15 Robert Seltzer (New York) 11:45 Anne-Christin Saß (Berlin) A of Jewish History: The Historian’s Craft: 19:00 Welcome of the Conference Participants Simon Dubnow in Search for a Conceptual Understanding Simon Dubnow and the Historical Section of YIVO in Berlin

16:00 Coffee Break 12:30 Lunch Break Thursday, November 4 THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE VISIONS AND VALUES 9:00 Dan Diner Introduction Chair: Natasha Gordinsky Chair: Jan Gerber

HISTORICAL TRADITIONS 16:30 Marion Aptroot (Düsseldorf) 14:00 Anke Hilbrenner (Bonn) Chair: Jörg Deventer The Language of Autonomy: Diaspora : as a Means of Cultural Identification Dubnow’s Vision for a Multicultural Europe 9:15 Israel Bartal (Jerusalem) ‘Neither a Future, nor a Past’: 17:15 Ruth Wisse (Cambridge, Mass.) 14:45 Verena Dohrn (Berlin) Simon Dubnow and his Predecessors A Personal Statement: Ethos and History: Simon Dubnow in my Life Simon Dubnow meets David Koigen in Weimar Berlin 10:00 Michael Brenner (München) Graetz and Dubnow: 19:00 Conference Dinner 15:30 Simon Rabinovitch (Boston) A Juxtaposition ‘Castles in the Sky’? On Visions of Autonomism in America 10:45 Coffee Break Friday, November 5 16:15 Coffee Break

LITERATURE AND MEMORY AT THE EVE OF TURMOIL LOOKING BACK Chair: Susanne Zepp Chair: Dan Diner Panel Discussion

11:15 Dan Miron (Jerusalem/New York) 9:00 Joshua Karlip (New York) 16:30 Steven Zipperstein (Stanford) Jewish Social History as Literature: At the Crossroads: Closure Simon Dubnow’s World History of the Jewish People Simon Dubnow and His Disciples at the Eve of World War II Dan Miron (Jerusalem/New York) 12:00 Alexis Hofmeister (Köln) 9:45 Samuel Kassow (Hartford) Robert Seltzer (New York) Imperial Memory: What should we do in Haman’s Times: Ruth Wisse (Cambridge, Mass.) Simon Dubnow’s Book of Life The Public Intellectual on the Eve of War

12:45 Lunch Break 10:30 Coffee Break

CONCEPTS AND IDEAS INTERWAR CONSTELLATIONS Chair: Nicolas Berg Chair: Omar Kamil

14:30 Dan Diner (Jerusalem/Leipzig) 11:00 Gabriel Motzkin (Jerusalem) The Notion of ‘Nation’: Nationalism and the Question of Minorities: On Historical Semantics in Dubnow’s Writings A Reassessment