Annual Report of Actl V L T L Es 2011
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LEO BAECK l NSTl TUTE LONDON ANNUAL REPORT OF ACTl V l T l ES 2011 Leo Baeck Institute London May 2011 Report of Activities issn 1746 – 8663 Company limited by Guarantee Registered in England No. 766699 Registered Charity No. 235163 Layout: blotto design, Berlin. Print: Gulde-Druck GmbH, Tübingen CONTENTS Board 4 Introduction 5 Obituaries 8 John Grenville 1928–2011 8 Georg Heuberger 1946–2010 10 Werner Angress 1920–2010 11 Leo Baeck Medal of Recognition 13 Laudatio by Michael A. Meyer 13 Speech of Heinz-Horst Deichmann 19 The LBI at Queen Mary, University of London 21 LBI Appeals 24 Publications 26 The Year Book 26 Leo Baeck Institute Year Book 55 (2010) 29 Leo Baeck Institute Year Book 56 (2011) 31 Research Projects 32 Jews in German-Speaking Academia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 32 A History of Visual Expressions of Antisemitism, Emotions and Morality 39 Lecture Series 41 European Leo Baeck Lecture Series 2010: Jews in Politics 41 European Leo Baeck Lecture Series 2011: New perspectives on Jewish-non-Jewish relations 43 Film Talk 2009/2010 45 Film Talk 2010/2011 46 Conferences 48 German-speaking Jewish Philosophers in British Contexts 48 English and German Nationalist and Anti-Semitic Discourse (1871–1945) 50 Objects and Emotions – Loss and Acquisition of Jewish Property 61 Forthcoming Events and Conferences 70 Patterns of Exclusion in the 20th and 21st Century: Racism, Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe 70 Leo Baeck Fellowship Programme 73 News from the LBI Jerusalem: Highlights 2010 81 News from the LBI New York: Highlights 2010 82 Board Publications 84 Director’s Publications 94 Deputy Director’s Publications 94 The Leo Baeck Institute 95 4 BOARD Chair Prof Peter Pulzer Hon. Treasurer David Goldsmith Executive Council Adam Freudenheim Dr Cathy Gelbin Prof John A. S. Grenville (1928–2011) Dr David Rechter Dr Dr h.c. Arnold Paucker Board Prof Esra Bennathan Prof Richard Bessel Prof Tobias Brinkmann Prof David Cesarani Dr David Feldman Prof Edgar Feuchtwanger Prof Sander Gilman Dr Abigail Green Prof Neil Gregor Dr Christina Von Hodenberg Dr Robert Kalisch Dr Anthony Kauders Dr Rainer Liedtke Dr Louise London Dr Rudolf Muhs Prof Aubrey Newman Prof Nils Roemer Prof Miri Rubin Robin E. Sharp Prof David Sorkin Prof Jonathan Steinberg Prof Till Van Rahden Prof Bernard Wasserstein Prof Christian Wiese Prof Robert S. Wistrich Prof Ruth Wodak Hon. Fellows Sheldon Nash Prof Reinhard Rürup 5 INTRODUCTION Prof Raphael Gross (Director) This year’s report bears out the wide variety from our programme is starting to play an of activities our research institute in London important role in the field of German-Jewish has been involved in over the last year: interna- history and culture. tional conferences, research projects, teaching, This is also the moment to say goodbye to publications, lecture series, an international 4 Devonshire Street: on 11 April 2011 we finally fellowship programme, and other events. It moved out of this remarkable place. And it is a great pleasure to see that, having worked is time to celebrate: our new home is a lovely as director of the LBI London for 10 years, our modern space in the newly constructed Arts work is still thriving and more varied than Building of Queen Mary, University of London. ever. Our friends are of course welcome to visit us In November 2010 we awarded the first Leo here – it is now even more obvious that we are Baeck London Medal of Recognition to Heinz part of a very serious research environment, Horst Deichmann. The ceremony was gen- and our work will undoubtedly profit from this erously hosted by the German Embassy and new context. The proximity to a great number guests enjoyed a remarkable evening with of brilliant scholars in the Humanities will talks by Heinz Horst Deichmann, our interna- enrich our institutional life. The involvement tional president Michael Meyer, as well as the in an MA programme for European Jewish His- German Ambassador Georg Boomgaarden and tory will guarantee that our scholarly work is our chairman Peter Pulzer. The next day was disseminated to a younger generation of schol- marked by our conference on German-speak- ars in our field. ing Jewish intellectuals in the UK – a result of It is my sad duty to inform you about the the research project that Heinz Horst Deich- death of John Grenville (11 January 1928 – 7 mann is supporting. Some of the conference March 2011). John Grenville has been a very papers will be published in our Year Book in dear friend to me as well as a member of the 2011. executive committee of the Leo Baeck Insti- Our international fellowship programme, tute London and co-editor of the Leo Baeck co-organized by the Studienstiftung des deut- Institute Year Book. John was a great support schen Volkes and funded by the Ministerium in bringing our Year Book to Oxford University für Bildung und Forschung, continues to be Press where subscribers now enjoy full elec- a great success. Since I have been privileged tronic access to all its past and present contri- to be part of this programme from its begin- butions. John will be greatly missed by all of ning in 2005/6, I feel able to say that the qual- us at the Institute (an obituary by Peter Pulzer ity of the applications is continuously improv- can be found on p. 8). Two other dear friends of ing and the network formed by former fellows the Institute passed away in 2010: Georg Heu- 6 Introduction berger was head of the Freunde und Förderer Government. We are grateful for the trust the of the Leo Baeck Institute in Germany and was German Government puts in us, independent involved with the work of the Institute for of party politics. We are also very grateful to many years (an obituary by myself is printed Klaus Böhlhoff for his generous support over on p. 10). Werner Tom Angress, born on 27th many years. June 1920 in Berlin, was a very long-standing I hope that you enjoy reading about our member of our board and will be sadly missed activities. (on obituary by Arnold Paucker is included on p. 11). Prof Raphael Gross I would like to thank the members of staff Director at the London LBI: Daniel Wildmann has not only allowed us to expand our activities further but was absolutely instrumental in getting our new relationship with Queen Mary, University of London, off to a good start. Almut Becker has been an efficient and brilliant administra- tor and office manager as always. Paula Heinke has served as a volunteer from ARSP and has been a great help with many office activities. Maria Roca helped as an intern supported by the Erasmus programme to manage our con- ference on Objects and Emotions, held at and carried out in cooperation with the German Historical Institute London. I would further like to thank our chairman Peter Pulzer as well as our Honorary Treasurer David Goldsmith for much support. The meetings of our exec- utive are as informal and as efficient as one could wish for as a director and I would like to express my thanks to all members of our executive as well as to our board members who helped the Institute over the last year. Our work could not continue without the generous and enduring support of the German Introduction 7 Prof Peter Pulzer (Chairman) Dr Daniel Wildmann (Deputy Director) Dr Cathy Gelbin (Member of the LBI London Executive) Almut Becker (Office Manager) Dominik Manickam (intern during September and October 2010) Paula Heinke (ARSP Volunteer) 8 Obituaries ObiTuariES John Grenville 1928–2011 istic. What followed was four years of manual employment, culminating in a job as gardener John Grenville, editor of the Year Book for at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he gained nineteen years, who died on 7 March 2011, after access to the College library on strict condition a long illness stoically borne, combined the that this was not to be a backdoor to admission intellectual and personal virtues of his native to the university. Germany and his adopted British homeland in His German-Jewish thirst for education, an exemplary way. His scholarship was metic- supplemented by his love of music and lit- ulous in its documentation and possessed a erature, was not, however, so easily defeated. sweep that integrated the political narrative He enrolled for evening courses at Birkbeck with the social and ideological contexts of the College and transferred, thanks to a schol- times. In his professional and collegial con- arship, to the London School of Economics, duct he was relaxed, understanding and sym- graduating with a First – years that, to quote pathetic without compromising his integrity. him again, ‹left a permanent impression›. He Hans Gubrauer – his original name – was completed his PhD under no less an author- born into comfortable circumstances in Berlin, ity than Sir Charles Webster. In 1964 this was descended from distinguished lawyers on published as Lord Salisbury and Foreign Policy: both sides, his father being a High Court judge. The Close of the Nineteenth Century. His reputa- Even after 1933 his life remained sheltered and tion was made, not least through his un-Ger- he experienced serious antisemitism only after man ability to present scholarly conclusions in Kristallnacht, when his father was deported to a simple, accessible language. There followed a concentration camp and he was expelled from Lectureship and Readership at Nottingham, a his Gymnasium. That led to the next formative Harkness Fellowship at Yale, where he met his phase of his life, emigration to Britain under first wife, Betty Anne Rosenberg, and a Profes- the auspices of the Kindertransport.