Thematic Issues of the Dubnow Institute

The thematic issues for the classroom are published by the Dubnow Institute in collaboration with the Association of History Teachers in Germany in the framework of the project »Turning Object into Subject. Communicating Jewish Everyday Culture in Germany.« This is a cooperative project that combines foundational research in cultural studies with applied research of textbooks and aims to make its findings applicable for teaching staff. It is not oriented towards the study of antisemitism in the traditional sense. Rather, it aims to educate and disseminate knowledge about Jewish history, culture, and religion. The base assumption is that the process of coming to terms with National Socialism in Germany has led to a reduction of Jewish history to an ostensibly exclusive experiential framework of persecution, antisemitism, and the Holocaust, and thus to an obfuscation of the pluralism of Jewish life in Europe. This has engendered a fragmented or diminished knowledge about the religious and everyday practices of Jews – a deficit that is compounded by a lack of direct experience. The project aims to counter these isolating perspectives and stereotypical perceptions through a well-founded and easily accessible knowledge concerning Jewish history and culture. The project is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the framework of the Directive Concerning the Promotion of Cooperative Research Projects in the Field of Antisemitism Research, »Current Dynamics and Challenges of Antisemitism.«

Prof. Dr. Alfons Kenkmann is the academic advisor for the Thematic Issues, while Dr. Helge Schröder is responsible for didactic coordination.