Selected Publications
- 2018 [im Druck. Hrsg. mit Sabina Becker], Deutschsprachige Briefdiskurse zwischen den Weltkriegen. Texte – Kontexte – Netzwerke, München, Edition text+ kritik.
- 2016, « Les correspondances à l’épreuve du temps. Walter Benjamin collectionneur de lettres », in : Cahiers d’études germaniques. L’art épistolaire entre civilité et civisme : de Jean-Paul à Günter Grass II. Hrsg. v. Françoise Knopper et Wolfgang Fink, p. 195-207.
- 2016, Kaiserbilder: Blicke aus der jüdischen Presse auf Wilhelm II., Herrschaftserzählungen. Wilhelm II. in der Kulturgeschichte (1888–1933). Hrsg. v. N. Detering, J. Franzen, C. Meid, Würzburg, Ergon Verlag, S. 167-181.
- 2014, Von Jerusalem nach Weimar. Rückblick auf die deutsch-jüdischen Beziehungen in der Zwischenkriegszeit, in : K. Schubert, L.. Guillon (Hg.), Deutschland und Israel/ Palästina von 1945 bis heute, Würzburg, Königshausen & Neumann, S. 37-52.
- 2014, Dialogue amoureux et dialogue religieux. Rosenzweigau prisme de sa correspondance, Paris : Hermann, 401 p.
FRIAS Project
German-Jewish relationships in the Weimar Republic and the controversial discussion around its heritage after exile and Shoah.
The central question of the investigation to be pursued during this research stay is: How did German Jews after 1945 reflect on German-Jewish relations before 1933, how did they evaluate this relationship and how did they face the possibility of reconciliation? What role did the idea of a “German-Jewish symbiosis” play in the debates? In order to investigate this complex of questions, I will use testimonies by authors who were already adults before the Shoah and devoted themselves to the question of German-Jewish relations in articles, essays, letters and diaries or other autobiographical texts. The decisive factor for this reflection is the debate that began in the early 1960s about the concept of “German-Jewish symbiosis”. Gershom Scholem plaid a polarizing role in this debate, since he was the first to firmly deny the legitimacy of such expression, especially in his programmatic and frequently quoted texts to German-Jewish dialogue. This controversy can be followed up in various other sources, such as Scholem’s exchanges of letters with intellectuals, for instance T.W. Adorno, L. Strauss or P. Szondi – or in texts by other protagonists, who answer to his statements. The form of argumentation of the respective actors in this debate must be taken into consideration and compared with similar arguments before 1933. This investigation is at the interface between Jewish studies, cultural studies and the history of ideas. It is also a contribution to research about Jewish collective memory.