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English Articles
Depression, Antisemitism and the Writing of History: Remembering Evelien Gans
Historian Evelien Gans was a renowned anti-Semitism and Holocaust scholar. In 2018, she took her own life. This had many causes, but also challenges us to reflect on the distressing aspects of academic culture.
National Internationalism? The Jewish Labor Bund between Nation and Class
Intersectionality has posed a challenge for leftist movements attempting to advance the cause of specific groups without losing sight of the intercommunal unity they need to succeed. How can a party of Russian Jewish revolutionaries help us square this circle?
The century of pandemics. A conversation with Mark Honigsbaum
Medical historian Mark Honigsbaum speaks of a "century of pandemics" that stretches from the Spanish flu of 1918 to our Corona-related present. In an interview with Philipp Sarasin, he explains why we only ever prepare for the pandemic that has just passed.
The German Catechism
For many, the memory of the Holocaust as a break with civilization is the moral foundation of the Federal Republic. To compare it with other genocides is therefore considered a heresy, an apostasy from the right faith. It is time to abandon this catechism.
Unloved Monuments. On Confederate War Memorials and Monuments to the Expellees
Many monuments no longer fit into our political landscape – in the US as well as in Germany. They celebrate the wrong heroes or tell of injustices suffered in order to conceal the suffering inflicted on others. Should they be removed for that reason?
Clampdown. How Turkey’s New Internet Law Threatens Journalists
The free use of the internet has been subject to growing censorship pressure in Turkey for years. However, the new internet law that came into effect in 2020 now directly targets social media - and thus threatens journalistic work and freedom of information head-on.
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Academic Freedom under Threat in India
Since coming to power in 2014, India’s Hindu nationalist regime has been steadily shrinking the spaces of political and academic freedom. Its latest moves show a continuing tendency to silence critical voices and to further its narrow views of history and society.
Phenomena of the Irrational. On wonder doctors, witches and conspiracy theories
From 1945 until the late 1950s, a wave of accusations of witchcraft swept through Germany, and tens of thousands of people flocked to wonder healers. But why? And what links these phenomena to today's conspiracy theories? A conversation with the US-American historian Monica Black.
Contested Memory. The ‘Comfort Women’ Statue in Berlin and Dealing with Sexual Violence in War
The unveiling of a statue in memory of the victims of sexual violence committed by the Japanese Army in World War II has led to diplomatic tension between Berlin and Tokyo. But there are good reasons for the statue to have a place in Germany.
Comparing Comparisons: From the “Historikerstreit” to the Mbembe Affair
In the late 1980s, mostly German intellectuals discussed the question of the “uniqueness” or “comparability” of the Holocaust. In the Cause Mbembe, the fronts, the participants and the course of the discussion have changed fundamentally – but the political and ethical stakes remain the same.
Like: Memetic Analogies in Social Media
Memes circulating on the net articulate simple comparisons with political intent, for example as an analogy between the USA today and "Weimar" back then, or between German and American coming to terms with the past. But as catchy as such analogies are, they also hide a lot of contexts.
Inadequate, yet Indispensable: The WHO and the History of Global Health
The USA sharply criticizes the WHO: President Trump accuses it of lacking distance from China. But this attitude is nothing new. On the contrary, since the founding of the UN, the USA has mostly been at odds with the political internationalism of the WHO and its health programs.