The Jews and the Great War: European Leo Baeck Lectures series takes place at the DHI London

A lecture series organised by the Leo Baeck Institute London, the Jewish Museum and the Fritz Bauer Institut, Frankfurt/Main, in cooperation with the German Historical Institute London examines the topic The Jews and the Great War and how the experience of World War I reshaped Jewish history and culture and challenged perceptions of Jewish identity in the UK, Palestine, Germany and Eastern Europe.

On 22nd of May Glenda Abramson will describe life in the Jewish settlement in Palestine under the autocratic rule of Jemal Pasha. Once the war took hold, Palestine was in a parlous condition, almost entirely cut off from the rest of the world, short of essential goods, medical supplies and funds to support those in the Jewish Settlement who depended on international charity. The lack of supplies led to large-scale starvation and disease. How did the Jewish settlement in Palestine cope with these dramatic political, economic and cultural challenges?

Glenda Abramson is Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies and Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. Her publications include Drama and Ideology in Modern Israel, Hebrew Writing of the First World War, Soldiers’ Tales and edited books such as: The Encyclopedia of Modern Jewish Culture. She is editor-in-chief of The Journal of Modern Jewish Studies.

The lecture will be held at the German Historical Institute London, 17 Bloomsbury Square, LondonWC1A 2NJ and begin at 6.30pm.

The first lecture of the series was held by Roz Currie, Jewish Military Museum, London and dealt with the topic “Curating the Jewish Experience of the First World War”. The podcast of this lecture can be found here. In the lectures coming up Prof. Dr. Micha Brumlik, Universität Frankfurt/M. will speak about “Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig – German Jewish Patriots in the Great War” on 12th of June, Prof. Jay Winter, Yale University, USA will talk about “The Great War and Jewish Memory”. More information about the lecture series can be found on the homepage of the Leo Baeck Institute.