Jewish Communities

The subject area “Jewish Communities” is addressed at the Ludwig Uhland Institute (LUI) as a fundamental component within European societies (European Ethnology), regional culture (the regional ethnography of Baden-Württemberg) and the analysis of museums (Jewish museums, the German-Israeli culture of memory). Beginning in the 1970s, Utz Jeggle (1941-2009) developed an area of research focusing on Jewish villages in Württemberg, examining them in the context of local history and geography, and of the history of collective memory, forgetting and destruction. This research tradition is still firmly anchored in the activities of the LUI.

Among the central topics addressed in research and teaching at the LUI today are historic and present-day Jewish communities, relationships between Jews and non-Jews, and questions pertaining to Jewish identity. Within this subject area, scholars at LUI are examining two currently relevant topics: antisemitism and Holocaust remembrance in societies shaped by migration. One of the collaborative projects that addresses these topics is “Holocaust Remembrance in Migration Societies,” conducted in cooperation with the Rabb Centre for Holocaust Studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.

Since 2013, Hans-Joachim Lang, an honorary professor, has been in charge of this subject area. His research focuses on the Holocaust and remembrance of the Holocaust.