The workshop Jewish Educational Media and Cultural Translations, organized by the Georg Eckert Institute and to be held on May 5-6, 2015, in Braunschweig, aims to bring together scholars from the fields of history and educational history, Jewish studies and cultural studies to inspire and stimulate discussion on the concept of cultural translation. The workshop will present initial findings of the German-Israeli research project Innovation through tradition? Approaching cultural transformations during the Sattelzeit via Jewish educational media and give insights into related projects, and will hopefully serve as a forum for a lively discussion on the value of Jewish educational media as sources for research in the history of cultural transformation. [more]

Organized as part of our research project, this workshop is intended to discuss the concept of “cultural translation” in relation to the history of Jewish education and processes of cultural transformation in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Central Europe. We will present initial findings of our research and discuss with scholars from the fields of history and educational history, Jewish studies and cultural studies to inspire and stimulate discussion on the concept of cultural translation as a fruitful approach to the study of the history of Jewish educational media.

Participants are Ruth von Bernuth (Chapel Hill), Andreas L. Fuchs (Braunschweig / Göttingen), Hans-Joachim Hahn (Aachen / Zürich), Juliane Jacobi (Potsdam), Tal Kogman (Tel Aviv), Kerstin von der Krone (Braunschweig), Simone Lässig (Braunschweig), Dirk Sadowski (Braunschweig), Zohar Shavit (Tel Aviv), Evita Wiecki (Munich).

With the generous support of the Minerva Stiftung, Dr. Kerstin von der Krone, post-doctoral research fellow at the Georg Eckert Institute, was able to spend one month in Israel for research purposes. During her stay she worked closely with the Israeli partners of the research project, Prof. Dr. Zohar Shavit and Dr. Tal Kogman. She furthermore had the opportunity to visit the National Library of Israel (NLI) and the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP). The NLI holds one of the most complete collections in existence of nineteenth-century literature on Judaism, including Jewish textbooks, prayer books, educational writings and further contemporary literature and provides access to the relevant research literature. The CAHJP holds significant collections originating from numerous German-Jewish communities and educators, which are of great value for our research project.