Over centuries Jews had no share in the European political realm. Instead they formed alternative networks between families and communities through marriage. After collective catastrophes – most prominently the expulsion from Spain – these strategic networks helped rebuild Jewish economic and social life, and created transnational ties. In this lecture Professor Zadoff asks ‘in what ways have these historical experiences influenced Jewish life throughout modernity and up until today?’
Mirjam Zadoff is Director of the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism. Among her publications are: Werner Scholem. A German Life (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), awarded the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History, and Next Year in Marienbad (University of Pennsylvania, 2012) awarded the Salo Wittmayer Baron Prize by the American Academy for Jewish Research.
This lecture is one of a series exploring themes from the exhibition, Jews, Money, Myth at the Jewish Museum London (19 March – 7 July), developed in collaboration with the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism.