THE LBI YEAR BOOK 2009
Research Practices of Jewish Scientists and Scholars in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Brighton, 4-5 October 2004
Leo Baeck Institute London
Centre for German Jewish Studies (University of Sussex)
There is a widely-held belief that most achievements in science and the humanities have little or no relationship to the characteristics of particular social groups. That is, scientific accomplishments are “impersonal.” Thus “Jewishness” does not affect any scientific or scholarly methods or practice. However, some facts appear to challenge this view: for instance above-average representation of Jews in the sciences and the humanities when compared to their numbers in the general population and their exceptionally strong contribution to particular disciplines. To give but one example: in the 1920s and 1930s the large number of Jewish biochemists studying the intermediate metabolism of sugar was quite disproportionate to their participation in other scientific fields. Similar phenomena can be identified in numerous other areas of intellectual inquiry and activity.
This workshop will examine the tensions created by these two apparently contradictory intuitions. The aim is to provide material on whether the “Jewishness” of scientists and scholars-that is Jewish traditions and/or social and psychological mechanisms that are specific to Jews-have any impact on questions concerning approaches to problem-solving, such as:
- Choice and development of themes and topics
- Range of research-guiding questions
- Types of scientific or scholarly practice
- Types of argument
- Relationship to other areas of research
- Institutional organisation
- Individual competence
- Attitudes towards application
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The History of the Leo Baeck Institute
Tutzing, 23-26 February 2004
Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem
Organised by Prof Christhard Hoffmann (University of Bergen, Norway)
The idea behind the the Tutzing workshop was to give the authors of the project The History of the Leo Baeck Institute, 1955–2005 the opportunity to meet and discuss first drafts (theses, outlines) of their papers with each other and with experts in the field. The workshop also gave an opportunity for fine- finetuning of contributions (to avoid overlap), exchange of source-material, practical preparations for the planned volume (as, for example, the preparation of a photo section in the volume: those who have photos of LBI – events were encouraged to bring a selection to Tutzing). It was understood that the papers presented are “works in progress” and not finished. We have scheduled this workshop at a relatively early stage of this project to allow for the discussion of concepts and interpretations, the exchange of ideas, and the revision of papers.
Symposium Volumes and Monographs
Below you can find a selection of our various publications in chronological order.
Joint Lecture Series 2004/2005
Wiener Library
Centre for German-Jewish Studies
Leo Baeck Institute
For the first time, Britain’s leading institutions for the study of German-speaking Jewry and the Holocaust have combined to present a programme of public lectures.
Drawing on the strengths of these three renowned institutions, the lectures pose a series of probing questions: How did Jews in the aftermath of the Shoah deal with feelings of revenge? In what ways does the concept of trauma help us to understand the life of individual survivors? How did Christians and Jews live together in a German city between 1933-1945? What can we say about coercion and consent during the Third Reich?
Leo Baeck Institute / Wiener Library Lecture Series 2003/2004
The Leo Baeck Institute/Wiener Library Lecture Series 2003/2004 has been most successful, drawing capacity audiences of up to 150 people. Among the contributors were Steven Aschheim, Robert Wistrich, Ignacio Klich, Ute Deichmann, Joanna Bourke, Cilly Kugelmann, Alistair Davidson, Nicolas Berg, Sigrid Weigel and Carlo Ginzburg.