Conception of Heimat in Jewish Visual History and Culture

A lecture series organised by the Leo Baeck Institute London in cooperation with the German Historical Institute London.

The lecture series examines the German-Jewish and European-Jewish notion of Heimat and its diverse and changing visual representations and interpretations during the course of history. It looks at the subject through a prism of visual media, such as the arts, photography, film and fashion, as well as literature and social media, etc.

This season’s speakers will be: 

Thursday, 11th February 2021, 6.30 pm – Online event*

Hanno Loewy – Unrewarded Love: Alpine Clubs, Ski-Tourism, Folklore and the Jews  

Thursday, 18th March 2021, 6.30 pm – Online event*

Jan-Christopher Horak – Helmar Lerski between the Diaspora and a Jewish Homeland 

Thursday, 22nd April 2021, 6.30 pm – Online event*

Ofer Ashkenazi – Heimat as a Shelter from Nazism 

Thursday, 14th October 2021, 6.30 pm

Natasha Gordinsky – ‘Your Heimat is our Nightmare‘: Post-Soviet Poetic Interventions in German Culture  

Thursday, 11th November 2021, 6.30 pm

Sarah MacDougall – From Heartland to Homeland? – German-Jewish Émigré Artists in Britain, c. 1933-45   

* Due to current restrictions the first three lectures of this series will be held online. Please check our website (www.leobaeck. co.uk) closer to the date of the event for a Zoom link to participate in this talk or alternatively register with us at info@leobaeck.co.uk.

Admission is free but we would appreciate if you could inform us in advance of your intention to attend by contacting the Leo Baeck Institute, London on info@leobaeck.co.uk, thus enabling us to prepare for participant numbers and management. 

As soon as this will be possible again, lectures will be held at: German Historical Institute, 17 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2NJ. Places at the GHI are strictly limited and must be reserved in advance by contacting the Leo Baeck Institute London. Admission is free. Lectures will begin promptly at 6.30pm. Latecomers may not be admitted.

For more information on this season’s lecture series please refer to the leaflet here. 

The Leo Baeck Institute will be closed for the holidays from Thursday, 24th of December 2020, to Wednesday, 6th of January 2020. We wish you all the very best for the festive season and a very happy New Year! Stay safe.

Hanna’s Journey

‘Hanna’s Journey’ (2013)

In order to animate and lift the spirit during these uncertain times the Leo Baeck Institute London is once more delighted to invite you to join our  LBI Film Club. This online project offers interesting and thought-provoking fiction films linked to the German-Jewish and Israeli experience which we hope you will enjoy.  

 The LBI Film Club’s fourth offering is:  

Hanna’s Journey (Germany/Israel, 2013)

Ambitious Berliner Hanna (Karoline Schuch) decides that if she is going to succeed in business, she will need some volunteer service on her CV. So she heads to Israel to work with the disabled. Itay (Doron Amit), the Israeli social worker supervising her volunteer work, picks on her with cynical comments on German history, whilst obviously flirting with her. Hanna initially reacts with rejection, but as her interest in her own family history grows, so does her attraction to Itay. Probing the effects of the Holocaust’s looming shadow on third generation Israelis and Germans, the film skilfully weaves the personal and the political, illustrating how they are inextricably linked.

Please click here to view the full description and for step-by-step instructions on how to watch the film offering.

Further LBI Film Club screenings will be announced via our LBI website, Facebook page (Leo Baeck Institute London), Instagram (@leobaeckinstitutelondon), and Twitter (@lbi_london) in the future. Please keep checking!