This season’s topic intends to discuss the challenges which arise when writing a European-Jewish family history set in the historically and politically charged period of the late 19th to the mid-20th century. What scholarly problems does a writer encounter, what emotional difficulties does an author face – especially in terms of allowing the public access to one’s own personal history, and how can these challenges be dealt with?

This season’s speakers were:

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Dr Lisa Appignanesi – Losing the Dead – Before and After

Thursday, 1 March 2018

Thomas Harding – ‘You’re doing what?’ – My family’s response to my trying to save the house stolen by the Nazis

Thursday, 8 March 2018

Prof Atina Grossmann –  Trauma, Privilege, and Adventure in the “Orient”: A Refugee Family Archive

Thursday, 12 April

Dr Martin Doerry –  Lifting a taboo: The story of a holocaust victim which has never been told before.

Thursday, 17 May 2018

Prof Philippe Sands (East West Street: A Personal History of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity) in conversation with Katrin Himmler (The Himmler Brothers: A German Family History)

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