A look back at the international conference marking the Institute’s anniversary
To mark its 60th anniversary, the Institute for the History of the German Jews organised the international conference “60 Years of the IGdJ: German-Jewish History in New Contexts” from 19 to 20 May 2026, with the aim of discussing Jewish history and culture in the context of new questions and methods, drawing on the Institute’s current research profile. Conference sections took a legal history perspective on Jewish experiences of violence and the Holocaust, examined the profound influences of the past on the present, addressed challenges in and for Digital Jewish History, and analysed the conditions of international migration movements as well as the formations and conflicts of multiple self-conceptions. With excursions to the Grindelviertel and to the exhibition “Landmarks of Jewish History” at the Altonaer Museum, the conference also addressed current projects and discussions taking place in Hamburg.
On 19 May 2026 the public evening event “Sources, Data, Contexts – A Website for the Virtual Unification of a Divided Archive” took place in the atrium of the Hamburg State and University Library. The focus was on the ceremonial launch of a website developed by the IGdJ to accompany two digitisation projects at the Hamburg State Archives and the Jerusalem Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. The history of the division of the archive between Jerusalem and Hamburg in the aftermath of the Shoah is closely linked to the foundation of the IGdJ. The evening featured three keynote talks and a discussion with the participating archives, examining issues surrounding the digitisation of source material from various perspectives and addressing the challenges and potential of these specific digitisation projects. More about the event.
We would like to thank all participants and the many visitors!
Photos of the conference and evening event by Claudia Höhne and Jann Wilken.
