International Conference at the Leo Baeck Institute with IGdJ-Participation
Organised by the Leo Baeck Institute in New York | Berlin, the conference ‘Between Revolution and Reaction: German-Speaking Jews and the Ideas, Politics, and Cultures of the Right’ took place from 25 to 27 October 2026 at the Centre for Jewish History in New York. Scholars from Europe, Israel and the United States discussed the relationship between German-speaking Jews and conservative, nationalist and reactionary movements from the 19th century to the recent past. Whilst conventional narratives tend to place German-speaking Jewry predominantly within the liberal and left-wing camp, the presentations revealed a broad spectrum of political engagement ranging from rejection to the adoption of ideological content and performative alignment with right-wing groups. In terms of content, the conference spanned a wide range of topics, from Jewish opponents of the liberal revolution of 1848, through Agudath Israel and the history of the Jewish youth organisation ‘Schwarzes Fähnlein’, to those German-Jewish emigrants who supported Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile.
IGdJ staff member Dr Christian Dietrich spoke on the ‘Navigating the Republics’ panel about the relationship between the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith and social democracy. Using the example of the debates on the immigration of Eastern European Jews during the early 1920s, he demonstrated how the Centralverein’s leadership – which had been socialised under the German Empire – and the Social Democrats, who held power in Prussia, found common ground on issues of order and security, and how the Centralverein abandoned its former anti-Social Democratic stance, whilst retaining its nationalist notions of public order.