CFP: Five hundred years of Jew-Hatred and Anti-Semitism in the German Press. Conference May 23rd-May 26th, 2010, Bremen University
Location: Germany

Call for Papers Deadline: 2009-05-15 (Archive)
Date Submitted: 2009-03-16
Announcement ID: 167578

The development of Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism in modern times is closely linked to the press as a medium for the dissemination of anti-Jewish prejudice. This conference intends to study this link and its contemporary and long-term manifestations. The focus of the conference will be on negative images of Jews and on anti-Semitic utterances and tendencies in the German press and the German language press outside Germany from its origins in the sixteenth century to the present. Starting with examples from sixteenth and seventeenth century pamphlets, the seventeenth century periodical press, and debates on the social status of Jews in the Age of Enlightenment, the conference endeavours to bring together contributions on anti-Jewish stereotypes and images disseminated through the press right up to the present day. Special attention will be paid to the rise of Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism as a mainstream trend within the nineteenth century German popular press, and its aggravation during the twentieth century, especially during the Weimar period and the era of National Socialism. A second focus will be on anti-Semitic tendencies in the period after the Second World War all the way through to the present day and including the new electronic media.

Scholars of relevant disciplines are invited to present papers on the following aspects:

• Jewish images and tendencies towards Jew-hatred in sixteenth and seventeenth century pamphlets, and the periodical press;
• negative utterances about Jews, and Jewish images in the eighteenth century press;
• anti-Semitic utterances and tendencies in the nineteenth and twentieth century press, especially in the popular press, focusing on individual newspapers, or drawing on comparative aspects;
• the power of pictures, i.e. the relevance of the illustrated press / of illustrations in the press for the dissemination of Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism;
• anti-Semitism of papers, journals, calendars etc. that did not, in their time, represent the mainstream anti-Semitic press, including provincial and local papers,
• journalistic representations and comments on occurrences motivated by Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism,
• anti-Semitic manifestations in presses directed at social subgroups: professional associations, families, women, children etc.;
• economic aspects of and biographical links to the anti-Semitic press,
• the attitude of governmental institutions, political parties and social groups towards anti-Semitic newspapers and journals,
• the specific rôle of the press in the rise of anti-Semitic denunciations,
• sustainability and disruption in form and content of anti-Jewish attitudes in the press, its absorption by the public, and its socio-historical context,
• Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism as reflected in the historical German press compared with the contemporary presses of other countries within and outside Europe,
• the rôle of the new electronic media in the dissemination of anti-Semitic attitudes.

Furthermore, special attention will be paid to the reaction of the German Jewish press and its struggle against Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism.

The organizers of the conference look forward to receiving proposals on the above-mentioned aspects and related areas of study. Please send an abstract either in German or English via e-mail or letter to both addresses given below.
– The Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History, The Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel; mskoeb@pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il
-Universität Bremen, Deutsche Presseforschung, Postf. 330160, D-28359 Bremen, wieking@uni-bremen.de

Date, venue:
Bremen University, Sunday, May 23rd-Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Organization:
-Travel and accommodation costs will be refunded by the organizers (subject to sufficient funding of the conference, final confirmation by November 1st, 2009).
-Papers may be delivered in German or in English
-Please send abstract + curriculum vitae until May 15th, 2009 (abstract max. 500 words)

The Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History, The Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel; mskoeb@pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il
Universität Bremen, Deutsche Presseforschung, Postf. 330160, D-28359 Bremen, wieking@uni-bremen.de

Email: nagel@uni-bremen.de