A Conference on Nazi Berlin, Jewish Urbanity: Culture, Religion, Architecture, and Politics

Thursday, October 30 - Friday, October 31, 2003

The purpose of the conference is to explore ways that Weimar cultural life in Berlin affected the role of the city during the Third Reich. Berlin became known as the site of liberation for women, as an intense intellectual environment for Jews, as the embodiment of Weimar cultural politics. Not only did Berlin have a large and influential Jewish population, but it was also at times conceived metaphorically as the "Jew" of German cities. As such, it had to be dejudaized in order to be nazified: rid of its Jewish population and what came to be seen as the "Jewishness" of its culture, architecture, and intellectual life. The conference will explore processes of nazification during the Third Reich as well as the legacies of Berlin's Weimar and Nazi heritage during the post-war denazification processes. Is Berlin unique among German cities? How does Berlin's image as a city and as a cultural myth mirror the fate of the Jews? Finally, how has the image of Berlin as a liberal, emancipating site, unfriendly to National Socialism, affected post-war scholarship on the city?

This conference is organized by Professor Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College, and is sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and Leon Black, Class of 1973. It is free and open to the public, but pre-registration at Jewish.Studies@Dartmouth.edu would be appreciated.