Webinar | „The Germans and Jewish Resistance”

Based on studies for an overview of Jewish resistance to the Holocaust, its perception and above all assessment in Germany will be analysed here. In National Socialist ideology, Jews are considered weak, but at the same time devious and dangerous. During the war, the equation of Soviet and Jewish resistance was almost typical. And even though the (supposedly Jewish-Soviet) partisans were feared, the Germans were always surprised when genuine Jewish resistance actually occurred – for example, the uprisings in Warsaw, Treblinka or Sobibor.

After the war, the Germans found it difficult to deal with past resistance. Particularly in respect to the Jews, an image of passive victims was established, into which resistance and agenda (Amidah) did not really want to fit. And even more: if even the Jews had resisted in the face of overwhelming superiority, what did that say about German resistance?

Prof. Dr. Stephan Lehnstaedt is since 2016 Professor for Holocaust Studies and Jewish Studies at Touro University, Campus Berlin. From 2005-2009 he worked at Institut für Zeitgeschichte Munich and from 2010-2016 at Niemiecki Instytut Historyczny w Warszawie. As a Guest Teacher, he served at LMU (2008-10), at Humboldt University Berlin and at the London School of Economics (both 2013/14). Among others, he received in 2015 the medal “Powstanie w Getcie Warszawskim” from Stowarzyszenie Żydów Kombatantów i Poszkodowanych w II Wojnie Światowej. Available in Polish is his monograph Czas Zabijania. Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka i Akcja Reinhardt, Warszawa 2018.

The webinar moderator will be Masha Makarova from the WGM Educational Department. The meeting will be interpreted into English. Participation is free