German Family History and “Ordinary” Antisemitism

SPEAKER: Björn Krondorfer, Regents’ Professor

The question of “ordinary antisemitism” will be explored through a personal story about the effects of the Holocaust and war memories in  German society after 1945, especially as they are passed on generationally. The speaker’s parents were 18years old when the war ended. His father was drafted into the German army at age 16 and ended up in the near vicinity of a Jewish slave labor camp in Poland; his mother escaped from the advancing Soviet Army. The talk concludes with remarks on the value of dialogical engagement between the communities affected by historical trauma due to state-sponsored violent ideologies.