Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow

By Team WissensSpuren and DI

The Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow (DI) conducts multidisciplinary and historically comprehensive research on Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe from the Middle Ages to the present. Its research adopts a pan-European perspective and includes the spaces of Jewish emigration, particularly Israel, as well as North and Latin America. Through events, university teaching, and a wide range of publications, the research findings are communicated to both academic audiences and the interested public. A stated goal is to conduct high-level humanities research and to enhance societal differentiation and critical thinking through the transfer of knowledge by conveying scientific insights.

Education and Research

The historically comprehensive research is divided into three areas: “Politics,” “Law,” and “Knowledge,” each with its own specific focus, theoretical approaches, and methodological perspectives. What unites them is the interest in the tensions that have shaped European-Jewish history since the era of emancipation: individuality and collectivity, particularity and universality, homogeneity and heterogeneity, participation and exclusion, tradition and secularization. A central theme across all research areas is also the question of mobility and change, both in terms of self-determined and self-initiated migration, as well as through flight and expulsion, population transfers, border shifts, and experiences of violence. Therefore, the scientific work takes a transnational, pan-European perspective and encompasses areas of Jewish emigration, particularly Israel as well as North and Latin America.

Outreach

The Dubnow Institute (DI) not only conducts fundamental humanities research, but also aims to strengthen societal differentiation and reflective abilities through the dissemination of its findings. By communicating scientific methods and results in a target group-specific and quality-assured manner for both academic and non-academic contexts, it actively seeks dialogue with the goal of addressing socially relevant questions and research projects. In particular, with a versatile, multilingual publication program, the Dubnow Institute makes its results accessible to the public. Another essential part of the knowledge transfer is a diverse science communication strategy aimed at various target groups, including events for a broader audience and its own exhibitions. Additionally, scholars from the Dubnow Institute offer seminars, exercises, and a research colloquium every semester at the University of Leipzig.