Juden, Dissidenten, Sowjetmenschen: Die Entzauberung des Sozialismus

On Thursday, 7 December 2023, 6 p.m., the 22nd Simon Dubnow Lecture will take place in the lecture hall of the Bibliotheca Albertina. Benjamin Nathans will speak on the topic »Juden, Dissidenten, Sowjetmenschen: Die Entzauberung des Sozialismus«.

During the Cold War, the Soviet dissident movement attempted to promote human rights and the rule of law in the USSR, in effect calling for the containment of the Soviet state from within.  Why were so many Soviet Jews drawn to this movement, and what was the effect of their disproportionate presence in it?  Benjamin Nathans’ lecture explores the development of Jewish dissidents, their relationship with the Jewish emigration movement, and how Soviet orthodoxies generated their own heresies.

The Simon Dubnow Lecture has taken place annually every November since the year 2000. It is hosted in a festive format at a central location in the city, for example in the Alte Handelsbörse or the Bibliotheca Albertina. The institute invites prominent scholars to Leipzig to illuminate the history of Jews in the context of general history before both a scholarly and general audience.

The speakers have to date included Saul Friedländer addressing current developments in Holocaust research, Atina Grossmann addressing Jews in postwar Europe, Jan Tomasz Gross addressing the Kielce Pogrom of 1946, and Renée Poznanski addressing Eastern European Jews in the Résistance. The annual lectures are generously supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.