Messages in a Bottle. The Migration of Texts

When Dialectic of Enlightenment was completed in 1944, the metaphor of messages in a bottle had long established itself in reference to this work at the emigrated Institute for Social Research. This book, in which Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno tried to conceptualize the historical, political, and social forces that had forced them into exile, did not have a target audience: The text was written in German in America, reflected the American experience of those who were not American, and drew on European philosophical traditions without expounding on these. The reception of this work occurred at another time and in another place. The spatial and temporal dislocation contributed significantly to the disappearance of the contexts originally embedded in the work.

Also in the case of other texts written in exile in the context of the workers’ movement, the political Left, and their intellectual cultures the contexts of experience, emergence, and reception underlying these works differed markedly. They were partly at odds with the trends of their time, had taken on other historical experiences due to their emergence in exile, or – as occurred with Yiddish texts – they hardly had an audience left. However, more contemporary texts got in the way of the messages in a bottle from the period of exile or texts were received that had been written a long time ago. An engagement with these texts seemed to offer the possibility of transcending this civilizational rupture.

On the basis of representative texts, this annual conference aims to discuss the migration of texts, theories, and ideas that reflected on National Socialism, the Holocaust, their backgrounds, and their impact on the categories and mindscapes employed in these texts. The focus will lie on the historical experiences recorded in these texts, the influence of exile on their theoretical development, misunderstandings in their reception, as well as encryptions and codifications. The disparate conditions relating to the experience, emergence, and reception of the texts will be brought together. In addition, other texts will be analyzed in conjunction that reflect competing events and memories. This will allow for the historical efficacy of concepts from the workers’ and union movements to be elucidated alongside the conditions surrounding realizations about National Socialism and the Holocaust.