Directorate

Prof. Dr. Yfaat Weiss

Image of person at rostrum

Director

weiss(at)dubnow.de
Phone: +49 341 21735-50

Yfaat Weiss is acting as the Director of the Dubnow Institute and is Professor of Modern History, especially Jewish history, at Leipzig University since April 2017. She has been Professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 2008. From 2010 to 2017 she was Director of the Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Centre for German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History.

Between 2008 and 2011 she served as head of the School of History at the Hebrew University. She founded and directed the Bucerius Institute for Research of Contemporary German History and Society at the University of Haifa between 2001 and 2007. Yfaat Weiss studied history and modern German literature at the University of Hamburg, and received her PhD from Tel Aviv University in 1997; subject of PhD thesis: »The Encounter between German and Polish Jewry at the Time of Nazi Germany«. Between 1997 and 1999 she served as Research Associate in the Department of History, LMU Munich. 1997 to 2006, she was initially Senior Lecturer and then Associate Professor at the University of Haifa. Professor Weiss has been an Honorary Fellow of the Historisches Kolleg Munich from March to August 2017. She has spent time as a Visiting Scholar at the International Research Center for Cultural Studies in Vienna (2003), the Hamburg Institute for Social Research (2005–2006), the Remarque Institute, New York University (2007), the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem (2007–2008); she was Visiting Professor and Anna Lindh Fellow at the Europe Center, Stanford University (2013) and EURIAS Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna (2014–2015).

Prizes and Awards

2015

Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines

2012

Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought

2012

The Hebrew University Rector Prize, awarded for distinguished scholars for excellence in research, teaching, and contribution to university academic life

Memberships

since 2019

Leonid Nevzlin Center for Russian and East European Jewry, academic board member

since 2019

The Jewish Museum Berlin's Board of Trustees, board member

since 2019

Philological-Historical Class, Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities, member

 

since 2019

Academic Advisory Board of the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin, member

since 2018

International Academic Advisory Board of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute, member

2013–2019

I-Core Center »Daat Hamakom« for the Study of Cultures of Place in the Modern Jewish World, board member

2013–2017

The Thematic Network »Principles of Cultural Dynamics«, based at the Dahlem Humanities Center at Freie Universität Berlin

2010–2017

The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem (CAHJP), council member

2007–2017

Academic Advisory Council of the Minerva Institute for German History, Tel Aviv University, member

2007–2011

Council member of the Historical Society of Israel

since 2006

International Selection Committee of the Leo Baeck Fellowship Program of the German National Academic Foundation, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, member

2005–2017

Academic Advisory Council of the Minerva R. Koebner Center for German History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, member

 

Research Projects

Turning Object into Subject. Communicating Everyday Jewish Culture in Germany
(in colloboration with the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research and the Arbeitskreis Deutsch-Jüdische Geschichte im Verband der Geschichtslehrer Deutschlands e.V., funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research)

The Short Life of Soviet Yiddish Literature
(in colloboration with the University of Regensburg and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Leibniz Competition 2020: Leibniz Collaborative Excellence)

Nathan Feinberg and His Contemporaries: Jewish International Lawyers and the Sovereign Condition
(funded by Israel Science Foundation Grant 1380/19)

Political Sovereignty and Cultural Property: A Spatial Exploration of the Mount Scopus Enclave in Jerusalem

Belongings: Jewish Material Culture from the 19th to the 21st Centuries in Europe and Beyond
(Proposal Meeting for an International Research Training Group, funded by Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft)

Cultural Agency, Transnational Innovation, and Publishing Economics: The Romm Printing House and the European Republic of Letters
(funded by Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe)

Materielle Spuren deutsch-jüdischer Lebenswelten des östlichen Europas: Buchsammlungen und Bibliotheken nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg
(funded by  the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM))

The History of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1948–1967
(by cooperating with Prof. Uzi Rebhun, Institute of Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; funded by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Research Interests

  • German, Jewish, and Israeli History
  • Contemporary history, with a focus on space, material culture, (Jewish) cultural restitution and memory
  • University history and transfer of knowledge

Publications

Monographs

Niemandsland. Hader am Berg Scopus, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2021.

Lea Goldberg. Lehrjahre in Deutschland 1930–1933, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2010 (Heb.: Journey and Imagined Journey. Lea Goldberg in Germany, 1930–1933. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center 2014).

Wadi Salib. A Confiscated Memory. Hakibutz Hameuchad, Tel-Aviv, 2007 (Heb.) (Engl.: A Confiscated Memory. Wadi Salib and Haifa's Lost Heritage, New York: Colombia University Press 2011; Germ.: Verdrängte Nachbarn. Wadi Salib und Haifas enteignete Erinnerung, Hamburg: Hamburger Edition 2012).

Deutsche und polnische Juden vor dem Holocaust. Jüdische Identität zwischen Staatsbürgerschaft und Ethnizität 1933–1940, Munich: Oldenbourg 2000 (Heb.: Ethnicity and Citizenship. German and Polish Jews between 1933–1940, Jerusalem: The Magnes Press 2000).

Schicksalsgemeinschaft im Wandel. Jüdische Erziehung im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland 1933–1938, Hamburg: Christians 1991.   

Editorships

Publications of the Dubnow Institute

Jahrbuch des Dubnow-Instituts/Dubnow Institute Yearbook
Studies of the Dubnow Institute
toldot. Essays on Jewish History and Culture
Digital Catalogues
Jewish History & Culture. Magazine of the Dubnow Institute
hefez. Studies on Jewish History and Material Culture

Publications of the Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center for German-Jewish Literatur and Cultural History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Naharaim. Journal of German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History (together with Daniel Weidner and Christian Wiese)

Makom. Book series by Wilhelm Fink Verlag

Anthologies

Contested Heritage. Jewish Cultural Property after 1945, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2020 (together with Elisabeth Gallas, Anna Holzer-Kawalko and Caroline Jessen).

»… als Gelegenheitsgast, ohne jedes Engagement …«. Jean Améry, Munich: Fink 2014 (together with Ulrich Bielefeld).

Kurz hinter der Wahrheit und dicht neben der Lüge. Zum Werk Barbara Honigmanns, Munich: Fink 2013 (together with Amir Eshel).

Mittelweg 36 21 (April 2012), no. 2: Jean Améry (together with Ulrich Bielefeld).

Deutsche Zeiten: Festschrift für Moshe Zimmerman, Göttingen/Bristol, Conn.: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2012 (together with Dan Diner and Gideon Reuveni).

Haifa before & after 1948. Narratives of a Mixed City, Hague: Republic of Letters 2012 (together with Mahmoud Yazbak).

Hebrew Youth. Lea Goldberg's Letters from the Province 1923–1935, Tel Aviv: Sifriat Poalim 2009 (Heb.; together with Giddon Ticotsky).

Germans-Jews-Czechs. The Case of the Czech Lands, Bohemia 2006 (together with Michael Brenner and Andreas Gotzmann).

Jüdische Geschichte als allgemeine Geschichte, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2006 (together with Raphael Gross).

Memory and Amnesia. The Holocaust in Germany, Tel Aviv: Hakibutz Hameuchad, 2005 (Heb.; together with Gilad Margalit).

Mittelweg 36 13 (October/November 2004), no. 5: Deadly Neighbors – Tödliche Nachbarn (together with Ulrich Bielefeld).

Challenging ethnic Citizenship. German and Israeli Perspectives on Immigration, New York: Berghahn 2002 (together with Daniel Levy).

Zionistische Utopie – israelische Realität. Religion und Politik in Israel, Munich: C. H. Beck 1999 (together with Michael Brenner).   

Essays and Articles

Ausgeliefert. Intimität und Ehe an der Schwelle zur Jüdischen Moderne, in: Roland Borchers et al. (eds.): Das östliche Europa als Verflechtungsraum. Agency in der Geschichte. Berlin 2021, 19–32.

Landmarken. Israels Gründungszeit, in: VHD Journal, #10, July 2021, 6–9.

Sovereignty in Miniature: The Mount Scopus Enclave, 1948–1967, in: Gregor Feindt/Bernhard Gissibl/Johannes Paulmann (eds),Cultural Sovereignty beyond the Modern State, 21, Berlin, Boston 2021, 38–64.

The Tricks of Memory: Salo W. Baron, Cecil Roth, and the Salvaging of Jewish Property in Europe, in: Elisabeth Gallas/Anna Holzer-Kawalko/Caroline Jessen/Yfaat Weiss (eds.), Contested Heritage. Jewish Cultural Property after 1945, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2020, 141–152.

Preface, in: Elisabeth Gallas/Anna Holzer-Kawalko/Caroline Jessen/Yfaat Weiss (eds.), Contested Heritage. Jewish Cultural Property after 1945, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2020, 9–14 (together with Elisabeth Gallas, Anna Holzer-Kawalko, and Caroline Jessen).

Leerstellen. Beraubte Bibliotheken und Kulturrestitution nach 1945, in: Jüdische Geschichte & Kultur. Magazin des Dubnow-Instituts 3 (2019), 32–34.

Ad Acta: Nachgelassenes in Jerusalem, in: Naharaim 13 (2019), Issue 1-2, 99-115.

Souveränität und Territorialität in der Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur, in: Denkströme. Journal der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig 20 (2018), 80–86.

Sovereignty in Miniature. The Mount Scopus Enclave 1948–1967, in: Zion. A Quarterly for Research in Jewish History 83 (2018), no. 2, 151–174 (Heb.).

Resting in Peace in No Man's Land: Human Dignity and Political Sovereignty at the British Military Cemetery on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, in: Jerusalem Quarterly 72 (2017), 67–85.

Performing Sovereignty. The Village of Issawiya in the Mount Scopus Demilitarized Zone, 1948–1967, in: Welcome to Jerusalem, ed. by Margret Kampmeyer and Cilly Kugelmann on behalf of the Jewish Museum Berlin, Cologne 2017, 172–183.

»Nicht durch Heer oder Kraft, sondern durch meinen Geist«. Die Hebräische Universität in der Skopus-Enklave, in: Jahrbuch des Simon-Dubnow-Instituts/Simon Dubnow Institute Yearbook XIV (2015), 59–90.

Von Prag nach Jerusalem. Kulturgüter und Staatswerdung, in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 63 (2015), no. 4, 321–346.

Vergangenheit vergegenwärtigen. Über Abwesende, Anwesende und was dazwischen ist, in: Ulrich Baer und Amir Eshel (eds.), Hannah Arendt zwischen den Disziplinen, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag 2014, 196–210.

Rückkehr in den Elfenbeinturm. Deutsch an der Hebräischen Universität, in: Naharaim 8 (2014), no. 2, 227–245.

Back to the Ivory Tower. The German Language at the Hebrew University, in: Arndt Engelhardt/Susanne Zepp (eds.), Sprache, Erkenntnis und Bedeutung. Deutsch in der jüdischen Wissenskultur, Leipzig 2015, 247–263.

Au-delà du sionisme. Un »ournant spatial« de l'historiographie israélienne?, in: Revue d'histoire moderne & contemporaine 61 (2014), no. 4, 125–154.

Post-Soviet Jews in Post 1989 German Republic, in: CEU Jewish Studies Yearbook. Jewish Studies at the CEU 6 (2011), 63–74.

A Small Town in Germany. Leah Goldberg and German Orientalism in 1932, in: Jewish Quarterly Review 99 (2009), no. 2, 200–229.

Central European Ethnonationalism and Zionist Bi-Nationalism, Jewish Social Studies 11 (2004), no. 1, 93–117 (Russ.: Ab Imperio. Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space 3 [2004], 43–70).