World History in Berlin
The Humboldt Brothers and the Jewish Enlightenment: Lectures and Discussion (audio recording available, in German)
The Jewish Enlightenment (Haskala), which emanated from Moses Mendelssohn and Lessing, is part of Berlin’s world history, as it essentially became the gateway for Jews to the secular world of modernity.
recording available
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)
Three Humboldt researchers discuss the different roles that Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt played in this process. Uta Lohmann will discuss the aims of the Berlin Haskala and the unusual friendship between the Humboldt brothers and David Friedländer, a symbolic figure of Jewish emancipation. Sebastian Panwitz will talk about Alexander’s early encounter with the Haskala before his time in Paris (1804–27) and his commitment to Judaism later as Prussian chamberlain (1827–59). Conrad Wiedemann presents Wilhelm’s merits for the Equality Decree of 1812 and his lifelong association with the great salonnière Rahel Levin-Varnhagen.
Three half-hour lectures are followed by an open discussion on the Humboldt brothers’ relationship to Judaism in their time.
Audio recording of the event World History in Berlin: The Humboldt Brothers and the Jewish Enlightenment, 30 October 2019, in German; Jewish Museum Berlin, 2019
Image: Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, Exlibris David Friedländer, Berlin 1774; Jewish Museum Berlin
Audio Recordings: Listen to Past Museum Events (67)
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Listen to Past Museum Events
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