Jewish Empowerment in the German Academic Space: Tectonic Shifts in the Jewish Arena After 1990

This article explores the continuation of the Nazi heritage in German universities. The results of the existing investigations into Nazi continuities in the knowledge sector are sobering, and a lacuna remains at the structural level. To what extent has the Nazi heritage and the repercussions of the Shoah found their way into departments and disciplines established after 1945? How does this heritage affect the disciplines dedicated to Jewish topics, and why underwhelm social sciences and humanities on this issue? This paper considers the infrastructure, funding, research content and topics that fall within the academic disciplines of Judaic Studies, Jewish Studies and Jewish Theology. It seeks to understand the structures and knowledge architectures that shape these disciplines. Further, it inserts the biographical backgrounds and emotional heritage of the researchers themselves (Chernivsky and Scheuering (eds) in Gefühlserbschaften im Umbruch - Perspektiven, Kontroversen, Gegenwartsfragen (10/18/2021). Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Juden in Deutschland e. V., Frankfurt. https://www.vielfalt-mediathek.de/material/antisemitismus/gefuehlserbschaften-im-umbruch, 2016; Schaum in being Jewish (and) in love: two and a half stories about Jews, Germans and love. Hentrich & Hentrich, Leipzig, 2020), and the link between this and the consequent lack in research on living Jews (Kranz in J Mod Jewish Stud, 2022).