Contested Heritage

In the wake of the Nazi regime’s policies, European Jewish cultural property was dispersed, dislocated, and destroyed. Books, manuscripts, and artworks were either taken by their fleeing owners and were transferred to different places worldwide, or they fell prey to systematic looting and destruction under German occupation. Until today, a significant amount of items can be found in private and public collections in Germany as well as abroad with an unclear or disputed provenance. Contested Heritage. Jewish Cultural Property after 1945 illuminates the political and cultural implications of Jewish cultural property looted and displaced during the Holocaust. The volume includes seventeen essays, accompanied by newly discovered archival material and illustrations, which address a wide range of topics: from the shifting meaning and character of the objects themselves, the so-called object biographies, their restitution processes after 1945, conflicting ideas about their appropriate location, political interests in their preservation, actors and networks involved in salvage operations, to questions of intellectual and cultural transfer processes revolving around the moving objects and their literary resonances. Thus, it offers a fascinating insight into lesser-known dimensions of the aftermath of the Holocaust and the history of Jews in postwar Europe

Contested Heritage

In the wake of the Nazi regime’s policies, European Jewish cultural property was dispersed, dislocated, and destroyed. Books, manuscripts, and artworks were either taken by their fleeing owners and were transferred to different places worldwide, or they fell prey to systematic looting and destruction under German occupation. Until today, a significant amount of items can be found in private and public collections in Germany as well as abroad with an unclear or disputed provenance. Contested Heritage. Jewish Cultural Property after 1945 illuminates the political and cultural implications of Jewish cultural property looted and displaced during the Holocaust. The volume includes seventeen essays, accompanied by newly discovered archival material and illustrations, which address a wide range of topics: from the shifting meaning and character of the objects themselves, the so-called object biographies, their restitution processes after 1945, conflicting ideas about their appropriate location, political interests in their preservation, actors and networks involved in salvage operations, to questions of intellectual and cultural transfer processes revolving around the moving objects and their literary resonances. Thus, it offers a fascinating insight into lesser-known dimensions of the aftermath of the Holocaust and the history of Jews in postwar Europe

Zur Untermiete : über Metaphern von Existenzerfahrungen bei Hanna Krall

"Die Untermieterin" ist Hanna Kralls erster und einziger Roman. International bekannt wurde die Autorin aber bereits 1977 durch die Veröffentlichung ihres Buches zum Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto. Auf Deutsch erschien es in der Bundesrepublik unter dem Titel "Schneller als der liebe Gott" und parallel in der DDR unter dem Titel "Dem Herrgott zuvorkommen", bevor es infolge der Zensur ihrer Schriften in Polen auch in Ostdeutschland zensiert wurde. Im Zentrum steht Marek Edelmann. Die von ihm, dem einzigen überlebenden Kommandeur des Aufstandes im Warschauer Ghetto, entworfenen Kategorien, allen voran seine Unterscheidung zwischen "hell" und "dunkel", übertrug Krall auf ihren Roman "Die Untermieterin", wo die Unterscheidung gar den ethischen Kern des Werks bildet