Center for Research on Antisemitism

The Center for Research on Antisemitism at Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) is a research centre dedicated to researching antisemitism.

History

1970s

Historian Moshe Zimmermann considers Heinz Galinski, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and Rolf Berger, president of TU Berlin as the founders. According to Zimmerman, Galinski considered the 40th anniversary of the Kristallnacht in 1978, and the gap in antisemitism studies, as the ideal time to launch a research center. Berger approached Mayor of West Berlin Dietrich Stobbe, who was keen to support as a sign of solidarity with German Jews.

1980s 

After a faculty meeting in November 1978, the university struggled to found the center. The Center for Research on Antisemitism (ZfA) was officially founded in 1982. Founding director Herbert A. Strauss gave his inaugural address on November 9, 1982, called "Research on Antisemitism as a Science". According to Zimmerman, Strauss followed the socio-historical methods of prejudice research in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK), which emphasized antisemitism's uniqueness.

1990s

Under Strauss's successor Wolfgang Benz, who took over in 1990, ZfA was part of the public debate about to what extent antisemitism should be researched within the context of prejudice research. Under Benz, the center became the first Holocaust research center in Germany. 

2010s

Stefanie Schüler-Springorum has been the center's director since 2011.

Goals

The Center is dedicated to research and education on violence and discrimination throughout history. Apart from antisemitism, the Center researches antiziganism, Afrophobia and Islamophobia.

Footnotes

References

Category:Germany
Category:Historical studies
Category:Research institutes