The Sixth Alfred Lehmann Memorial Lecture will be presented by Professor Dr Simone Lässig (University of Braunschweig) on ‘German Cities, Jewish Spaces: Representation, Belonging, and Cultural Change (1830s-1860s).’
The lecture will take place on Wednesday, 28 October 2026 (Week 3) at 17:00 in the Catherine Lewis Lecture Theatre, Clarendon Institute, Walton Street, Oxford OX1 2HG, and online via Zoom. In order to participate in this lecture online, please register at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Y2cE90WJQ_2ldtWnqfSf-Q
Abstract: Jewish urban spaces were in the grip of great changes in the late Sattelzeit. This presentation focuses specifically on changes in synagogues from both an internal and an external perspective. For Jews, synagogues were becoming laboratories for adopting new cultural norms and practices. And from the outside, the meanings assigned to synagogues within urban topographies were also being transformed. By focusing on the new synagogues built up to the 1860s, I highlight German Jews’ agency and explain their developing collective confidence during this period despite their ambiguous legal status.
Professor Dr Simone Lässig is professor of modern history at Braunschweig University and the author of the book Jewish Life and Social Change in Central Europe: Coping with Modernity (forthcoming at Cambridge University Press, Spring 2027).